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Cobra Gold is a joint military exercise event where 13,000 soldiers from seven different countries learn survival techniques from each other. The camp-like experience is hosted annually by Thailand and includes Thailand, The United States, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and South Korea. Soldiers are able to relate to each other and share tricks of the trade to surviving in the jungle. The convention encourages “military-to-military relationships among nations sharing common goals and security commitments in the Asia-Pacific region,” according to Buzz Feed.
The event originated in 1982 and is “the largest joint military exercise in Asia.” On Wednesday at a Thai navy base, 90 miles east of Bangkok, Thai soldiers showed U.S. soldiers how to survive in a tropical forest by catching cobras with their bare hands and drinking the snake’s blood, as well as also teaching them how to find water. American soldiers watched in awe and with glee as the cobras were smoothly tamed by the Thai soldiers and snapped their cameras continuously as a few of them were fed the deadly snake’s blood. They watched one of the soldiers cut the snake’s head off and then squeeze the blood out into a fellow soldier’s open mouth. One U.S. soldier, with a huge smile, called it “horrible,” but said he was looking forward to telling his future grandchildren about it.
Image Credit: Getty Images
