Wild Life in the Beginning?

[Willie]

I was watching the History Channel and there was a Marine that talked about some of the wild life that he encountered before things got really loud. Tigers, Snakes and other exotic creatures of the jungle.

My question is, Did any of you guys run into any wild life? Tigers, Water Buffalo, etc.

Did you guys ever have any buffalo? I hear its pretty good, but you had to pay a fine if you shot one, accidental or not.

I can imagine how beautiful it was over there in some areas. Still, probably not the kind off place you want to take a trip to.

Have any exciting wild life stories? I'd like to hear them.

Cheers!
Willie

[Sparrowhawk]

One of the first creatures in Nam to draw blood was the leech!!!!


They like to suck blood, from all sorts of places... when you woke up in the morning you would find a few of them that had slep with yoou during the night....








Sometime they got up real close so you could see them....

[Sparrowhawk]

They were a bit difficult to eat, and when we accidently killed them, well usually somebody paid for the price of the buffalo.

Unless they was in a free fire zone.

[Sparrowhawk]

Willie for your enjoyment and information:

From my book
when I was a t 1st med hospital, in Da Nang



Dreams of Glory (c)
Cook Barela



CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

1st Medical Hospital
DaNang, South Vietnam
November 28th, 1967

..... we soon gathered around and begin to compare the color of our feet and the various stages of infections. Soon we were comparing other diseases encountered in Nam. Malaria, leprosy, and all kinds of social diseases.

We compared the marks left behind by insect bites, infected eyes from insect bites, the color of the puss we had seen. Sizes of snake bites, animals bites and the weird multi-colored and noisy birds and animals we had seen.

We spoke of the largest rats we had killed and how many roosters, chickens, dogs and rock monkeys we had shot. We spoke of the rounds it takes to bring a large size water buffalo down. We went from there to the type of food we had eaten, which included large insects, wild boars, snakes, dog, rats, monkeys, water buffalo, pigs, chicken, ducks and brown husked rice that moved.

We shared stories about gorillas, monkeys, elephants and tigers that had been encountered in the bush. We spoke about the disease caused by leeches when they were plugged off and left their heads behind, imbedded under the skin. Some Marines even spoke about the war and the dead chinese, and Russian advisors they had killed, gooks they had seen or killed and the many colorful clothes and different uniforms they had worn. Tall ones, skinny ones, fat ones, stinky ones, and the women that had followed their men into battle and had died alongside them.

Cook

[Willie]

Pretty interesting stuff. Sounds like you walked into a zoo over there!

I have a couple of questions about the previous story that interested me.

"brown husked rice that moved."
Is this a food or an animal, and if its a food, why the he|| is it moving?

"We spoke of the rounds it takes to bring a large size water buffalo down."
Since I don't hunt and have never seen a water buffalo up close, I wouldn't have the slights idea. I imagine there are vital spots on the buffalo that would make it a quicker kill, depending on your aim! All scenarios on a one by one basis, I'm sure it was difficult some of the time... ...and I do believe I answered my own question... I'm thinking it wasn't that easy.

Sounds like some pretty wild stuff, but I cant imagine those animals sticking around to long after gun fire erupts!

Thanks for the info Sparrowhawk!

[Sparrowhawk]

The "brown husked rice that moved," is in reference to what i ahd already shared with the reader. During Operation Foster, we hadn't been re-supplied and hadn't eaten for days.

we came upon a villiage where we found unsifted rice, still in its husks. In the rice were white maggots and other small moving creatures. we decided to cook and eat the stuff anyways.

We cooked it that way, which is not the way to eat rice and of course we weren't able to, no matter how hungry we were.

As far as the water buffalo, that has been debated by many Vietnam veterans.

It seems at times we would shoot a dozen or so M-16 bullets into the animal and it would not phase it. I recal shooting one with a couple of M-60 rounds in the spin area and that brought the animal down but it was two or three M-79 grenades that finally brought the large buffalo down. The Buffalo had charged at us while we moved down a village trail .

Since the animal was in enemy territory in a free fire zone it was considered a communist water buffalo as anything that moved in that area was fair game.


Cook

[Rat Patrol]

Hope they wasn't any of my cousins!

[Rat Patrol]

WILD LIFE, MARINE STYLE~

[glock9mm]

I was watching the History Channel and there was a Marine that talked about some of the wild life that he encountered before things got really loud. Tigers, Snakes and other exotic creatures of the jungle.

My question is, Did any of you guys run into any wild life? Tigers, Water Buffalo, etc.

Did you guys ever have any buffalo? I hear its pretty good, but you had to pay a fine if you shot one, accidental or not.

I can imagine how beautiful it was over there in some areas. Still, probably not the kind off place you want to take a trip to.

Have any exciting wild life stories? I'd like to hear them.

Cheers!
Willie

On Hill 327 in '66 drinking most of the day. Walking back drunk to the compound I started feeling sick and started to vomit on the side of the road. I was throwing up violently in a ditch for a couple of minutes and when I raised my head I was staring into the eyes of a snake that looked like a cottonmouth or rattler with no rattle but with a bump on its snout. It was pretty big. I put my head down real slow and stayed still for awhile.
When I looked up it was gone. I don't know if it was poisonous or not, but I got stone sober real quick. Semper Fi.

[SlingerDun]

It's basically a cow Willie, unless it's Bison. Either way bull or ox meat is tough from a life of fighting or plowing and harrowing and bulls are often 'double muscled'. Takes a rosin jaw to get through a steak. Sometimes old females can be tender depending on their feed and activity level but dont count on it, i think in Asia they are all breed for work. Anything thats not young and topped off on grain to produce marbling before slaughter wont make it at the city steak house anyway.

[Riven37]

We had a Tiger come through our lines one night, and drag off a FNG we didn't even hear the Tiger. Also, I killed a Walter Buffalo word came down we were going to be hit but nothing happen, someone paid someone off.

[sgtrock1970]

Lions, Tigers and Bears Oh My!! Plenty of wildlife-snakes,water Boo, leeches mosquitos, flys, VC, NVA, dysentary,and Lifers. After I arrived Incountry read in Stars and Stripes about Tiger attack but never saw one of those critters.

[greensideout]

Was flying along at the door of a HUS-1 in '62 so low that I could have picked rice along the way. A Water Buffalo to reach out and touch. However, it was in Panama that I was near a Bushmaster and a killer bee nest. Wildlife? Wherever you go.

[testforecho2112]

When I was TAD for VIP training at Ft. McClellan AL in the mid 90's, we were in the field for a few days and doing advanced land nav...we crossed a stream, and one of the dark green Marines from GA saw a bull frog in the water near me, he told me to catch it so he could make cajun frog legs, I reached down where we had last seen it and grabbed something moving, pulled it out and it was a Cottonmouth...all of a sudden I was alone in the stream...first time I ever saw Marines walk on water! Good thing I was in the stream, it hid the fact that I pi$$ed myself. It did make me somewhat infamous though! Some of the more superstitious Marines thought I was cursed, the rest thought I was invincible. Ahhh....the good ol' days!

[claymar]

Charlie Co. 3rd Recon in 65 had a famous tiger encounter. Mauled a squad leader before the team shot and killed it. 3rd recon web site has the photo at Camp Reasoner below hill 327. Picture hung in the mess hall the whole time I was there.

Also saw a number of elephants along the border. Rumor had it the VC were using them to move equipment along the border and into the Delta. Our teams would stake out elephant trails to verify that but never did.