Post by Lamar on May 23, 2003 21:59:19 GMT -5
Referring to "john@war" s comment about a dead monkey made me remember a monkey episode we had at U-Tapao, Thailand in '72. As most of you know, monkeys are revered in SEA, which makes it all the more weird since they sometimes eat them, hence the phrase "monkey meat" sandwich. This behavior would be about the same as a Hindu Indian eating a cow.
Anyway, we had a big, big cage next to the 635th SPS Headquarters where we checked out weapons, etc. In that cage was a very,very large snake. Python, I think it was. Can't remember the snake's name, but the monkey that was in there with him was called "Scared." Each day, before guardmount, all of us would check out the disposition of the snake, then check out where the monkey was trying to "hide." Everytime I saw him he was initially affixed to a high side or top of the cage. Then he'd run down, screaming, and hit the snake on it's great head, and retreat to an upper portion of the cage. This huge snake never reacted. Big snakes don't eat often, but they do eventually eat and this one, apparently, got hungry one night. Probably had enough of getting hit on the head too! It was big news the next day that the monkey was MIA. After visually searching the cage we quickly changed his category to KIA. A real clue was the bulge in the snake's torso. Family notifications were appropriately made by Graves Registration personnel.
A funny story unless you were the monkey!
Lamar Miller, MSgt, USAF (ret '88)
Anyway, we had a big, big cage next to the 635th SPS Headquarters where we checked out weapons, etc. In that cage was a very,very large snake. Python, I think it was. Can't remember the snake's name, but the monkey that was in there with him was called "Scared." Each day, before guardmount, all of us would check out the disposition of the snake, then check out where the monkey was trying to "hide." Everytime I saw him he was initially affixed to a high side or top of the cage. Then he'd run down, screaming, and hit the snake on it's great head, and retreat to an upper portion of the cage. This huge snake never reacted. Big snakes don't eat often, but they do eventually eat and this one, apparently, got hungry one night. Probably had enough of getting hit on the head too! It was big news the next day that the monkey was MIA. After visually searching the cage we quickly changed his category to KIA. A real clue was the bulge in the snake's torso. Family notifications were appropriately made by Graves Registration personnel.
A funny story unless you were the monkey!
Lamar Miller, MSgt, USAF (ret '88)
