Sattahip
C
hief Petty Officer (1st Class) Pravat “Pete” Prasawai removed the lid of a rattan basket and dumped the four-foot snake on the ground at his feet. Reacting to the sudden change of environment, the Monocled Cobra lifted a third of its length off the ground and spread its neck into the flattened hood that marked the species. Pete kept his eyes glued to the snake, but he heard the gasps and whispers from the men gathered around him at the jungle training area as the snake exposed the eye-shaped spot on its hood. Like most Thais, they were familiar with snakes in general, and they’d been instilled with fear of them since childhood, especially the deadly venomous cobras.
There was no room for fear of snakes—or anything else for that matter—in the elite ranks of the Royal Thai Mari
