July 28, 2008

In preparation for deployment, the 25th Infantry Division is conducting live tissue training on pigs. (Pet Pulse Photo Illustration by Mike Lloyd)

NEW YORK -- The Army has recently come under fire for a “live tissue training” exercise that is being conducted on animals by the 25th Infantry Division based at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.

Scheduled to deploy to Iraq later this year, the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, is currently rotating through a week-long training that allows soldiers to perform medical procedures for typical battlefield wounds on anesthetized pigs.

“In preparation for our deployment and knowing that we are going into a combat environment, and knowing the kind of injuries that the soldier will face,” Major Derrick Cheng said for the reason behind the training. “It makes a tremendous difference, with anyone who I have talked to about the training because there is no simulation that replicates what this did for them.”

However, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals disagrees.

"Shooting and maiming pigs is as outdated as Civil War rifles," Kathy Guillermo said in PETA press release.

PETA says there are more advanced and humane options available, including high-tech human simulators. The group urged the Army to end all use of animals, “as the overwhelming majority of North American medical schools have already done.”

While PETA had hoped its protest would draw enough attention to have the training cancelled, the LTT began around Friday, July 18.

Cheng says the exercise continues because simulators don’t recreate battlefield conditions.

“The simulations are set up more for medical treatments to be done in a medical facility like an ICU,” Cheng said. “PETA brings up the point that we have to get the soldiers into trauma units (for training), but you can’t have a soldier who has only a combat lifesaver’s training working in a hospital.

“You don’t have those things in the middle of a battlefield. At that time you are just dealing with the wounds to stabilize the soldier to get them to a hospital.”

The pigs, provided by a contractor, are anesthetized prior to the exercise and are supervised by a veterinarian according to the USDA Animal Welfare Act and Animal Welfare Regulations.

Cheng also says The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee reviewed the training, which was approved after the group determined it was in accordance with established animal use protocols.

In the exercise, the pigs are maimed by gunshot wounds which the soldiers then treat accordingly, working to save the animals. Despite however successful the troops’ treatments are, Cheng says it is a terminal outcome for the pigs.

Though Hawaii has a wild pig problem, Cheng could not specify from where the pigs come from or how many pigs are killed.

According to PETA, it learned of the exercise through a soldier, and claims the training is stressful for troops who could associate the pigs to their pets.

Cheng contends the open-door policy allows soldiers to bring concerns up the chain of command, but also says “each individual looks at it differently.”

“But we will not force the soldiers through a training they are not comfortable with,” Cheng said. “Most of the soldiers volunteer for it because they see the value in it. They see it as worthwhile.”

So worthwhile, that Cheng says of the 3,500 troops readying for deployment only a minority can go through the training -- despite countless others who want to but can’t due to scheduling conflicts with other exercises and a lack of availability.

“The soldiers absolutely feel more confident and prepared to perform their duties,” Cheng said of the training’s results.

Although Cheng could not quote quantifications on the training’s success, the Journal of Surgical Education published a study last year which found live tissue exercises to be more effective training.

The “Training Physicians for Combat Casualty Care on the Modern Battlefied” researchers stated in their results that confidence levels went up for non-surgical medical professionals who completed a live-tissue exercise. Based on Likert Scale responses of one being not confident and five being confident, the professionals went from an average of 2.3 before the exercise to 3.9 after it.

Illinois large animal veterinarian Dwight Arnett knows first hand how true this research is.

“When seconds do count, you fall back on your training, and while I am sensitive to those issues of large animal pain, there is no substitute for real life experience,” said Arnett, who also is a former paramedic.

“With a penetrating abdominal wound, it is going to make all the difference in the world,” Arnett said. “But having been in those situations with people who have been shot in the head or in the abdomen, one thing the training does is get you over the shock of coming across a wound like that … the psychological shock of dealing with that can trip you up … while dealing with a human is different -- and nothing can prepare you for that -- this would be good training to get you ready for that.”

The likeness of swine to the human anatomy is what makes the live tissue training so effective says Arnett.

“For along time swine have been used for medical training because the tissue of a swine is relatively the same,” Arnett said, which is important for teaching IV access, certain surgical airway procedures and sutures skills.

Cheng says that if there was a better training method than pigs, the Army would be using it.

“We would be remiss if we didn’t provide our soldiers with the best training possible, and currently this is,” Cheng said. “And if one soldier is saved from this training, how can you tell me that that is not worth it?”

Although the Army does not keep formal records on how many soldiers have been saved due to the training, a user on the Honolulu Star Bulletin’s Web site commented, “I have been through this training and I have also served three combat tours.”

“I can speak from experience when I say that Soldiers respect the animal’s life and understand the value of the training they receive,” said user “US Patriot” of Bainbridge, Wash. “I have friends who are still alive because of the training I learned in this training.”

This deployment will be the division’s second since 2006, having just returned from northern Iraq in late 2007. The division will maintain security work with Iraqi forces for at least 12 months, deploying before the end of 2008.

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