Don't try this at home!

      Kaia and I were out for our daily run/walk, she runs I walk, when she came upon a garter snake. She gave it a vigorous shake before I could rescue it. After rescue it made it to it's den. That caused me to wonder what she'd do if she encountered a rattlesnake? Fortunately there are none in this vicinity.

    Kaia's encounter with the snake brought back a memory from the Marines. Stationed at Camp Pendleton, CA, the Marine Base between San Diego and Long Beach, we were out in the hills for several days of infantry training. During this field exercise a small rattlesnake, about six inches long, fell into a Marine's foxhole. Seeing the snake the Marine pulled out his bayonet and pinned the snake's head to the ground. So far so good. His next move was a major mistake. After pinning the snake's head he took the snake by the tail and released the head. The rattler immediately struck him on the finger. Small rattlesnakes tend to be the most lethal becasue they have likely not struck a victim.

    A medical corpsman rendered first-aid and radioed for an evacuation helicopter. He was taken to the Navy Hospital on the base and kept for two weeks. Likely he'd learned a lesson.

    During that time on Camp Pendleton, which has a long shoreline on the Pacific Ocean, a fair-skinned Marine went to the beach to tan. He fell asleep in full sun for eight hours and did a great imitation of a boiled lobster. He, too, spent a couple weeks in the hospital and likely learned what not to do.

   Oceanside was the town nearest our entrance to the base. That town was full of tattoo parlors.  A Marine got a tattoo that he later regretted.   It wasn't elaborate and was on his upper arm below the shoulder. When we relocated to Okinawa he was off duty in Naha, Okinawa's major city. An Okinawan told him he could remove the tattoo for $10.00. Agreeing the Marine offered up his arm, the Okinawan brought out a syringe and gave him a shot in the tattoo. Back on base the Marine told me that his tattoo was fading. The next day his arm was swollen to twice it's normal size. The tattoo? Yup, he still had it. Fortunately this was long before the aids epidemic and he survived but with tattoo intact.

Takk for alt,

Al

  This picture was taken on Okinawa  but none of the above mentioned Marines are on it.