Rooting through my reloading cabinet I found this. I swear I’d thrown it away forty years ago but it was with my hunting gear. We have no poisonous snakes here in Western Washington but I must have kept it for hunting east of the mountains. These kits were standard issue on all the Hueys we had up country in Laos. They were on the wall right beside the Morphine Styrets as part of the very limited medical kit. I know. That’s where I requisitioned mine from.

The Air Force Jolly Green HH-53 BUFFs  had them too but they were in O.D. Green cans with some M-21A4 designator and probably cost $150 more  for each.  We had Malaysian Pith Vipers and of course the dreaded Krate in RVN nicknamed the two-step for its lethality. It was said you kicked in 45 seconds from the Krate. I don’t know. I never saw one of those but the reason I have tinnitus is because my boss annihilated a viper by shooting over my shoulder to kill it in 70. My ear bled-a lot. The barrel was about a foot away.

The modern version is simple. “If bitten by poisonous snake, try to keep patient subdued and comfortable. Call 911. Use cel phone camera to take picture of snake for future identification purposes. Do not attempt to detain the snake.”

P.S. Whaa-oh! No gloves or eye/face protection from blood spatter? VA would not be able to explain this in the context of everything being peachy clean and sanitary while we were out playing soldier. This is classic evidence of how things got transmitted from one to another in a military environment back in my day.