PETA Up In Arms Over Army Shooting Pigs

Military Says Exercise Is Necessary To Teach Soldiers How To Treat Battlefield Injuries

(AP)  The U.S. Army is moving forward with plans to shoot live pigs and treat their gunshot wounds in a medical trauma exercise Friday for soldiers headed to Iraq.

The Army says it's critical to saving the lives of wounded soldiers. Animal-rights activists call the training cruel and outdated.

Maj. Derrick Cheng, spokesman for the 25th Infantry Division, said the training is being conducted under a U.S. Department of Agriculture license and the careful supervision of veterinarians and a military Animal Care and Use Committee.

"It's to teach Army personnel how to manage critically injured patients within the first few hours of their injury," Cheng said.

The soldiers are learning emergency lifesaving skills needed on the battlefield when there are no medics, doctors or facility nearby, he said.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, however, said there are more advanced and humane options available, including high-tech human simulators. In a letter, PETA urged the Army to end all use of animals, "as the overwhelming majority of North American medical schools have already done."

"Shooting and maiming pigs is outdated as Civil War rifles," said Kathy Guillermo, director of PETA's Laboratory Investigations Department.

The group demanded the exercise be halted after it was notified by a "distraught" soldier from the unit, who disclosed a plan to shoot the animals with M4 carbines and M16 rifles.

"There's absolutely no reason why they have to shoot live pigs," PETA spokeswoman Holly Beal said.

The bloody exercise, she said, is difficult for soldiers because they sometimes associate the animals with their own pet dogs.

Cheng said the exercise is conducted in a controlled environment with the pigs anesthetized the entire time. He had "no doubt whatsoever" in the effectiveness of the instruction, which he called the best option available at the base.

"Those alternative methods just can't replicate what the troops are going to face when we use live-tissue training," he said. "What we're doing is unique to what the soldiers are going to actually experience."

Cheng didn't have details about the number of pigs, how they were acquired or the weapons involved in the training.

The soldiers being trained are with the 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, which is deploying to Iraq this year.

"We understand (PETA's) concerns and point of view. At the same, the Army is committed to providing the soldiers with the best training possible," Cheng said.

Disappointed at the Army's decision, PETA on Thursday instructed its 2 million members to inundate the Army with calls and e-mails.

"We're hoping at the 11th hour here that we can have this stopped. We have to hang on to hope," Beal said.

PETA believes the U.S. military has conducted similar training at other bases using pigs and goats.

[wardoglrs]

They should be practicing these techniques on congress I hear that humans are worth less these days

[nextgenman]

Why not just put them in the ER in Baltimore or New Orleans for a few days? Same difference.

[nssherlock1]

Why not shoot PETA protestors?

[nextgenman]

I wonder if maybe they can round up some GOP volunteers?

[justsane-2009]

let me get this right--they''re getting criticized for shooting bacon?

[mswolfestock]

Silly me, I didn''t realize they meant to shoot bacon and sausage . . . . . . .

I thought they were gonna shoot D*I*C*K Cheney and Rush Limbaugh.

[imaok1]

Don''t they say that a good indication of someone who would kill people is someone who kills and tortures animals? Sounds more like this is desensitization training to me. "It''s ok to shoot the pig, it can''t feel anything... don''t worry..." UGH!

[zloa]

I love pork, What are they going to do with the meat when their done with the pig? Hope they don''t waste it.

[fergsf]

Difficult for soliders eh? More difficult then trying to pull out a bullet from a buddy in the field? More difficult than your close friend dying beside you because you pissed yourself because you were to scared to do an exercise that reminds you of your pet dog? What the hell is wrong with this country? What the hell is wrong with simulating a high stress situation to ensure that an indiviual can deal with the stress when it comes about? When did our country fill up with tree-hugging hippies? Big deal...it is a pig! Millions are slaughtered for food every year. We can grow a ton more!
What''s more expensive a human high tech simulator that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, that those same hippies will complain about because we''re spending money on our military, or a pig! Not only that, but where is the pressure? Where is the initiative? Where is the, if you don''t get this right someone dies?
Nobody understands that some people have to make tough decisions for the betterment of the whole.

