US Marines training with Thailand's armed forces learned a slew of survival techniques, including gulping down the warm blood of a decapitated snake.
"They taught us a lot," said US Army Specialist Louis Smith, speaking in Phitsanulok, Thailand. One of these lessons was that drinking the blood of recently killed cobra can be a way to stay alive in the wilderness of Thailand, Stars and Stripes reports.
"It's something you put in the back of your head, just in case something ever happened to you," the specialist noted in a video published Wednesday by the US military.
Speaking about the experience of consuming snake blood, "it gives you that special little warm feeling," Smith added.
Other survival techniques the troops learned included that if you look where ants are marching, it can often lead to a source of potentially life-saving water. "I didn't know that ants are a trace of water; wherever they are, they know the location of water," Smith said, adding that he plans to share the lessons learned with troops back in the US.
The international drills, dubbed Cobra Gold, extend 11 days from February 11 through February 22. More than two dozen nations' militaries were represented at the drills in Thailand, including Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and Singapore. China and India sent representatives to take part in the civilian portions of the drills, Stars and Stripes noted.