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Posted: 1/9/2006 10:24:57 AM EDT
Anybody heard of tigers feasting in the time of war? For some reason I remember a story this morning I had heard from a dude who came into the sporting goods store I worked at. He claimed to have been a Vietnam sniper, but only after I asked him about reloading. He had a stack of powder, bullets, dies, etc on the counter. I figured he was hardcore but little did I know. Im pretty sure this guy was legit, only talked about it when I asked, wasnt like a bragging liar that so many find hanging around gunshops. And he mentioned a kill he had made on a chinese officer or something to that effect. Had stayed out there three days and the dude worked like a clock. Certain time every morning he went out to relieve himself and on that last day the sniper popped him in the head. Said it took the top half of his skull off, and the officer was still urinating after he had hit the floor. Pretty lovely mental picture. Anyways, afterwards he began telling me of tiger attacks in the bush. Made the statement "the big cats always feast during war times" and commenced to tell of an instance where in the middle of a gun fight he witnessed a tiger grab a south viet soldier in his mouth (ya apparently it was that big...of course vietnamese arent big at all anyway) and lept over an almost 10ft high chain link fence with this dude in its mouth and disappeared into the brush.
What say you? |
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I knew a guy named Chef once...he was a crewman on a PBR...one day while hiding out from some crazy Air Cav Colonel, he decided to go get some mangoes (he wanted to make a nice Mango cream...and then spread it all over Raquel Welche..he was nuts!), well him and this far out Special Forces Captain who followed him out were jumped and chased by one.
Luckily they made it back to the boat, but like he said afterwards..."Never get out of the fucking boat....!" |
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I personally wouldn't believe a story like that.
Jumped over a 10ft fence with a soldier in his mouth and a chinese one at that. Comn. I would think most animals even cats like that would migrate AWAY from the war zones. |
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Could probably happen. Peterson documented lions performing such feats in "The Maneaters of Tsavo." |
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When I was young, a mechanic I knew was a Vietnam vet.
Claymore, meet Tiger. Tiger, meet Claymore. |
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The 'sniper story' sounds remarkably like the one in the Hathcock memoirs.
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Damn! The snipers are out in force this season.
I think I'll stay in the boat. |
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I believe there was an entire Japanese group in WWII that was eaten by crocs when they were chased into a swamp
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In either Force Recon Diary 1969 or Force Recon Diary 1970, Major Bruce Norton mentions a case where a Force Marine out on a mission in VN got grabbed up, killed and dragged away by a tiger. The team followed the tiger, killed it and returned to base with it and their dead comrade.
I don't remember now which book it was. |
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How hard are those books to find? They sound like an interesting read. <mandatory AN quote> CHEF "A fvcking tiger, fvcking tiger... I don't wanna take this goddamn shit man... I didn't come here for this, I don't fvcking need this. I didn't get outta the eighth grade for this, man..All I wanted to do is fvcking cook, I just wanted to learn to fvcking cook. Allright, It's allright, it's gonna be all right... never get outta boat... bye tiger, bye tiger..." |
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I remember that part. Didn't he say something to the effect that in the darkness they could hear the tiger off a little ways chomping on flesh & bone? Either way, I've read a shitload of Nam books and encounters with tigers were mentioned on several occassions. |
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You can usually find one or both at Barnes and Noble, and Amazon has them. |
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Not exactly VN, but I remember reading Jim Corbett's "Man-eaters of India" as a kid. Some scary shit. Those tigers were athletic, but I dunno about jumping over a 10' fence with a dude in its mouth (even a kid). Maybe scaling a 5' stone fence or something, but 10' chain link is another thing entirely.
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IIRC there is a picture of the dead tiger in that book. I think its 69. |
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I believe the stories of tigers. I have seen my share of them when I was in Tam back in '89 and '90. Never ceased to scare the crap out of me, even from a distance. Tigers are very large.
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They don't eat you if you are wearing tiger stripe camo. They can't see you then.
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Kurtz got off the boat, he split from the whole fuckin' program. |
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I remember talking to a co-worker several years ago about tiger hunting.
He was right off the boat from India and spoke VERY broken english. He said: "Sometimes when hunter looking for tiger, he learn tiger hunting for HIM !!!" (Read out loud with strong Indian/Hindu accent for best results) |
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Farmers and herdsman in Tamil will often wear a hat with a human face on the back, just to discourage tigers from sneaking up. Don't know if it works, but I found some pictures of this somewhere. I'll look for them. |
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I've read several books by LRRPs/Force Recon/ etc where someone would get dragged away in the middle of the night by a tiger. It definitely happened more than once. I also remember from one book that a LRRP team was being extracted and as the last guy was running to the chopper the door gunner started frantically pointing behind the guy running. The dude running spins around to see a big ass tiger running towards him. He drops to one knee and puts a bullet in the tigers head killing it.
