US Marines Drink Snake Blood, Eat Geckos in Survival Training U.S. Marines queue up to taste the blood of a cobra during during a jungle survival training at the 2009 Cobra Gold military exercise in Chonburi province, southeastern Thailand. (Apichart Weerawong/AP)
By Solange Reyner | Monday, 19 February 2018 10:24 PM
U.S. Marines drank snake blood and ate raw geckos Monday in jungle survival training as part of the Cobra Gold 2018 joint military exercise in Thailand.
Seven countries participated in the annual military exercise, including Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and 6,800 U.S. personnel. The training, which lasts for 10 days, is led by Thai marines.
Troops were shown Monday how to find water in jungle vines, identify edible plants, remove venom from scorpions and tarantulas before eating them, and how to catch snakes and grill them.
"Definitely my first time drinking snake blood," Sgt. Christopher Fiffie told Agence France-Presse after the training, adding: "It's not something we do too often in America."
"I think I'll be able to hold my own out there," Fiffie said. "The biggest take was how exactly they get their water as well as the vegetation that you can eat."
The amount of U.S. troops present at the training nearly doubled last year's attendance, a sign of the "U.S. commitment in the region," said U.S. embassy spokesman Stephane Castonguay last week.
"The focus of this exercise still remains humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, in addition to community relations projects,” he added.
Poster Comment:
They say rattlesnake tastes like chicken, but I wouldn't know about that. ;)