[walt1944-2009]

Once again, the neocons in the court of the Great Emperor Bush II have come up with a "brilliant" idea: allowing the military to shoot pigs, then nurse them back to health!!!!!!!!!

An idea like this could only come from the mind(!!!???) of the Great Emperor Bush II who, in his youth, tried to shoot amphibians to the moon using firecrackers! And, amazingly, neocon Fascist Nazis everywhere think the Great Emperor is the best thing to come along since the NRA!

However, we all must remember that the Great Emperor is 62 years old and does not remember what he did 10 minutes ago, let alone come up with a rational idea.
Then again, when has he???

And these same neocons want to elect/appoint someone who is 72 years old to be Great Emperor?????

SIG HEIL, BUSH!!!!!
sig heil, MORE GERITOL, McCain!!!!!

[ladyraestewa]

PETA is going to complain about something, anything, nothing just to have something to complain about to justify their existance. I''m confident they day will come when they protest exterminators because they go after, gasp sigh rodents and kill them How horrific, how cruel, how inhuman, how ignorant PETA is. I agree, lets shot the PETA protestors.

[latrocinor-2009]

Posted by walt1944

what a moron!!!! LOL!!

[extremophil]

As long as they dress the pigs like arabs, it''s OK with me.

[latrocinor-2009]

PETA = People Eating Tasty Animals

[jmurrieta1]

PETA has requested that Iraqis be substituted for the pigs.

SIG HEIL, BUSH!!!!!
sig heil, MORE GERITOL, McCain!!!!!
--------------------------------
Posted by walt1944

I say we shoot Walt and then ..... just wait.

[dan9111]

It is not about hippies or tree-hugging. It is about reciprocation and fairness. The simple fact that humans are also animals and PETA won''t come to the defense even of innocent children is proof that PETA only cares about murder when the animal is cuddly enough. The PETA people should work against human torture but they never will. When human children are harmed worse than you would ever harm a puppy, they tune it out and change the subject. Despite the fact that I find the pig-shooting quite disgusting, for those of us who have been abused to listen to PETA now would be rather foolish.

PETAs behavior is like going to a homeless shelter and asking the homeless people to give all their food in order to feed hungry pigeons.

[cdfoxtrot1]

Dan9111, PETA has its mission, others have theirs. There are plenty of human rights groups around, doing the work you''re talking about. Your complaint is like complaining that you can''t walk into a McDonald''s and buy a car. PETA has a mission and does its job extremely well.

As for the topic, I have never heard of an army using live animals for target practice. Or dead ones for that matter. Sounds very, very primitive and I sincerely doubt it serves any useful purpose other than "training" some acne faced 18 year olds that mistreating animals (e.g. pigs, Moooooslims, etc.) is okidoki.

[elukacek]

PETA is so right on about this. People it is 2008 come on it is inhumane to do this, we have the technology now that they could use a humane robot now come on. This is disgusting and cruel. Now yes i understand they are raised for food and i agree on humane killing for food but to shoot them putting them in severe pain and trying to fix it is down right cruel and beyond the year 2008

[hambonehd]

Nugger08,

LMAO! I''m with you. What an idiot.!
We could use Iraqis or terroists.

[hambonehd]

"The bloody exercise, she said, is difficult for soldiers because they sometimes associate the animals with their own pet dogs."

What is this woman a total idiot...
It is nothing compared to what they may have to deal with; so it could help.

[lorinkundert]

You PETA people get a life, I like my meat on a Pita, funny how the names are so similar.

[minnick8-2009]

We could use Iraqis or terroists.

Posted by hambonehd

Yes, we could empty out Guantonamo facility.