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My Doctor was in VN in the medical corp and one of his friends there was a sniper. He was sitting in a tree waiting for VC and saw a huge tiger, so he popped him and called in for an air lift out and they took it back to the base. It seemed like it was a really rare event for the sniper to even see one and that is why he shot it to show the others.
Bob |
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Great pic! I wonder how many guys took turns posing for that picture. |
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If you were a tiger, and you saw a man-sized meal, you'd grab it!
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I think it was in Force Recon Diary 1970, and I am probably mis-spelling this but the Marine's name was Robert Phleger. Both are excellent books. |
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My ex-landlord was in the special forces in Vietnam. He never talked about the war, but one day, and only on one day, he opened up a bit and told me some stories. He said that the tigers learned to move toward the sound of gunfire because there was usually something edible laying around after the fight. One of their jobs was to search enemy bodies for documents. If they didn't get there quick enough, sometimes there wouldn't be much left to search. He said all the tigers would leave would be the skull and shoulder blades.
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never mind the tigers. i always heard it was the bamboo snakes you need to watch out for...
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my grandpa back in WW2 was stationed in India decrypting german codes or something and he and his buddies would bleed a goat then climb a tree and wait for bengal tigers with their thompsons.
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Cats are clever. I'm quite certain they would scavenge battlefields as targets of opportunity, and if the food was still moving, well...
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All Mighty
All Mighty This is PBR Streetgang Radio check Over Sorry, I couldn't help myself |
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I sure as heck wouldn't, especially when the prey is armed with M16s, M60s, grenades, and are traveling in groups. Nahh..I'll pass. |
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I've seen a trained tiger jump through fire hoops 8 feet off the ground in a circus - 10ft? Don't know but I'd be willing to give the guy a little license to exaggerate. Long time ago, far away land. Overall sound plausible. No way to know for sure.
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+1 |
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"And after I took this mission,I'd never want another one."
" I watched ....a ...snail....crawl along the edge..... of a straight.... razor,and surviving" "This is the end,beautiful friend" |
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There was a story in an outdoor magazine I read once about soldiers in Nam crossing a river and a tiger showed up on the other bank behind a guy. IIRC the guy emptied his gun into it.
Another Nam story I read regarded a BEAR in a garbage dump type area. Soldiers lit it up with an M-79 |
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I have seen Mountain Lions in action and would totally beleive that a tiger could carry out a VC body for a short distance.
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The Soliders I knew and know in South East Asia fear the elephant above all other animals. They will attack with no obvious provication, and are hard to stop. Being in a softsided vehicle like a land rover is no defence. train derailed by elephant http://www.journeymalaysia.com/pics_elephant%20centre/DERAILED.JPG care of : www.journeymalaysia.com/MR_ecenter.htm |
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And if they don't getcha, the Alabama Blacksnake will......... |
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One of the students who worked for me at the university essentially has dual citizenship (Kuwait and India). They went "back home" to India this summer, and were in the mountains/foothills to visit some relatives who live out in the sticks. They came upon a [young?] bull, who was eyeing 'em cross. His dad turned off the engine, which they later found out to be the wrong move. It charged, and rammed them. Their land rover [type] vehicle went over the edge of a cliff/hill, and they slid on the passenger's side for a good distance down a rocky slope, before coming to rest () against a tree. His mom came out of it the worst: broken arm and cracked ribs. |
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Tigers are often man-eaters because men can't run as fast as just about any scared animal with 4 legs.
Roy Chapman Andrews also documented instances of southeast asian tigers picking off villagers. Dead VC bodies not evacuated after a fight are really easy to catch. |
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My grampa who was in the philipeans during WW2 had a story about pythons....
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My grandfather a nam vet told of breaking axles on deuce & a halfs after running over pythons. He was able disect one with a back hoe and found a leapord in it.
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An uncle of mine was with Special Forces in Vietnam.
He killed a rampaging elephant with his M-16. Multiple head shots finally brought it down. He went on to become a Colonel and worked with Colin Powell at the Pentagon during the Gulf War. |
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For a Story of True Courage:
a NZ solider in Malaysia was driving along a dirt road the same width as his vehicle. A bull elephant steps on the track 10-15 Metres in front of him, he stands on the brakes. The elephant eyes him, and starts to turn his way. With cat like reflexes he reaches past his M16, grabs the gear lever throws the Land Rover in reverse and presses the pedal to metal. He had trailer on at the time, which neatly guides him off track and into the jungle, eventually a good distance into the jungle, he stopped, when the land rover would not climb the tree he had backed the trailer up. I think the elephant was last seen laughing its ass off. |
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