It took 4 months to determine the cause of death?
These snakes can and will bite anything, dead or alive ~.
They are not particularly aggressive, but you can run into them in the darndest places.
I suspect it took four months because one would expect an SF trainee to know how to self treat a snakebite and especially that once bitten, to either immediately kill the snake or, get away from it because the snake will continue to strike.
Other questions would be was there any evidence the soldier attempted self treatment?
Was there any evidence the soldier attemted to seek outside help?
Was there any evidence the soldier was not alone?