[infe5]

The purpose of this training is NOT "target practice". This is training meant for first-response combat medical personnel (medics or designated combat life savers). There is no way to conduct alternate training that would have as much value, save treating gunshot wounds on live humans for training purposes(which is not feasible for what I hope are obvious reasons). Furthermore, this training has been reviewed and approved by an IACUC (Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee). These committees are comprised of veterinarians and various research experts. IACUCs MUST adhere to strict ethical and safety based federal regulations. Frivolous research is not approved by IACUCs. This implies that this research/training is of value and cannot be adequately addressed by other means.

[deacon20081]

Before being sent to Viet Nam we learned to care for ourselves and others on the battle field. Never did a "Pig" or any animal come into play..what is up with this stupidity? When did the Army start doing this junk? Practice on Rove and Rush would also be inhumane. Treating slime is not the same thing.

[frankbowers]

I thionk it is time the US Military inducts this Kathy Gillermo and all her people and send them to the front lines some where. Let them see what the need is and then shoot her with a none leathel shot to the head and brain pan as well as 10 or 12 of her followers and see then if she/them complains if she/they do not think it isd okay to experiment with pigs goats or what have you we will quit until then for here and PETA to shut up it is for the women/men who are protecting her ignorantass.
Frank Bowers of Austin vet of 8 years who wish to thank those who are working to help those who get wounded even though it is now being done for oil and gw bushs'' lies.

[jay12384566]

Having gone through this training myself, I can ABSOLUTELY testify to its effectiveness in saving the lives of our soldiers. PETA is incorrect in claiming that there are alternative simulations available; there is simply NOTHING that can prepare a soldier for dealing with bleeding and breathing issues without doing it hands-on. When they have to immediately react to a wounded friend or brother in the battlefield, this training is the difference between life and death for that soldier. The killing of animals is horrible and grotesque but results have been proven to save many human lives and the federal government mandates that the animals feel NO pain and are constantly overseen by a veterinarian who provides intravenous anesthesia. I''m believe PETA''s hearts are in the right place but their efforts are mis-guided and mis-informed in this case. But if you believe an animal''s life is more valuable than a soldier''s, no argument is going to sway that opinion. Just know that the animals are cared for and treated with the utmost respect for the sacrifice that they make for us.

[jay12384566]

Having gone through this training myself, I can ABSOLUTELY testify to its effectiveness in saving the lives of our soldiers. PETA is incorrect in claiming that there are alternative simulations available; there is simply NOTHING that can prepare a soldier for dealing with bleeding and breathing issues without doing it hands-on. When they have to immediately react to a wounded friend or brother in the battlefield, this training is the difference between life and death for that soldier. The killing of animals is horrible and grotesque but results have been proven to save many human lives and the federal government mandates that the animals feel NO pain and are constantly overseen by a veterinarian who provides intravenous anesthesia. I''m believe PETA''s hearts are in the right place but their efforts are mis-guided and mis-informed in this case. But if you believe an animal''s life is more valuable than a soldier''s, no argument is going to sway that opinion. Just know that the animals are cared for and treated with the utmost respect for the sacrifice that they make for us.

[infe5]

jay12384566,
You put it perfectly. By the way is it just part of a CLS class or do non-designated CLS personnel participate as well? I''m out of the military now, but my CLS certification a few years ago was no where near as valuable as this training.

[aldon61]

I don''t normally back PETA in anything, I feel they''re a bunch of whacko''s. That said, I have to think there is an alternative to shooting live animals; what that is, I can''t say, maybe spend time in an inner-city ER room. There they will receive patients that have been shot, and perhaps learn from qualified ER doctor''s just how it should be done. Take that training into a class situation, and bring up the "what if" you don''t have the proper equipment scenario. Torturing an animal and possibly kiling it for no good reason is not acceptable. Killing it for meat?..........NO PROBLEM!

