VIETNAM STORIES OF SNAKES AND ANIMALS IN THE JUNGLE? What are your Stories of the Jungle?

My first PSG was raised by the Vietnam grunts. They said it was merciful to only step on punji sticks smeared with feces. They also had man traps that had some nasty vipers in them. There wasn't even time to call out for a medic. That wasn't true, but it kept them on their toes. I did a little research and found records of 742 non-combat related deaths in the field and snakes were listed as one of the causes, but they never broke it down by type of snake, etc. I always defer to 1LT Sandy Annala for all the medical nightmares faced in Vietnam.

We called snakes "No shoulders." My platoon in Nam believed that if we saw a snake in route to an ambush site, we would have contact that night.

That certainly seems to be a long python SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL and it is nice to see an M-113 in the background.
My only dealings with snakes and alligators tended to be in the southern USA - as a child in WV and as adult being stationed at Fort Campbell in 1975 and then Fort Benning [1984-1989] as a soldier which had its share of snakes, alligators and biting ants.

Not a NAM story, but I have one from my first state side FTX in 1990, before our deployment to Storm/Shield. We were on what we call Air Det FEX away from main body conducting theirs in Camp Shelby, MS. We were doing our training in Eglin AFB, FL, Ranger training area, and my SQD was out on a Security Patrol, and I was the 60 Gunner. We came up on OPFOR patrol, and we scrambled to set up a hasty ambush I jumped down behind a downed tree, and as I got down rolled over a Rattle snack about 6ft long. I felt something then herd a rattle, kinda got up and then yelled snack or something like that and then we yelled at the Evaluators to come over and check it out, The A gunner started striking his rifle butt, and ended up killing him. The range control came out and yelled at us for killing him said we should have let him go.

SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL A little late but may be of interest. One of the worst fears was poisonous snakes hung from the ceilings of tunnels, the snake's tail was split and then tied to a stake or any obstruction that would allow it to dangle and strike someone crawling in the head or neck.

I'm a "Vietnam Era" vet but actually 3 years after US Left and 1 years after the North Won. Sorry All my Stories are a Bit Later.

I will always remember being on patrol being the point man and moving through bamboo groves late afternoon just before setting up our company's night perimeter and encountering a lot of bamboo vipers draped all over the bamboo, needless to say we picked a different location far away from "old Jake no shoulders"

I heard a story from a Cobra Pilot that said they were on Patrol when they ran across a Bunch of "VC" Carrying a Really Long and Silver object...
The crew thought it was a Bangalore Torpedo and "Hosed" them down ... a responding Ground patrol reported it was a 26-Ft Burmese Python...

SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL As a kid, I liked to collect and keep lizards and snakes. I would occasionally be bitten by a snake, but it did not bother me. In Vietnam, we were moving through a bamboo grove, when I came face to face with a bamboo viper. I was not quiet as I retreated from that snake. I now keep a healthy distance from all snakes. I also don't like bamboo.

Thats a big snake SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL