All of us have some degree of stress in our lives. But not everyone has the burden of making decisions that could change - save - or end someones life.

Members of the marathon county swat team say their stress comes from being in a dangerous situation and having to make split second decisions.

Members of the Team say trust is the currency in their business.

"Being on this team you have to be prepared for any thing you have to be able to adapt and overcome whatever goes in front of you."

Adapting is something Detective Sean McCarthy has done for 14 years as a member of the Marathon County SWAT Team.

During his years on the team he has experienced some unforgettable situations--- executing search warrants, negotiating with a suicidal person or helping catch fugitives.

"Two come to mind right away unfortunately they are tragic incidents they both involve shootings either on the part of a team member or the part of an actor. Those will clearly stick with me the rest of my career," Detective McCarthy.

He says unlike the SWAT teams on TV, Marathon County members rarely fire their guns.

"Unfortunately there have been some shooting incidents and obviously you aren't going to get anymore stressful than that."

With 14 years on the job he still remembers the one and only time he has ever fired his weapon.

"Being relatively new on the department at the time, that would cover the gamut of emotions."

Detective McCarthy doesn't like to talk about the incident but says he received a great deal of support from his fellow team members.

"I feel like I was able to effectively deal with the situation and move on. There were other members that had done the same thing. "

The Team Commander says it's made up of officers from the Wausau Police Department and the Marathon County Sheriff's Department.

Discussing situations with his fellow team members helps him cope with the tragedy they see.

"The best part about being on SWAT is the guys you work with… it's never just me in any of these situations there's always 15 other guys in the same situation I'm in so there's a tremendous support system network there. To talk about what happened on our calls and be there for one another."

Lieutenant Albert says the swat team is only called out about 8-12 times a year and he says they have to be ready to go at a moments notice.

"I've been to a couple of very dangerous situations as a team we were apart of the shooting up in Niagara that's stressful when something like that happens."

Lieutenant Albert says team members connect and learn to trust each other through training exercises.

Detective McCarthy says team members also have to develop trust with dispatchers and others assisting them in the field.

"There's a lot of communications that goes on behind the scenes with our command staff so once we get information and it has enough merit, we trust it."

The 16 members of the swat team all have a role to play and Detective McCarthy doesn't want any accolades for doing his job.

"Were not a bunch of Arnold Schwarzenegger types that come in blazing guns and crashing down the door we're all members of the community trying to do a job. "

They may have a few seconds to make a decision that could change someones life, so for the Marathon County SWAT Team 17th member of the team is trust.