[aldon61]

Having gone through this training myself, I can ABSOLUTELY testify to its effectiveness in saving the lives of our soldiers. PETA is incorrect in claiming that there are alternative simulations available; there is simply NOTHING that can prepare a soldier for dealing with bleeding and breathing issues without doing it hands-on. When they have to immediately react to a wounded friend or brother in the battlefield, this training is the difference between life and death for that soldier. The killing of animals is horrible and grotesque but results have been proven to save many human lives and the federal government mandates that the animals feel NO pain and are constantly overseen by a veterinarian who provides intravenous anesthesia. I''''m believe PETA''''s hearts are in the right place but their efforts are mis-guided and mis-informed in this case. But if you believe an animal''''s life is more valuable than a soldier''''s, no argument is going to sway that opinion. Just know that the animals are cared for and treated with the utmost respect for the sacrifice that they make for us.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by jay12384566 at 02:33 PM : Jul 18, 2008

Who get''s the meat if the animal dies? I''m serious, killing an animal other than for food or self preservation, or to end it''s suffering is just plain wrong!

[gliderguy52]

Maybe some of those PETA folks would like to step up and volunteer to replace a few pigs for this exercise.

[bustamcnutty]

Who get''''s the meat if the animal dies? I''''m serious, killing an animal other than for food or self preservation, or to end it''''s suffering is just plain wrong!

im pretty sure the put the pig down,unless the soilder fail to save him in the first place.i think this is about on the same level as giving a lab animal a disease or testing the effects of some chemical on them.do you people actually wont them to go to a er and practice on civilian''s.imagine the lawsuits from that.carry on..........................

[figuy30]

This is just more U.S. government stupidity. Why should any animal be tormented because some jerk says this is a great idea? I don''t think any American soldier should be shot either, because of another great "war for profit". Shouldn''t we be thinking about ending this war? We could keep our pigs and bring our troops home too!

[messiahx4eve]

What about the hundreds of deathrow inmates? Why can''t they be used? Sentenced to death right? IF they survive, grant them a pardon. Use convicted s*e*x offenders and rapists, shorter time for service to their country perhaps?

[libsluv2spit]

if it would save lives..a soldier''s life..i prefer the soldier than the pig..

[whiskyrocker]

Maybe the PETA a$$holes could be the subjects instead of the pigs.

[greghad]

I''ve been through the training, as well as medical school and was a paramedic. I have tried them all- cadaver, simulated humans, computer-based programs, and the E.R. My class had two-hundred soldiers being trained in gunshot wounds as you know, simulated improvised explosive device injuries, collapsed lungs and blocked airways. Tell me how you are going to give hands-on training to two-hundred students in one-week''s time in hospitals? The course was deemed by the highest ranking doctor to the lowest ranking medic as being the best medical training we have ever had in the military. As for the gunshot wounds, we were never present during the wounding, and instead raced to the casualty after they were done (like it usually happens for medics in the real deal). We need to train many more people in one week than there are patients in a year of medicine in the whole nation. I am not interested in preserving the lives of a farm animal in trade for a dead soldier or, quite possibly, a civilian victim here in America that one of my soldiers could have saved if afforded this training. This is your military making the decision, who are honorable as a unit and as individuals, and would not allow an animal to be killed needlessly. Please allow us to bring as many of our troops home alive instead of ignorantly condemning the best medical training any of us soldiers have ever gotten.

[greghad]

I''ve been through the training, as well as medical school and was a paramedic. I have tried them all- cadaver, simulated humans, computer-based programs, and the E.R. My class had two-hundred soldiers being trained in gunshot wounds as you know, simulated improvised explosive device injuries, collapsed lungs and blocked airways. Tell me how you are going to give hands-on training to two-hundred students in one-week''s time in hospitals? The course was deemed by the highest ranking doctor to the lowest ranking medic as being the best medical training we have ever had. As for gunshot wounds on the pigs, we were never present during the wounding, and instead raced to the casualty after they were done (like it usually happens for medics in the real deal). We need to train many more people in one week than there are patients in a year of medicine in the whole nation. I am not interested in preserving the lives of a farm animal in trade for a dead soldier or, quite possibly, a civilian victim here in America that one of my soldiers could have saved if afforded this training. This is your military making the decision, who are honorable as a unit and as individuals, and would not allow an animal to be killed needlessly. Please allow us to bring as many of our troops home alive instead of ignorantly condemning the best medical training any of us soldiers have ever gotten.

