Never thought of this!

Learnt through a doco a special ops group in the VN war were inserted miles behind the lines with the task of spying on the NVA in the area covertly but they had already been spotted.
They posted their guard for the night after selecting a well concealed spot they then settled in for the night at some point in the night they were awoken to the blood curdling screams coming from the SGT's spot.
They investigated only finding a bloody patch on the ground where he was to have been sleeping, they waited till dawn then followed the blood trial finally discovering his body.
It had been partially eaten and in the distance they heard and saw the tall grass moving and the growl of a predator not happy with them finding his kill.
A Tiger charged them from the grass they opened fire but missed the tiger tried again but still not hit but beaten off.
The group collected his body and choppered out as the gig was up after shooting at the Tiger.

A latter group was inserted into that area and managed to kill the tiger that took the SGT.
7 GI's lost there lives to the tigers in VN a fact I was not aware of as if mosquito's & other critters with the jungle plus the NVA & their booby traps were not enough to contend with.

Thats what I learnt no doubt in WWII also some fell foul in the African areas as well as India or Sumatra!:yikes:

To quote "Apocalypse Now," "never get out of the boat....."

I have often wondered what those statistics were. Also wonder how many snake bight casualties were logged.

Stories were told about how the FNG's were told that everything in the Vietnamese jungles was out to get you. Everything bit or stung.
Carlos Hathcock was sneaking up on a VC General by crawling through grass when he came literally face to face with a bamboo viper(little fellow at no more than 30" long. Cobras are measured in feet. Sometimes 17 of 'em.), aka the Two Step. One bite from the thing and you were dead in 2 steps. Hathcock's encounter ended in what could be called 'professional courtesy' and the snake slithered off. Supposedly, only 25-50 snakebite incidents occurred annually in US forces.
Oh and a net search for 'tiger attack Vietnam war" turns up 5,770,000 results. Here kitty, kitty. snicker.

Jeez Sunray you'd want a bloody big tin of Whiskers cat food if your calling a Tiger to dinner to make sure you dont end up getting chomped!!!!!!!!!!:p

Yes Carlos's 5 day monumental crawl to kill the target and the one shot he regretted as there was a serious spike in U.S casualties after that target was eliminated, it took Carlos 1/2 an hour to take a sip of water from his canteen such was the dedication of slow movement. The snake encounter happened at a distance of a few inches and shows steel nerves not to flinch or any sudden movement lest be detected.
The crawl out took 2 days and according to Carlos was at light speed in his words apparently it must move a bit slower in his universe, a great marksman and tactician that few could better with selfless disregard for his safety and injuries when the LVT-5 hit that anti-tank mine some say he should have got the MOH for his actions regarding this incident.

1968, I killed a bamboo viper that crawled between my feet whilst wearing Ho Chi Minh sandals (a story for another time). A mate killed a cobra with a full auto M16 burst feet from a Sigs Captain from the unit he was attached to. That same year, a grunt with the 173rd got venom sprayed in his face by a cobra as it struck at him as he rolled out of the way. Oh, there was nothing like lying up in a laager or a set ambush in the dead of night and not knowing what was possibly lying next to you. 1969, a number of GIs died from sea snake bites at Vung Tau and Cam Rhan Bay.

Viet Nam was such a fun place, and it's still taking some of us out thanks to Agent Orange.

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Originally Posted by Paul S.

Viet Nam was such a fun place, and it's still taking some of us out thanks to Agent Orange.

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Lost a friend to AO a while back. I think of him often.
Thanks for your service.

"...Jeez Sunray..." Big cat. Little cat. They're all the same to me. Once I get my mitts behind their ears they all purr. Except tigers 'chuff' when they're happy. Cheetahs and cougars(the big kitty kind. The other kind is too scary.) purr.
I was trained by a cat that hated everybody but me and she wasn't worried about how she taught. She bit my big toe one morning. Seems I made an unauthorized move. snicker.
"...Carlos's 5 day monumental crawl..." Eight hours for 100 yards as I recall.

