[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Cool Animals While Deployed (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 8/26/2012 8:01:09 AM EDT
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As we have lots of military and former military members here I thought I'd ask this question.(sort of inspired by me watching Planet Earth on BluRay) As you guys often get deployed to exotic or harsh locations you ever seen any cool or rare wildlife? Feel free to post pics.
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When I was in Saudi there were about 20 of us with our cots set up in a GP medium (a big tent for you civilians). I was laying on my cot and I reached under to get something when the biggest snake in the Arabian desert slithered out from under my duffle bag. I grabbed my weapon and jumped up faster than Speedy Gonzalez and yelled "SNAKE!!!" Everyone grabbed their weapons, jumped up onto their cots, locked and loaded and we all stood there scanning around and ready to light up the first thing that moved on the ground. Looking back on it now, it was like something out of a comedy, but it was serious as hell at that moment.
Someone saw (or thought they saw) a glimpse of something move "HERE!!!" and then "OVER THERE!!!" and there were 20 weapons all pointing first at one cot, then another, then another. After a couple of minutes of being on the verge of waging our own little jihad on that fucker, we finally saw it slither out under the side of the tent. A couple of suicidal guys (Ramos and Staton, if I recall) ran out after it and beat it to a pulp with a camouflage net pole and a 2x4. Then we proceeded to tear everything apart in the tent (with weapons at the ready) and made a huge mess of everything to make sure there weren't any others. But we all made it home alive. |
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Quoted: there were lots of rumors of Saddam's people releasing a bunch of exotic critters before, during, and after the invasion. He had his own personal zoo at RPC in Baghdad, and would feed people to his critters, like hyenas and big cats. The cages were all empty when I was there in 04, but some of the critters were still lurking. I saw: mongooses, hedgehogs, jerboas, big lizards, fox/jackal/coyote things, thousands of inbred dogs, and had a kitten for a while. |
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While in A-stan, (Kandahar province, Panjwa'i district), we saw several big ass cats on our gyrocam's thermal (think vehicle mounted raid camera). Never saw them during the day. We called them el chupacabra, of course. ETA the joes that stood guard confirmed their existence, also.
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Some sort of Jackals or Hyenas in Iraq, not sure which. The pack predators thrived and were still around as late as 2010. There is a species of desert fox that is supposed to be near extinction, but you wouldn't know it at Camp Virginia in Kuwait. They were everywhere. There was a pair of wolves in Kosovo that would make a regular patrol around the outer perimeter of Camp Bondsteel.
And hedgehogs everywhere. I saw them on all three jobs. I kept threatening to catch one and dip it in the portajohn water to make a Sonic, but I didn't want to get that close to the blue water. |
| I'm not in the military but I've seen some exotic animals, from pink elephants to a rare cloudy leopard that I trapped. I took photos and posted them on the chat but I lost the pictures after reinstalling windows XP. Maybe some members still have those pictures, I'd appreciate it if they post it here. |
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I'm not in the military but I've seen some exotic animals, from pink elephants to a rare cloudy leopard that I trapped. I took photos and posted them on the chat but I lost the pictures after reinstalling windows XP. Maybe some members still have those pictures, I'd appreciate it if they post it here. WTF? Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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All I've seen is camels, camel spiders and lizards Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile No scorpions? The only time I saw scorpions was when we were living out of a COP. They got deaded real quick. We didn't want any critters sharing our foot space. I got to play with a venomous black snake while on patrol once. It must have been dangerous because haji ran up from behind me a beat the fuck out of it with a shovel. Camel spiders are fun too, especially when a big one walks over your foot right after you got out of the shower. *shudders* I did keep a baby camel spider a pet, though. I put him in a small medical zip-lock baggie and never let him out. I named him Wilbert. On, and in Germany, they have monster sized Jackalopes. Their ears go up to your waist. |
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Quoted: LocLs were scared of them and didn't venture out much at night. Most Iraqis are scared of lizards. Not even the big ones, like tiny geckos. I worked with Kurdish guys who were hard as fucking nails, and they wouldn't come near me if I was playing with a lizard. One of their officers was a western educated guy who explained to me that most people think they are poisonous and evil.