[greghad]

I''ve been through the training, as well as medical school and was a paramedic. I have tried them all- cadaver, simulated humans, computer-based programs, and the E.R. My class had two-hundred soldiers being trained in gunshot wounds as you know, simulated improvised explosive device injuries, collapsed lungs and blocked airways. Tell me how you are going to give hands-on training to two-hundred students in one-week''s time in hospitals? The course was deemed by the highest ranking doctor to the lowest ranking medic as being the best medical training we have ever had. As for gunshot wounds on the pigs, we were never present during the wounding, and instead raced to the casualty after they were done (like it usually happens for medics in the real deal). We need to train many more people in one week than there are patients in a year of medicine in the whole nation. I am not interested in preserving the lives of a farm animal in trade for a dead soldier or, quite possibly, a civilian victim here in America that one of my soldiers could have saved if afforded this training. This is your military making the decision, who are honorable as a unit and as individuals, and would not allow an animal to be killed needlessly. Please allow us to bring as many of our troops home alive instead of ignorantly condemning the best medical training any of us soldiers have ever gotten.

[greghad]

I''ve been through the training, as well as medical school and was a paramedic. I have tried them all- cadaver, simulated humans, computer-based programs, and the E.R. My class had two-hundred soldiers being trained in gunshot wounds as you know, simulated improvised explosive device injuries, collapsed lungs and blocked airways. Tell me how you are going to give hands-on training to two-hundred students in one-week''s time in hospitals? The course was deemed by the highest ranking doctor to the lowest ranking medic as being the best medical training we have ever had. As for gunshot wounds on the pigs, we were never present during the wounding, and instead raced to the casualty after they were done (like it usually happens for medics in the real deal). We need to train many more people in one week than there are patients in a year of medicine in the whole nation. I am not interested in preserving the lives of a farm animal in trade for a dead soldier or, quite possibly, a civilian victim here in America that one of my soldiers could have saved if afforded this training. This is your military making the decision, who are honorable as a unit and as individuals, and would not allow an animal to be killed needlessly. Please allow us to bring as many of our troops home alive instead of ignorantly condemning the best medical training any of us soldiers have ever gotten.

[greghad]

I''ve been through the training, as well as medical school and was a paramedic. I have tried them all- cadaver, simulated humans, computer-based programs, and the E.R. My class had two-hundred soldiers being trained in gunshot wounds as you know, simulated improvised explosive device injuries, collapsed lungs and blocked airways. Tell me how you are going to give hands-on training to two-hundred students in one-week''s time in hospitals? The course was deemed by the highest ranking doctor to the lowest ranking medic as being the best medical training we have ever had. As for gunshot wounds on the pigs, we were never present during the wounding, and instead raced to the casualty after they were done (like it usually happens for medics in the real deal). We need to train many more people in one week than there are patients in a year of medicine in the whole nation. I am not interested in preserving the lives of a farm animal in trade for a dead soldier or, quite possibly, a civilian victim here in America that one of my soldiers could have saved if afforded this training. This is your military making the decision, who are honorable as a unit and as individuals, and would not allow an animal to be killed needlessly. Please allow us to bring as many of our troops home alive instead of ignorantly condemning the best medical training any of us soldiers have ever gotten.

[greghad]

I''ve been through the training, as well as medical school and was a paramedic. I have tried them all- cadaver, simulated humans, computer-based programs, and the E.R. My class had two-hundred soldiers being trained in gunshot wounds as you know, simulated improvised explosive device injuries, collapsed lungs and blocked airways. Tell me how you are going to give hands-on training to two-hundred students in one-week''s time in hospitals? The course was deemed by the highest ranking doctor to the lowest ranking medic as being the best medical training we have ever had. As for gunshot wounds on the pigs, we were never present during the wounding, and instead raced to the casualty after they were done (like it usually happens for medics in the real deal). We need to train many more people in one week than there are patients in a year of medicine in the whole nation. I am not interested in preserving the lives of a farm animal in trade for a dead soldier or, quite possibly, a civilian victim here in America that one of my soldiers could have saved if afforded this training. This is your military making the decision, who are honorable as a unit and as individuals, and would not allow an animal to be killed needlessly. Please allow us to bring as many of our troops home alive instead of ignorantly condemning the best medical training any of us soldiers have ever gotten.

