We were finishing our training before leaving for Vietnam. The first aid class that day was about treating snakebites in Vietnam. Always wanting to talk down to Marines, the Navy Corpsman began with, “Okay, Marines, today we’re going to show you how to treat snakebites when you get to Vietnam. We’ve made it so simple even a Marine can remember! It’s only three steps.”
We pulled our “Red Notebooks” out and prepared to write.
The Corpsman continued, “Step one: When you get bit by a snake in Vietnam, take a step. Step two: Sit down. Step three: You die!” I looked up; the Corpsman laughed hysterically as we just looked at him. I wrote, “Step four: Watch out for snakes!” Apparently, “two-steppers” were deadly.
He concluded the lesson by teaching us how to treat other venomous snakes stateside. He brought out a rattlesnake in a jar of formaldehyde and passed it around. The training was old school; cut an X over the bite and suck the venom out. I looked around and thought there was no one close enough to me to suck venom out of someone’s hairy leg. After the lesson, he informed us that because it was fall in Southern California, we wouldn’t see snakes, as they were hibernating.
Weeks later, when the Santa Ana winds picked up, temperatures hit over 100 degrees and our training schedule was in jeopardy. So, the Marine Corps came up with a strategy: Get up early in the morning when it’s dark and cool, run to the obstacle course, and wait several hours for the instructors to show up and the sun was out.
The first obstacle in my course was a shallow foxhole. Being the squad leader, I went first. Seeing the hole and knowing what I was supposed to do, I went full “John Wayne,” yelled, threw myself to the ground, and rolled into the foxhole. Imagine my surprise as the foxhole was already occupied and I landed on top of the biggest snake I had ever seen in my life!
I landed on top of a 5’ 9″ Western Diamondback rattlesnake. For a split second, my brain (a complex computer) pulled up everything I had learned about snakes in my 17 years of life. I informed myself, If the snake is pinned to the ground, it can’t bite me. My backup computer asked, Who’s going to get it out from underneath you? So, I kept rolling and jumped up.
But not fast enough! The snake bit me just below the knee, but his fangs were stuck in the fabric of my fatigues. The snake was hanging from my uniform. I was starting to panic — first time away from home, first rattlesnake bite… But we Marines are trained to react, so I swung my rifle to hit the snake as my knee buckled, smashing my knee and breaking my M-14 rifle stock. Eventually I killed it by breaking its neck.
I dragged my broken rifle and the snake to the Corpsman who fainted when he turned around and saw it. I thought I was going to die. A medivac chopper flew me to the Naval Hospital where an older doctor told me I was going to be okay because a big snake only gives you “part of its venom.” I thought he was just trying to comfort me before the venom kicked in, but he was right. I recovered quickly.
Scripture calls Satan a serpent. He deceived Eve in the Garden of Eden into eating the fruit. She then gave it to Adam who, when caught, blamed Eve. “The wife you gave me!” Apparently, all was fine until Eve came along. Satan was cursed by God and was told that Eve’s “seed” would crush his head.
Next week we will continue with how to protect yourself from the snakes in our lives.
Something to think about!
Semper Fidelis
