Marine in critical condition after snake bite

FORT SILL, Okla. (AP) – A U.S. Marine has had part of his left leg amputated after being bitten by a rattlesnake while hiking near Fort Sill in southwestern Oklahoma.

Fort Sill commander Major General John Rossi issued a safety alert after the Marine was bitten Feb. 7 in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. The victim was attending a field artillery training course with Marine 2nd Lieutenants Matthew Holliday and Taylor Quackenbush.

The injured Marine’s name wasn’t released.

Holliday and Quackenbush carried their injured friend to a parking lot, where he was flown to a hospital and is in critical condition.

Holliday says he and Quackenbush have visited their friend and that he’s in good spirits, but he doesn’t know what the injury may mean to his future as a Marine.