Kinda a neat documentary I was watching while being stuck on 3rd shift this week at work.

https://youtu.be/n1Pvz3FBVps?si=6u43xRAsQhvSI9Hv

I read of a VN-era jungle training cadre warning his students:

“There are a hundred kind of snakes in VN. 99 are lethally poisonous. So DON’T FUCK WITH THE SNAKES!”

A student asked “What about the 100th kind of snake?”

Cadre replied “It eats your ass whole.”

South Florida doesn't have 99 poisonous snakes, but there're eastern diamondback rattlers, timber rattlers, coral snakes, cottonmouth snakes, and now Burmese pythons. Feels like we've got it easy after reading the post.

How many KIA's actually died from a snake bite?

About 25 years ago, I used to work with a guy who was a Green Beret in Vietnam. He had lots of snake stories. Said they liked to slither in next to you when you were sleeping, for the warmth. He explained how you quickly learned not to stretch or move around a lot when you first woke up, and instead would slowly light a cigarette and blow smoke all around yourself and under your bag/blanket, which would coax any snakes to leave the area.

quote:

Originally posted by downtownv:
How many KIA's actually died from a snake bite?

One google source: Soldiers killed by:
Cobras = 243; Vipers = 134; Kraits = 92; Other species = 211

https://www.civil-war.net/how-...-animals-in-vietnam/

I was fascinated with snakes as a kid and at least once one got away in my grandparents’ house. Fortunately they were familiar with wildlife and it was no big deal.

My favorite Vietnam snake story was told by our Montagnard interpreter: there was a snake with heads at both ends of its body. One was red (the lethal head) and one was green (the harmless head). As in all wars, many fantastic beliefs were held by the people who didn’t want to be there.

A work buddy would talk of the one two three snake, get bit and that's all the farther you could count.

quote:

Originally posted by Ripley:
A work buddy would talk of the one two three snake, get bit and that's all the farther you could count.

As a diplomat's kid in western Africa my parents were taught if you get bit, light a cigarette. If you finish it, you have time to get medical help.

Here's the AI answer to annual snake bite deaths in the US.

"In the United States, venomous snakes bite around 7,000 to 8,000 people annually, but fatalities are very low, typically ranging from
5 to 10 deaths per year, thanks to excellent medical care. While most bites don't result in death, serious long-term injuries, like losing digits, are more common, especially with rattlesnake bites."

Of those 5-10, I'd bet several were people that couldn't leave well enough alone.

This y.t. channel has a lot of info from
actual combat vets that served in V.N.

quote:

Originally posted by Ripley:
A work buddy would talk of the one two three snake, get bit and that's all the farther you could count.

A guy I used to shoot highpower with, years ago, was over there. He told us about a snake they called the "two-step". Because if it bit you, you'd be able to take about two steps before you collapsed. Might be the same thing you're talking about.

The claim that any snake could kill a man in two steps is a myth like the one that enemy soldiers were literally nailed upright to trees by flechette rounds or that during the Korean War Chinese winter clothing would stop rifle bullets and that soldiers there would pour water on their clothing to let it freeze into impenetrable ice body armor.

Australia has snakes with the most potent venom and no one claims a less than two-second killing power for them. In September 2024 a man who illegally had a number of venomous snakes was bitten on the hand by an inland taipan (aka fierce snake), the snake that is considered to have the most toxic venom of all, and he survived (at least) long enough to receive hospital care, including antivenin brought in from another state. And of course, the two-step claim in Vietnam never identified the actual species of snake supposedly responsible for such deaths—just as I never determined which species has heads at both ends of its body.

Black Mamba... The amount of venom that can be delivered from a single bite can be gargantuan,

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
And of course, the two-step claim in Vietnam never identified the actual species of snake supposedly responsible for such deaths—just as I never determined which species has heads at both ends of its body.

No surprise such myths existed in a world where death was a moment away.

In any “manly” activity, old guys like to screw with new guys, and what better way than to say, “I’ve been here in the land of death for a year, and you haven’t, so be scared”?

As for black mambas in particular, there are many online sources that say untreated bites can result in death typically within four hours, but collapse is possible within 30 minutes—still a little longer than two seconds.

Plus, there’s this from Google: “Black Mambas (Dendroaspis polylepis) are not native to Vietnam; they are found in Africa.”

Added:
I just remembered these two:
Razor blades in the vaginas of VC prostitutes and VD (what we used to call STDs) that would cause your dick to fall off in a week.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: sigfreund,

I lived in Africa as a kid.

If I encounter a black mamba today I’d likely be dead in seconds.

Oh, not from the bite, from the massive heart attack.

Clearing for 11th ACR Base Camp at Xuan Loc RVN often put our engineers in “touch” with a lot of snakes that were eradicated as fast as possible. Things got dicey around raised tent frames and flooring, especially after the first hooches were being replaced with larger units. Couple big cobras under the original frames nearly caused guys getting hurt or shot trying to clear these snakes out. Night time units returning to base learned to look before jumping off an ACAV, M48, M88, etc., as Banded Krates often were in parking areas.
Fun and scary times
Blackhorse4

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
Black Mamba... The amount of venom that can be delivered from a single bite can be gargantuan,

Called a 2 step snake, if it bites you, you take 2 steps and fall over dead.

I saw one in the wild in Tanzania, scariest thing I have seen in my lifetime. The damn thing seemed like it was 18 feet long, moving 30 miles an hour traveling 2 feet above the ground. I was in an open jeep and thought it was going to climb in with me until it did a backflip on itself and u-turned. When I read about the serpent in the bible that's what I think about in regards to evil. I would rather be stuck in a pit with 500 rattlesnakes than one black mamba.

quote:

Originally posted by ibanda:

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
Black Mamba...

Called a 2 step snake, if it bites you, you take 2 steps and fall over dead.

A hyperbolic claim that was debunked just 3 posts before yours:

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
The claim that any snake could kill a man in two steps is a myth like the one that enemy soldiers were literally nailed upright to trees by flechette rounds or that during the Korean War Chinese winter clothing would stop rifle bullets and that soldiers there would pour water on their clothing to let it freeze into impenetrable ice body armor.

...

As for black mambas in particular, there are many online sources that say untreated bites can result in death typically within four hours, but collapse is possible within 30 minutes—still a little longer than two seconds.