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You want exotic animals? Iraq: https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/207557_1048024553662_5203_n.jpg What is that, a dog with 3 legs? Kharn No, it had all 4. Just the ugliest thing ever. |
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While in A-stan, (Kandahar province, Panjwa'i district), we saw several big ass cats on our gyrocam's thermal (think vehicle mounted raid camera). Never saw them during the day. We called them el chupacabra, of course. ETA the joes that stood guard confirmed their existence, also. I was in the Horn of Panjwai in 2010 |
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Quoted: These fuckers are all over the Fort Bliss ranges: An Oryx? I thought those lived in Africa. |
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There was a little desert fox that would always chase me around when I'd run the golden road in Qatar. Super skittish though. If you turned and looked at him he'd dart off. I'm in Qatar now... I got within 10 feet of one last night when I was walking to the pisser. He was just minding his own business, searching for lizards. He gave zero fucks about me or what I was doing... Tiny bastard. Probably 20-25lbs tops... |
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Quoted: ...and New Mexico.Quoted: These fuckers are all over the Fort Bliss ranges: An Oryx? I thought those lived in Africa. They are fucking huge, and scary as shit when they dart out in front of a Humvee doing 60 on kalichi (sp?) at 3 AM.
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Does Merchant Marine count? If so then I've seen lots of dolphins and orcas. It's the coolest thing to have orcas escort your ship coming into Puget Sound. We pulled out a lot of strange badass fish while on the hook in Diego Garcia. Different types of fish with human like teeth that hissed at you and some huge barracuda. The pilot-fish has got to be the ugliest thing. The giant tortoises in the Galapagos Islands are impressive. I also went swimming with a bunch of marine iguanas. ETA - Grabbed chunks of very poisonous sea snake out of the main engine condenser. Kind of freaky at first but then you get used to it knowing it's dead. |
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Quoted: Please tell me that you set that motherfucker on fire.Does Merchant Marine count? If so then I've seen lots of dolphins and orcas. It's the coolest thing to have orcas escort your ship coming into Puget Sound. We pulled out a lot of strange badass fish while on the hook in Diego Garcia. Different types of fish with human like teeth that hissed at you and some huge barracuda. The pilot-fish has got to be the ugliest thing. The giant tortoises in the Galapagos Islands are impressive. I also went swimming with a bunch of marine iguanas. |
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Quoted: Quoted: Please tell me that you set that motherfucker on fire.Does Merchant Marine count? If so then I've seen lots of dolphins and orcas. It's the coolest thing to have orcas escort your ship coming into Puget Sound. We pulled out a lot of strange badass fish while on the hook in Diego Garcia. Different types of fish with human like teeth that hissed at you and some huge barracuda. The pilot-fish has got to be the ugliest thing. The giant tortoises in the Galapagos Islands are impressive. I also went swimming with a bunch of marine iguanas. |
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Quoted: Right right.Quoted: Quoted: Please tell me that you set that motherfucker on fire.Does Merchant Marine count? If so then I've seen lots of dolphins and orcas. It's the coolest thing to have orcas escort your ship coming into Puget Sound. We pulled out a lot of strange badass fish while on the hook in Diego Garcia. Different types of fish with human like teeth that hissed at you and some huge barracuda. The pilot-fish has got to be the ugliest thing. The giant tortoises in the Galapagos Islands are impressive. I also went swimming with a bunch of marine iguanas. But tell me about the demon hissing fish with a human face please. (and how you terminated it)
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These fuckers are all over the Fort Bliss ranges: An Oryx? I thought those lived in Africa. Those, along with all sorts of other African plains animals, have been imported to and thrive in Texas. The Texas climate and topography is a lot like their indigenous habitat. |
| in Turkey we would catch scorpions, millipedes, and other dangerous critters for battles. The hardened aircraft shelters had little pits at the end of each sliding door, we would put and assortment of critters in there and watch them duke it out....I saw a millipede kill a scorpion. Kuwait had a lot of dead things on the roads, saw a lot of dead horses and camels. |
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These fuckers are all over the Fort Bliss ranges: That is one healthy looking huge animal. Are they tasty? |