Despite all the splendor and luxurious amenities on Engineer Hill, the 2nd Platoon had a rat problem; and Vietnamese rats are big, bold and scary. The rats were running around in the tents at night, looking for dropped food or bare toes. The guys tried flooding the rats’ holes and even pouring gasoline into them, but nothing worked. The rats continued to run across platoon members as they tried to sleep. One night, John McCann heard one sniffing around his ear and was concerned that if he moved, he’d be bitten. The next morning, McCann and Sammy Miller were off to Saigon to do a little shopping. They returned with a four-foot Burmese python. The 2nd Platoon was now the ‘Snake Platoon.’
The snake roamed the platoon area at will, searching out, killing and eating the rats. The rat population diminished, and the snake grew. Some of the guys were getting nervous that they could wake up one night with a snake wrapped around their neck. The platoon had also taken on a puppy which the guys did not want to become snake food. McCann often put the snake, which some recall as ‘Sergeant Major Hiss,’ in his newly acquired sleeping bag with him to protect it from those who might wish to do it harm.
A chicken wire cage was built for the snake in order to allay everyone’s fears and protect the puppy. The remaining rats, though, did not cooperate and weren’t exactly lining up at the cage doorway. The platoon members trapped out the rest of the rats and fed them to the snake. Eventually, there was no more rat problem, and the snake’s diet switched to chicken. The Snake Platoon began raising chickens in order to be able to feed the snake on a regular basis. Some Special Forces guys tried once to buy the snake from them. The suspicion was that they wanted to eat it. The answer was “No.” The platoon had become attached to their snake. After all, how could they call themselves the ‘Snake Platoon’ without it?
A lot of people from other units showed up to view the feeding of the snake, but apparently not everyone was pleased about its presence. One night someone, believed to be from the 330th RRC, slipped into the platoon area and killed the snake with two rounds from an M-14 at point blank range.
Tony Carstensen and Joed Vaughn got a line on a replacement for Sergeant Major Hiss. Nobody else, however, wanted anything to do with a 14-foot king cobra. So, McCann was off to the market in Saigon again. This time, he brought back two snakes, both Burmese pythons, soon to be named SMAJ and Junior. A few members remember their names as Sergeant Major and Hiss. Whatever their names, these two stayed with the platoon until it was disbanded, reaching lengths of over twelve and nine feet, respectively. Some have reported that SMAJ lived out his retirement in the Smithsonian Institute’s zoo in Washington, DC. Others recall that they were both released into the wild. If the newspaper clipping below is to be believed, both reports are a bit off. According to it, SMAJ went to the Washington National Zoo. Apparently, Junior was released into the wild.
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