Cobra Incited a Firefight in Vietnam

In 1970 I was a twenty-year old soldier assigned to MAC-V and attached to the 292nd Section at the Vinh Long Airfield in the Mekong Delta.

The IV Corps region was about 5 feet above sea level and contained single to double canopy jungle dispersed throughout out the region.

Three months into my tour I was on guard duty along the west perimeter that faced a canal flowing into a branch of the Mekong River. Three others and myself took turns staring into the dark jungle that grew up to the edge of the canal. Shadows played tricks with our minds and in the early morning hours I was struggling to stay awake.

The spotlights lit up the perimeter to the edge of the canal giving a good vision of the three sections of barbed wire. Cans with stones hung intertwined in the wire as an early warning alert. The brush lining the area was about ankle deep.

I nodded off for a few seconds and my head jerked waking me up. I was staring at two large black eyes and panic struck as I swung my M-16 up from my lap and fired fully automatic. Within seconds the entire perimeter was unloading into the darkness across the canal. Helicopter gunships came to the rescue and sprayed the jungle with their mini guns.

When the firing ceased I looked for bodies of the enemy and saw none. Climbing down from the bunker I searched the area and came across the limp body of a 5-foot long snake. Examining its head I saw a large dark spot on what was left of the hood. What I thought was a VC attacker turned out to be a cobra.

Unfortunately the military never gave us any kind of briefing concerning the reptiles, insects and animal life of Vietnam. So we had to learn the hard way from experience.

This situation has since changed, and the military routinely gives classes on the venomous snakes that can be expected to be encountered in areas of deployment. How a soldier responds to them depends on his or her individual education.

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