The US military will stop its practice of shooting pigs and goats to help prepare medics for treating wounded troops in a combat zone, ending an exercise made obsolete by simulators that mimic battlefield injuries.
The prohibition on “live fire” training that includes animals is part of this year’s annual defense bill, although other uses of animals for wartime training will continue. The ban was championed by Vern Buchanan, a Republican congressman from Florida who often focuses on animal rights issues.
Buchanan’s office said the defense department will continue to allow training that involves stabbing, burning and using blunt instruments on animals, while also allowing “weapon wounding”, which is when the military tests weapons on animals. Animal rights groups say the animals are supposed to be anesthetized during such training and testing.
It’s about psychology under fire. The doctors that treat gunshot wounds in a safe, secure ER don’t have to be trained to do so in life threatening situations when the patient can’t be moved to a secure location.
EMTs -do- sometimes experience this, and as someone who knows a former EMT, the experience is psychologically devistating when you’re there on-scene watching someone die.
I would never advocate for causing harm or distress in the name of training. That said, if you needed to desensitize an 18yo wannabe doctor, sticking him in a field with a bunch of pigs, where a drill instructor shoots one right next to them and they have to stabilize the wound right away… Yeah, that’s probably really good training for that specific role…