Marine recovering from snake bite
April 24,2004
ERIC STEINKOPFF
DAILY NEWS STAFF

A Marine with Camp Lejeune's 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit was bitten by a copperhead snake Friday, a reminder that troops face dangers during training as well as during combat

The Marine, whose identity was not released, was taken by ambulance to the Camp Lejeune Naval Hospital, where he remained in stable condition Friday evening, said Lejeune spokesman Maj.-select Neil F. Murphy Jr.

He was working with the Special Operations Training Group.

"Copperheads and other venomous snakes are very common in eastern North Carolina, especially in our training areas, and bites usually occur when Marines unknowingly step on or touch unseen snakes," Murphy said.

"Due to the nature of Marine Corps training, almost always conducted in wooded areas, snake bites are not rare. Marines receive training in avoiding snakes and first-aid measures to be taken if bitten. Despite the venomous nature of copperhead bites, they are rarely fatal."

The 2,200-member 24th MEU has been busy this week in swampy areas along the coast doing their final training before an urban exercise in Morgantown, W. Va., in early May.

The current evolution is called "interoperability training" in which conventional and reconnaissance forces of the MEU work closely with the ship-borne Special Forces.

"It gives the MEU a chance to practice working with the maritime special purpose forces," said 24th MEU spokesman Capt. David Nevers.

Troops use role players, simulated situational reports and fact books on fictional countries to set up a scenario to which they must respond.

This week's exercises are called "Raid Week." Charlie Company, their designated small boat unit, completed a raid, or assault with a planned withdrawal, along the shoreline Thursday evening.

They practiced another such raid aboard helicopters earlier this month, and they are scheduled to perform a mechanized raid aboard assault amphibious vehicles in May.

The 24th MEU is roughly halfway through its six-month predeployment training cycle before the unit leaves for a Mediterranean Sea patrol late this summer - something that has also taken previous East Coast MEUs through the Suez Canal and into the Horn of Africa, Kuwait, Iraq or Afghanistan.

Camp Lejeune's 22nd MEU is in Afghanistan participating in a "spring offensive" that could conceivably pit them against al-Qaida or Taliban insurgents in that area.















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