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Originally Posted by CINDERS

Learnt through a doco a special ops group in the VN war were inserted miles behind the lines with the task of spying on the NVA in the area covertly but they had already been spotted.
They posted their guard for the night after selecting a well concealed spot they then settled in for the night at some point in the night they were awoken to the blood curdling screams coming from the SGT's spot.
They investigated only finding a bloody patch on the ground where he was to have been sleeping, they waited till dawn then followed the blood trial finally discovering his body.
It had been partially eaten and in the distance they heard and saw the tall grass moving and the growl of a predator not happy with them finding his kill.
A Tiger charged them from the grass they opened fire but missed the tiger tried again but still not hit but beaten off.
The group collected his body and choppered out as the gig was up after shooting at the Tiger.

A latter group was inserted into that area and managed to kill the tiger that took the SGT.
7 GI's lost there lives to the tigers in VN a fact I was not aware of as if mosquito's & other critters with the jungle plus the NVA & their booby traps were not enough to contend with.

Thats what I learnt no doubt in WWII also some fell foul in the African areas as well as India or Sumatra!:yikes:

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Strange and bazaar things can occur in war.

My Siamese is an ambusher attacking only me sadly he is a few roo's short in the top paddock and predictable coming from the same spot no claws just jumps at the back of my leg then hare's off with the aerial tail held aloft ascending to the top of my lounge chair with a look of "See I am the best and sneakiest of all!"

Sorry to hear that HOH,

On the farm I worked on in '70's we used 24D & 245T for Apple of Sodom control just wearing shorts & T-shirt and cartridge respirators that were not posi fitted so you would get by pass around the mask proper mixed in a tractor towed 1000L tank I stood on a platform at the rear of it with a hand held sprayer we never considered wind direction nor drift and coloured it with red dye so we knew where we had been was a red indian for a while we did a month solid at it 5 days/week 8 hours/day.
I often blame it for the loss of my first unborn but no proof, they also had us mixing up neat Formaldehyde as a foot bath for the dairy cattle just decant it neat straight from a 200L drum into a 1 gal bucket no PPE every morning when on dairy duty.

My Uncle was a military advisor with the 5th Special Forces in the early 60’a then went back for two more tours. I have some pictures that i found of him there. Lost all his hair and more scars then I could count as a child. He never said much about his time there. One has to wonder how a person can survive 3 tours in Vietnam with the SP’s only to be killed by getting hit by a truck on a icy Connecticut road on his way home from my grand uncle Funeral.

When I was there the snake was called a krait snake and reportedly gave you three steps instead of two. In any case there is no snake in the world that can kill a person that quickly. The stories are just one of the many myths that seem to arise when you get a bunch of young men together to tell 'there I was' stories. This is not to say that some of these reptiles weren't deadly as without anti-venom many would most certainly kill and I don't remember any anti-venom being supplied. Tom

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Originally Posted by HOOKED ON HISTORY

Lost a friend to AO a while back. I think of him often.
Thanks for your service.

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There's a high probability that Agent Orange is the cause of the Melanoma I'm currently dealing with. Side effects from the cancer meds nearly (literally) killed me in June.

I did three tours. I know I was in areas that had been sprayed, were actively being sprayed while I was in them, and down stream from sprayed areas. All our drinking water came from rivers and stream in those no bottled water days. And of course, there was also the chemicals used to make the 'water' safe to drink -- not to mention the little orange bomber anti-malaria tablets that gave you the trots.

Fate plays a cruel hand sometimes USA.

I've just read an article written by a Dr on affects of certain drugs they gave to our troops no U.S troops, apparently 3000 were given these drugs which were rather nasty in side affects apparently when you signed the dotted line you actively volunteered for everything and could not deny or withdraw from the trial it was a very long read if I can find the article I may post a link. The last one I posted on how our veterans are being treated by our Govt got booted as I was trying to expose no doubt what perhaps happens in the U.S to your vets, one senator alone has called the Department Of Veteran Affairs out and wants a royal commission as we are losing 2 vets a week to suicide whilst the DVA sits on its hands anyway it was just to highlight the ineffective way how young men sent to war to fight for freedom to give us peace come back broken and are left with nothing........

