[WASHINGTONEXAMINER] A bipartisan group of politicians is trying to stop the Defense Department from killing about 8,500 goats and pigs a year in medical training exercises designed to prepare troops for combat.
Obviously we want to have more politicians teaching in our military medical courses.
Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., and Rep. Tom Marino, R-Pa., introduced a bill on Tuesday that would require the military to use only "human-based methods" to train service members to treat injuries sustained on the battlefield and end the use of "live tissue training," in which troops stab or shoot pigs and goats to simulate the treatment of combat trauma, by Oct. 1, 2020.
My personal opinion is that if you've never seen blood you're not entitled to an opinion on bandaids.
Johnson told the Washington Examiner he intends to raise the issue during debate on the fiscal 2018 National Defense Authorization Act and hopes to use the must-pass bill as a vehicle to ban live-tissue training. He said simulators offer better combat training than live animals, are more humane and are ultimately more cost-effective.
If you've ever had a CPR course and then a few months or years later administered CPR you know it's not the same. If you haven't, you're still eligible to become a politician.
"It may cost more for a simulator than for a live animal in terms of initial outlay, but you can only use that animal once, you can use the simulator repeatedly. So over the course of time, it's better," he said. |