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The other day some Indonesian special forces troops put on a snazzy exhibition for visiting Defense Secretary James Mattis.

Special forces in Indonesia demonstrates to Mattis their ability to eat snakes. pic.twitter.com/I24p5adzsG

— Paul D. Shinkman (@PDShinkman) January 24, 2018

Part of it included displaying snakes and then drinking their blood. Afterward, on the plane to Vietnam, Mattis talked to the media. Here’s the exchange between Mattis and a traveling reporter:

Q: I think your security guys were about to jump out and take the snake.

SEC. MATTIS: Is that right? . . . .The snakes — you see them tire them out, and then grab them, you know, the way they were flipping them around. And the snake gets tired very, very quickly. So, anyway.

Mattis Explains Those Indonesian Special Forces Snakehandlers To The Defense Media