[greghad]

I''ve been through the training, as well as medical school and was a paramedic. I have tried them all- cadaver, simulated humans, computer-based programs, and the E.R. My class had two-hundred soldiers being trained in gunshot wounds as you know, simulated improvised explosive device injuries, collapsed lungs and blocked airways. Tell me how you are going to give hands-on training to two-hundred students in one-week''s time in hospitals? The course was deemed by the highest ranking doctor to the lowest ranking medic as being the best medical training we have ever had. As for gunshot wounds on the pigs, we were never present during the wounding, and instead raced to the casualty after they were done (like it usually happens for medics in the real deal). We need to train many more people in one week than there are patients in a year of medicine in the whole nation. I am not interested in preserving the lives of a farm animal in trade for a dead soldier or, quite possibly, a civilian victim here in America that one of my soldiers could have saved if afforded this training. This is your military making the decision, who are honorable as a unit and as individuals, and would not allow an animal to be killed needlessly. Please allow us to bring as many of our troops home alive instead of ignorantly condemning the best medical training any of us soldiers have ever gotten.

[greghad]

I''ve been through the training, as well as medical school and was a paramedic. I have tried them all- cadaver, simulated humans, computer-based programs, and the E.R. My class had two-hundred soldiers being trained in gunshot wounds as you know, simulated improvised explosive device injuries, collapsed lungs and blocked airways. Tell me how you are going to give hands-on training to two-hundred students in one-week''s time in hospitals? The course was deemed by the highest ranking doctor to the lowest ranking medic as being the best medical training we have ever had. As for gunshot wounds on the pigs, we were never present during the wounding, and instead raced to the casualty after they were done (like it usually happens for medics in the real deal). We need to train many more people in one week than there are patients in a year of medicine in the whole nation. I am not interested in preserving the lives of a farm animal in trade for a dead soldier or, quite possibly, a civilian victim here in America that one of my soldiers could have saved if afforded this training. This is your military making the decision, who are honorable as a unit and as individuals, and would not allow an animal to be killed needlessly. Please allow us to bring as many of our troops home alive instead of ignorantly condemning the best medical training any of us soldiers have ever gotten.

[greghad]

I''ve been through the training, as well as medical school and was a paramedic. I have tried them all- cadaver, simulated humans, computer-based programs, and the E.R. My class had two-hundred soldiers being trained in gunshot wounds as you know, simulated improvised explosive device injuries, collapsed lungs and blocked airways. Tell me how you are going to give hands-on training to two-hundred students in one-week''s time in hospitals? The course was deemed by the highest ranking doctor to the lowest ranking medic as being the best medical training we have ever had. As for gunshot wounds on the pigs, we were never present during the wounding, and instead raced to the casualty after they were done (like it usually happens for medics in the real deal). We need to train many more people in one week than there are patients in a year of medicine in the whole nation. I am not interested in preserving the lives of a farm animal in trade for a dead soldier or, quite possibly, a civilian victim here in America that one of my soldiers could have saved if afforded this training. This is your military making the decision, who are honorable as a unit and as individuals, and would not allow an animal to be killed needlessly. Please allow us to bring as many of our troops home alive instead of ignorantly condemning the best medical training any of us soldiers have ever gotten.

