Post by Anonymous Vet on Dec 1, 2003 12:32:40 GMT -5
A Big Snake. Out of curiosity, did your buddy snore?
AREA 101, (1st CAV) - Politics may make strange bedfellows, but war makes even stranger ones.
In this case, a Skytrooper's surprising - and surprised - bed-mate was an 18-foot python.
The large constrictor lay stretched out for a nap in the underbrush beside a trail up which Co. D, 1st Bn., 5thCav. was climbing.
When the company stopped for a lunch break, the men moved to the side of the trail and sat down.
An artillery radio-telephone operator, Pfc: Mark T. Gourley, decided to take a nap.
Moving to the side of the trail, he went to sleep, blissfully unaware that the large python lay asleep less than two feet away.
He slept for 20 minutes and was awakened by the company commander, who wanted some information.
As Gourley rummaged through his equipment, the snake, apparently awakened by the mild commotion, raised its head to investigate. At the same time, Gourley turned his head and saw the snake.
For a split-second, Gourley and the python were locked eyeball-to-eyeball. As awareness of the other's presence sank into each of. them at approximately the same instant, each moved in his own characteristic way, rapidly out of the other's way.
As a defensive gesture, Gourley grabbed his rifle with attached bayonet. But the snake, slithering off into the underbrush, was equally anxious to get away from Gourley.
"I'll say one thing about that encounter," said Gourley in a rather shaky voice a few minutes after the incident. "That was about the biggest snake I've ever seen anywhere."
The snake was not available for comment.
The Army Reporter, 19 October 1968
AREA 101, (1st CAV) - Politics may make strange bedfellows, but war makes even stranger ones.
In this case, a Skytrooper's surprising - and surprised - bed-mate was an 18-foot python.
The large constrictor lay stretched out for a nap in the underbrush beside a trail up which Co. D, 1st Bn., 5thCav. was climbing.
When the company stopped for a lunch break, the men moved to the side of the trail and sat down.
An artillery radio-telephone operator, Pfc: Mark T. Gourley, decided to take a nap.
Moving to the side of the trail, he went to sleep, blissfully unaware that the large python lay asleep less than two feet away.
He slept for 20 minutes and was awakened by the company commander, who wanted some information.
As Gourley rummaged through his equipment, the snake, apparently awakened by the mild commotion, raised its head to investigate. At the same time, Gourley turned his head and saw the snake.
For a split-second, Gourley and the python were locked eyeball-to-eyeball. As awareness of the other's presence sank into each of. them at approximately the same instant, each moved in his own characteristic way, rapidly out of the other's way.
As a defensive gesture, Gourley grabbed his rifle with attached bayonet. But the snake, slithering off into the underbrush, was equally anxious to get away from Gourley.
"I'll say one thing about that encounter," said Gourley in a rather shaky voice a few minutes after the incident. "That was about the biggest snake I've ever seen anywhere."
The snake was not available for comment.
The Army Reporter, 19 October 1968