I'll tell you one real quick.

When you finish the academy, they put you into small groups wherever your duty assignment is. I was in Yuma, Arizona along with three of my academy classmates. Keep in mind that you learn a lot at the academy but you really don't learn much about actually chasing aliens, drug smugglers, dope dealers and human traffickers. You pick up on constitutional law and legal authorities and self-defense but the bulk of your job you learn through the Field Training Program, where you're assigned to a salty vet who "unlearns" all the academy bullshite you spend the last six months acquiring.

At any rate, on my second night on duty me and my field training officer (FTO) were patrolling the border through some pretty rugged desert mountain terrain when we came across sets of footprints (called "sign") for at least 25 aliens. This foot sign rolled straight up a windy mountain. We knew they had crossed within the last hour so my FTO grabbed me and off we went on foot into the darkness.

We pushed this group up the mountain all night, stopping only to make sure we could still track their prints. Soon, we came across a large pile of vomit. My salty-arse FTO came across it first and without hesitation, stuck two fingers straight into it and goes, "It's still warm. We're close." Off we went again at an even faster pace.

Finally just before dawn we stumbled up the group. They had fallen asleep under some brush just near the other side of the mountain. There was two of us and 15 of them so my FTO had us split up and try to corral them best we could. Most of them had this "Oh, shite-busted" look on their faces but two of them were covered in tats and looked like they wanted to fight. My FTO ordered everyone to lay down on their stomachs but these two clowns just stood there and squared off on us.

We all stood there in the dark, the four of us and thirteen aliens on their bellies staring at each other for a second, when the two standoffish aliens took off running. I didn't know what to do. Do I stay with the 13 on the ground or chase the two? I froze, looking to my journeyman for instruction. Hell, this was my second day on the job. I barely knew how to drive from my new house to the station.

My FTO screamed at me to follow him and off we rolled after the two. We ran and ran and ran for at least another hour. We finally caught them just south of Interstate 8. They were nearly dehydrated but still wanted to fight once they realized they couldn't run any further. It was daylight by now and they had nowhere to go. They again squared up on us waiting on us to try and take them into custody. My journeyman pulled out his baton so I did the same and we went at it. We put them down pretty quickly but the experience was an eye opener. I was like, "What the frick did I get myself into?" It turns out the two guys were brothers wanted in Guatemala for murder. I learned from that moment on, you never know who you're dealing with until the fingerprints return. I also learned that you always chase the first runner. It doesn't matter who else gets away. You cannot allow the first runner to beat you.

ETA: I've got plenty of stories but this one is fresh in my mind, given the OP.

This post was edited on 7/6/16 at 3:00 pm