TL/DR: Basically the title. I caught a snake everyone thought was dangerous but I knew to be harmless and briefly got yelled at for it by our Drill Sergeant.

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Ft. Leonardwood, National Guard basic training. I was 17 but was pretty experienced with reptiles, especially snakes. We were doing that bridge building team exercise where you might fall into water. Someone does and scares a 4 foot long harmless watersnake that was hiding/resting in the water pit. (It was actually probably stuck in there. Its just a big concrete pit filled with water.) Anyway, they freaked the fuck out screaming "Water Moccasin! Snake! Help!!!" He gets yanked out of the water very quickly, and I was right there and saw it, immediately knew it was a harmless watersnake, tho I wasn't sure which species exactly. But I knew it wasn't venemous.

While 7 or 8 people are freaking out wondering how to kill it while two others ran to get a drill Sergeant, I laid down so I could reach the water when it swam by and scooped it up. It tried to bite me but just tagged my uniform. I got up, got a better hold to control the head, held the body in my other hand, and then waited for a drill to come and tell me what to do with it, which didnt take long. Everyone else is either still freaking out or just staring at me like I'm insane.

Drill arrives, (this whole thing has only taken like 1-2 minutes, btw) sees the snake in my hands and forgets his bearing. "Private! What the FUCK are you doing with THAT!!!" (Ha, he was so mad!)

"Drill Sergeant! This is a harmless watersnake that was in our waterpit. It is NOT venemous. But for the saftey of anyone that falls into the water like Private Name here did, as well as the saftey of the snake, I removed it from our water pit and am awaiting instructions on what to do next!"

He then finally noticed that Private Name is soaking wet/still dripping. Calms down slightly.

"Oh, is That a fact?! You just thought you'd Steve Irwin this thing All on your own, did you?"

"Yes, Drill Sergeant! I'm well experienced with colubrids, boas, and pythons! I have one of each waiting for me back home and I thought it best to use that experience, act decisively to prevent any accidents, and secure the snake, Drill Sergeant!" (Remember this was basic, I had to talk like this )

I think because I used some of the words that they'd been hammering into us for weeks like decisive and secure, that calmed him down even more. It was very clear I had the snake under control. He shakes his head and says, "Alright Private, what do YOU plan to do with it now?"

"Drill Sergeant, if you want, I could take him about a hundred yards into the woods and let him go. Like I said, he's harmless. With all the noise around here, he won't come back. Honestly, I think he was stuck in there and just couldn’t climb out. Probably fell in a day or two ago. There's no reason to hurt him."

He sighs really big, looks up like, "Why, God, why me?" Then tells me to take a battle buddy, and get to it. Another Drill that had shown up in the middle says, "I'll go with." We all three head out, first Drill yells at everyone to get back to the exercise, and we make our way into the woods. It wasn't hard, not too much undergrowth yet. When I can't see or hear the bridge building site anymore, I tell the Drill that came with us, we're good here. This is far enough. He pulled out his phone first tho and wants a picture of the snake. Takes it, I release the snake, it quickly moves away, disappears, and we head back.

The rest of the exercise continued without incident. Well, until they made ALL of us jump into the water, even if we'd built all of our bridges correctly. It was really hot tho, so no biggie.

And that was pretty much the end of it, except afterwards other Privates would joke about me putting a snake in their boot. Or call me Steve instead of Last Name, after that. I took it as a compliment. The man was a legend, R.I.P.

Oh, and I got out in 2011 after 7 years NG and I'm a zookeeper now. Cats, Parrots, Horses, Kangaroos, and Monkeys. I care for about 300 animals every week. It's been wild. You can peep some of my posts if you're curious. Thanks for reading!

Edit: Now that its morning and I'm more sober, I actually think this happened in Ft. Huachuca, AZ, AIT, not Basic in Leonardwood. Or maybe it was Basic... it was one or the other! Anyway, the bridge building course was like other team building obstacle courses, add water. Mostly it was just fun. Like the Warrior Tower. Nothing to do with anyones MOS, for sure. Just, memories from both states have kinda blended together over the years so, my bad everyone! Or not! Idk... And, 35F, for those that asked. Hope that helps clear up a few things.

Edit 2: No, we were still in Woodland Camo and Black Boots we had to polish so I'm sure it was Basic. Probably 2004 or 2005. Man, getting older sucks!