Its not political Doug its murder by other means of men and women abandoned by the powers that be. I will apologise if I have X'ed a line:bow:

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Originally Posted by Paul S.

There's a high probability that Agent Orange is the cause of the Melanoma I'm currently dealing with. Side effects from the cancer meds nearly (literally) killed me in June.

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Situation sounds very familiar. My friend and his wife were both battling at the same time she made it he did not. Thanks for your service and I am glad you made it also.
Not sure most of us won't end up in the same boat with all the chemicals I the food , water, pharmacuticals etc...

---------- Post added at 05:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:18 PM ----------

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Originally Posted by CINDERS

Fate plays a cruel hand sometimes USA

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Whole post Very well stated and very sad as well.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HOOKED ON HISTORY

Situation sounds very familiar. My friend and his wife were both battling at the same time she made it he did not. Thanks for your service and I am glad you made it also.
Not sure most of us won't end up in the same boat with all the chemicals I the food , water, pharmacuticals etc...

---------- Post added at 05:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:18 PM ----------



Whole post Very well stated and very sad as well.

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Originally Posted by HOOKED ON HISTORY

Not sure most of us won't end up in the same boat with all the chemicals I the food , water, pharmacuticals etc...

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We will all end up in Toe Tag City sooner or later. I just prefer later -- a lot later -- than sooner.

Read somewhere of a officer who was somehow grabbed by a tiger in India; the tiger had his shoulder near the neck in its jaws and was dragging him along. He happened to be wearing a decent-sized hunting knife or dirk and had the presence of mind to feel along the tiger's underside for the beat of its heart, whereupon he stabbed it with the dirk and it rapidly expired. The wounds left him with a permanent hunch for the rest of his life. He must have been a healthy fellow for the wounds not to have turned septic considering how bites from even domestic cats are inclined to do so. Though perhaps tigers in the wild had better dental hygiene due to a more natural diet - just like humans!?

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Originally Posted by Paul S.

We will all end up in Toe Tag City sooner or later. I just prefer later -- a lot later -- than sooner.

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I prefer later but trust the eventual location will be far superior.

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Originally Posted by HOOKED ON HISTORY

I prefer later but trust the eventual location will be far superior.

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Reminds me of a story about the famous Canon Scott, chaplain in the CEF. Marching up to the line one day with a battalion someone called out to him, "Padre, where are we going?"
"That depends entirely on how we have lived!" replied the Canon, which led to much laughter, and perhaps some thought. ;)

It was rumored that tigers in Viet Nam associated gunfire with free food. Between that and the VC, leaving the area after springing an ambush was prudent. Some folks think they are not the only predators to have learned that behavior.

Yes true words Surpmil.

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Originally Posted by CINDERS

Yes true words Surpmil.

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Let him hear it who can.

And it's generally said, "we can if we want to". ;)

Remember the GG (gamma globulin) shots you got immediately after landing in Asia? You know, the shots where you couldn't sit down on the bus to the distribution center.

From Wikipedia
Gamma globulin injections are usually given in an attempt to temporarily boost a patient's immunity against disease. Being a product derived from bone marrow and lymph gland cells, gamma globulin injections, along with blood transfusions and intravenous drug use, can pass hepatitis C to their recipients. Once hepatitis C was identified in 1989, blood banks began screening all blood donors for the presence of the virus in their bloodstream. However, since hepatitis C is known to have been present since at least the 1940s, a gamma globulin shot received prior to the early 1990s put the recipient at risk of being infected.

This is why old men like me should get tested for HPC unless you are unconcerned about potential liver damage.

The medics that administered the shots to me in 1968 said that the dose amount was based on the last digit of your service number, mine was eight. This last bit is purely anecdotal and not necessarily fact. Tom