While assigned to Task Force Alpha ( TFA ) at Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base ( NKP ) as a computer operator from September 1968 to October 1969, it was common to see snakes of every variety, especially since our squadron area and building where we worked was on the edge of the base.  When I made Staff Sergeant in February of 1969 I was assigned to be a shift supervisor of one of the rotating shifts that staffed the computer center.  One night while on duty on the midnight shift one of the keypunch operators came to me with a horrified look on his face and told me that there was a bright green snake curled up on top of a file cabinet in the keypunch room.  Since we were always playing practical jokes on each other, I said, "Yea sure. " and went to investigate.  Sure enough, there was a bright green snake curled up on the top of a file cabinet.  I remarked, " Good joke" and suggested that everyone get back to work.  The two airmen assigned to keypunch looked at me and refused to go back into the room.   One of them said, " Sarge get closer and see that it moves."  So to go along with the joke, I got closer for a better look.

As I approached, the snake’s head moved as I circled the file cabinet.  At this point I was beginning to think that it might be real.  I had a zoology class before leaving college in 1966, so I recognized the viper-like shape of its head.  I sent the airman to the air police security shack at the entrance to the building.  When he returned with the AP, the AP grabbed the snake with his snake tongs and put it into a bag.  He then turned to us and said that we were all lucky that we weren’t bitten, because this Green Tree Viper was one of the 5 most venomous snakes in Thailand.  He then made our evening by telling us that they usually travel in pairs.  Not much keypunching got done that night.  They never found another one, even though they searched the entire building.