A small English newspaper from here in Thailand has reported on a
Thai and American military operation exercise.
One part of their training is interesting. There are pictures of American soldiers drinking cobra’s blood. They drink cobra’s blood. I read at one place it was an initiation ritual, but in this paper it is apparently for;
To warm the human body, improve blood circulation and enhance the libido, or sex-drive and capabilities.
So what happens when you have a regiment of men who are in the middle of nowhere and are as horny as hell?
This to me is totally unacceptable, it isn’t necessary as they aren’t actually in a+ survival situation. Okay if the above is somehow true then it is useful information that troops could use in certain situations. But for just the sake of an exercise and killing snakes is shameful.
With all the bad publicity the American army has been through you think that their PR people would be trying to stop images like this being beamed across the globe.
Yes, it is only a snake. But again why should it be sacrificed for no real reason. This is just my view. What do you think?
There are 4 pictures of soldiers drinking the cobra’s blood at this link if you want to see them.
Brunty.
7 comments:
I think your assumptions are a little unfair on the US here Brunty - note, I'm a Brit and not some American lackey.
The program is for "multinational joint military exercise" and, as it is held in Thailand, following Thai tradition seems like a reasonable way for the different nationalities to bond, which we assume is the main objective.
Plus a survival course is all about getting by using nature's resources so eating a snake and drinking its blood isn't an unreasonable exercise in survival skills.
I agree that the sacrificing of snakes, and other animals, for rituals is inhumane but it is Thai culture. If you're going to blame anyone then it should be Thailand.
There's my tuppence worth, interesting scoop nevertheless.
The way I read the article the Thai army was teaching survival skills to the U.S. troops.
I don't see anything wrong with what they did. I don't believe every American soldier drank snakes blood.
Most probably just a handful for demonstration purposes.
The whole point of these joint maneuvers is to teach and learn from one another and it looks like it is working as intended.
Cobras blood; I notice that none of the thais are drinking the blood. They are just standing over and laughing at the foreigners..hey, sounds like a typical day out in Pattaya!
Hi Jon, thanks for your insight it is much appreciated. There were 9 main countries taking part in the exercises. I also agree that all have different traditions and ways of bonding.
If it was a true survival course it wouldn’t be anything like this. Our survival courses were hell. Two weeks in the outback limited rations and a book on native foods that could be found in the area. We could also trap animals, even animals that are considered protected. But we wouldn’t do this during normal exercises. This in no way was a survival course.
Soldiers from countries can bond in many different ways, I am sure there are other ways to bond that don’t involve killing animals. I have searched the internet to try and clarify the claims of what Cobras blood does. I couldn’t find one medical journal, or even test to clarify these myths. It sounds like shit to me.
Yes, Thailand should be ashamed of this, but the Americans could have easily said ‘no’ when offered the blood.
That is just my view and I also thank you for yours as well.
Talen, as above and if it was for demonstration purposes then I understand. This is how you catch the snake and bleed it. This is how you drink its blood. But I am not sure this was the case.
Franky, Thais laughing at Farangs! Does that happen? :)
Thanks for commenting guys.
"some american lackey"?
I wonder when the Brits will get over their hatred of the Americans?
Seems like they could put that energy someplace else...like regaining some of that vast empire that was pissed away years ago.
Brunty,
If you look at the pics you will see it is a survival skills demonstration by the host nation. If refused to participate it would be an insult.
Jungle survival skills are required if moving through jungle terrain. If the Thais did this particular demo it means they are proud of those skills as they are on public showcase.
There was much more than shown in the photos, the non-Thai forces were shown how to safely catch the snake, and they use it for survival. The local belief being that to drink the blood of the snake warrior is to respect it and transfer its power to the victor.
I am also sure that after the demo they were also shown how to cook up the cobra for food, Ngo yang or something. There are no chickens out in the jungle to catch and fry up nor any KFC.
I am sure that not all of the US forces were thrilled about drinking snake blood but didnt want to insult the host. I am sure you do things not normal for you when you visit the village but do it to not insult your host.
There is always bad press because people want to read that. If you look you will find many good stories of US soldiers as well as other nations.
When Aussie soldiers come here to train with Thai soldiers I am certain they too participate in these local traditions of drinking snake blood and using the meat for nutrition.
I have noticed lately there has been a lot of bad press regarding teachers in Thailand. Have you ever worn a military uniform and trained with foreign forces in their country?
Hi Darwin, I have enjoyed your blog lately and it is great to see you updating it a little more.
I agree that survival skills are always very important, especially in different countries where you are not a native and don’t know so much about local food sources. I am sure the Thais are very happy to show off their local knowledge.
I agree that in a survival situation that food and especially water is a very important factor. To show the international forces how to safely catch the snake and then kill it is very good information, the crap of all the other stuff I don’t believe.
I have eaten snake on a few occasions and it tasted fine. As for the no chickens and KFC in the jungle I pretty well guessed that. But again Thailand does have things in obscure places.
If I was an international soldier I would not have been thrilled about drinking the blood of the cobra but if my superior officer ordered me to, I would have.
As for in the village, there have been many things I have turned down, very politely.
Of course there are good news stories on the US troops; I commend them for doing their job the way they are. I have watched some great documentaries of late with cameramen going along with troops while they do reconnaissance. What they have endured over there will be something many of them will never be able to forget.
As for when Aussie soldiers come here to train with Thai soldiers they more than likely did drink cobras blood, there were always plenty of chest puffing soldiers in the ranks.
As for bad press for teachers, this is not anything new. Foreign teaches for a long time has been pretty well bringing bad press on them self. I can truthfully say that in all the time I have been in Thailand I have met what I call decent teachers I could count on one hand.
Most are here because they are chasing some girl they met and this is helping pay the way. Others are stuck with the Thai wife and kids and there aren’t many other options for them. Others are here for a working holiday and the small amount of money helps pay for the beer and girls they want to chase. I have been disgusted at the level of teaching that comes out of so called universities, private students bring me their work from foreign teachers and some of the handouts are absolutely disgusting.
I wish the Thai government would be much stricter and force all foreign teachers to sit tests like Thai teachers do. If they fail the test they have a retest, if they fail this they are out of a job.
I have worn a military uniform and trained with foreign troops but this was on Australian soil. We had a massive exercise in 1995 called kangaroo 95 or K95. We had something like 20,000 troops in the top end of Australia; it was conducted over a huge area, absolutely massive. We trained with soldiers from a lot of nations, including US forces and UK forces. I can tell you that the majority of the US guys were great; I liked them more than the Poms.
Thanks for dropping by mate.
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