Mattis sees Indonesian forces drink snake blood, roll in glass

Oh this made me shake my head just reading it. Whaaaaatda?!

It's great when I find interesting articles but this one was one of the strangest i've encountered lately. I mean really? drinking snake blood to Impress Jim Mattis? Or were they hoping to scare the US with their animalistic warrior traits?

JAKARTA (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis saw Indonesian troops drink snake blood, roll in glass, break bricks with their heads, walk on fire, and more, in a rare military demonstration on Wednesday meant to show the unique skills of Indonesia’s military.

The ceremony at Indonesia’s armed forces headquarters was far more theatrical, however, even featuring a blindfolded soldier shoot out a balloon held between the legs of one of his colleagues. At least one shot missed, although no one appeared injured.

The soldiers then cut off the snake heads and fed the snake blood to each other, as the crowd looked on. At least one Indonesian soldier bit a snake in half.

Did these guys take Rocky a bit too literally or what?

www.reuters.com...

originally posted by: BotheLumberJack
Oh this made me shake my head just reading it. Whaaaaatda?!

It's great when I find interesting articles but this one was one of the strangest i've encountered lately. I mean really? drinking snake blood to Impress Jim Mattis? Or were they hoping to scare the US with their animalistic warrior traits?

JAKARTA (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis saw Indonesian troops drink snake blood, roll in glass, break bricks with their heads, walk on fire, and more, in a rare military demonstration on Wednesday meant to show the unique skills of Indonesia’s military.

The ceremony at Indonesia’s armed forces headquarters was far more theatrical, however, even featuring a blindfolded soldier shoot out a balloon held between the legs of one of his colleagues. At least one shot missed, although no one appeared injured.

The soldiers then cut off the snake heads and fed the snake blood to each other, as the crowd looked on. At least one Indonesian soldier bit a snake in half.

Did these guys take Rocky a bit too literally or what?

www.reuters.com...

Without looking into this in great detail I know that there is a well known drink in Asia that is made of snakes blood, it is popular in Vietnam and was even featured on TopGear when they did the Vietnam special where James May and Clarkson drank it, it is nothing more than a delicacy..

I have never been to Indonesia so cannot speak from experience but my guess is they where just showing off to the westerner..


RA

a reply to: slider1982

Yeah, I just didn't expect to to see that when I was looking through the headlines.

Lots of crazy ethnic drinks out there involving snake blood / carcas...

Blood is loaded with nutrients.
I have scrambled eggs with rattlesnake, blood and all.
Lots of minerals and protein.
It actually tastes just fine.
I've bled deer and hogs and saved the blood.
Cook it down and mix it with sausage.
I see it as a waste to just drain it on the ground or down a drain.
Blood is food if you know how to make it palatable.

a reply to: BotheLumberJack

Mattis saw Indonesian troops drink snake blood, roll in glass, break bricks with their heads, walk on fire, and more, in a rare military demonstration

'Military demonstration' or an episode of Jackass??

originally posted by: Kandinsky
a reply to: BotheLumberJack

Mattis saw Indonesian troops drink snake blood, roll in glass, break bricks with their heads, walk on fire, and more, in a rare military demonstration

'Military demonstration' or an episode of Jackass??

A cross between Rambo and Jackass works .. kind of.

a reply to: IgnoranceIsntBlisss

No just no! I thought that was a live snake being fed to a blender. Had to do a double take.

a reply to: BotheLumberJack

I had it in Vietnam. Just a thing they do.
Duck fetus soup was my fave.

a reply to: skunkape23

Black pudding! (warning not a puddings).

In fact I think they should start a new Series called, Politicians Survival 'live', feed snake blood to every one of them, along with the delicacy of the day, tarantula sandwiches. I'm sure their thick skin wouldn't last long.

a reply to: testingtesting

What about a nice bowl of Arachnid soup. Gross yeah but you probably haven't been to asia lately.
or..

Don't worry, it's gluten free, and the bread is sprouted.

originally posted by: BotheLumberJack
a reply to: slider1982

Yeah, I just didn't expect to to see that when I was looking through the headlines.

I'm sure they'll try to turn this into something weird and crazy that Mattis should be doing. That's why it's in the news.

It will be presented out of context and shown as an example of why Mattis, and by extension, Donald Trump are evil.

a reply to: BotheLumberJack

I had these big chillied ants out there as bar snacks not bad at all.

after 2 weeks of headlines of our kids state side eating tide pods, drinking snake blood seems like a normal act.

a reply to: skunkape23
That actually sounds really good. I must try that when I return to Oklahoma. I have many friends and family there that own land and would probably be down to try such a thing. Thank you for the idea!

a reply to: BotheLumberJack

Just like every tourist, you want it all the same... just like America.

lol...

originally posted by: skunkape23
Blood is loaded with nutrients.
I have scrambled eggs with rattlesnake, blood and all.
Lots of minerals and protein.
It actually tastes just fine.
I've bled deer and hogs and saved the blood.
Cook it down and mix it with sausage.
I see it as a waste to just drain it on the ground or down a drain.
Blood is food if you know how to make it palatable.

Yep. I absolutely love black pudding. Yum, pigs blood.

The Russians used to pull similar stunts to show how hard they were. I remember watching one special forces guy break a ankle doing a backflip off a roof with shooter in hand.

let me clear this up for you guys.

sounds like they were demonstrating Indonesian Debus. Debus is a darker side to Indonesian warrior culture where warriors believing in shamanistic beliefs (usually martial artists) work themselves into a trance and do feats of being impenetrable to pain. they'll maim themselves and keep going. cut their tongues and laugh maniacally while spitting out the blood. that sorta thing.

it's a part of Indonesian culture. I've seen it on occasion in pentjak silat (a indonesian martial art) demonstrations. its considered one of the less rational side of things in that community and even masters shake their heads at the validity of it. but still a part of their culture.


as for mattis. he probably laughed at their feeble attempts to act manly and then when the cameras were gone captured a wild cobra bit it's head off and slurped the raw venom down while smiling. the man's a hard core bad ass. none of what was in that Debus demonstration unsettled him one inch.

although I wouldn't laugh off the silat Debus guys. they are pretty raw straight out of the west javanese jungle types and cutting to little bitty pieces some mma guy with a golak or parang wouldn't even be a second thought to them. they good ones doing the real thing literally do have killing down to a stone cold art. a few of SF guys learn some of the darker stuff from them for a reason. especially if they've been exposed to south east Asia in some way whether it was from tours or just temporary assignments.