[greghad]

I''ve been through the training, as well as medical school and was a paramedic. I have tried them all- cadaver, simulated humans, computer-based programs, and the E.R. My class had two-hundred soldiers being trained in gunshot wounds as you know, simulated improvised explosive device injuries, collapsed lungs and blocked airways. Tell me how you are going to give hands-on training to two-hundred students in one-week''s time in hospitals? The course was deemed by the highest ranking doctor to the lowest ranking medic as being the best medical training we have ever had. As for gunshot wounds on the pigs, we were never present during the wounding, and instead raced to the casualty after they were done (like it usually happens for medics in the real deal). We need to train many more people in one week than there are patients in a year of medicine in the whole nation. I am not interested in preserving the lives of a farm animal in trade for a dead soldier or, quite possibly, a civilian victim here in America that one of my soldiers could have saved if afforded this training. This is your military making the decision, who are honorable as a unit and as individuals, and would not allow an animal to be killed needlessly. Please allow us to bring as many of our troops home alive instead of ignorantly condemning the best medical training any of us soldiers have ever gotten.

[greghad]

I''ve been through the training, as well as medical school and was a paramedic. I have tried them all- cadaver, simulated humans, computer-based programs, and the E.R. My class had two-hundred soldiers being trained in gunshot wounds as you know, simulated improvised explosive device injuries, collapsed lungs and blocked airways. Tell me how you are going to give hands-on training to two-hundred students in one-week''s time in hospitals? The course was deemed by the highest ranking doctor to the lowest ranking medic as being the best medical training we have ever had. As for gunshot wounds on the pigs, we were never present during the wounding, and instead raced to the casualty after they were done (like it usually happens for medics in the real deal). We need to train many more people in one week than there are patients in a year of medicine in the whole nation. I am not interested in preserving the lives of a farm animal in trade for a dead soldier or, quite possibly, a civilian victim here in America that one of my soldiers could have saved if afforded this training. This is your military making the decision, who are honorable as a unit and as individuals, and would not allow an animal to be killed needlessly. Please allow us to bring as many of our troops home alive instead of ignorantly condemning the best medical training any of us soldiers have ever gotten.

[greghad]

I''ve been through the training, as well as medical school and was a paramedic. I have tried them all- cadaver, simulated humans, computer-based programs, and the E.R. My class had two-hundred soldiers being trained in gunshot wounds as you know, simulated improvised explosive device injuries, collapsed lungs and blocked airways. Tell me how you are going to give hands-on training to two-hundred students in one-week''s time in hospitals? The course was deemed by the highest ranking doctor to the lowest ranking medic as being the best medical training we have ever had. As for gunshot wounds on the pigs, we were never present during the wounding, and instead raced to the casualty after they were done (like it usually happens for medics in the real deal). We need to train many more people in one week than there are patients in a year of medicine in the whole nation. I am not interested in preserving the lives of a farm animal in trade for a dead soldier or, quite possibly, a civilian victim here in America that one of my soldiers could have saved if afforded this training. This is your military making the decision, who are honorable as a unit and as individuals, and would not allow an animal to be killed needlessly. Please allow us to bring as many of our troops home alive instead of ignorantly condemning the best medical training any of us soldiers have ever gotten.

[greghad]

I''ve been through the training, as well as medical school and was a paramedic. I have tried them all- cadaver, simulated humans, computer-based programs, and the E.R. My class had two-hundred soldiers being trained in gunshot wounds as you know, simulated improvised explosive device injuries, collapsed lungs and blocked airways. Tell me how you are going to give hands-on training to two-hundred students in one-week''s time in hospitals? The course was deemed by the highest ranking doctor to the lowest ranking medic as being the best medical training we have ever had. As for gunshot wounds on the pigs, we were never present during the wounding, and instead raced to the casualty after they were done (like it usually happens for medics in the real deal). We need to train many more people in one week than there are patients in a year of medicine in the whole nation. I am not interested in preserving the lives of a farm animal in trade for a dead soldier or, quite possibly, a civilian victim here in America that one of my soldiers could have saved if afforded this training. This is your military making the decision, who are honorable as a unit and as individuals, and would not allow an animal to be killed needlessly. Please allow us to bring as many of our troops home alive instead of ignorantly condemning the best medical training any of us soldiers have ever gotten.