Dumb Brutes

Apparently there are differences between wounded quadrupeds and wounded human beings that even the military mind cannot altogether overlook. Training of American military medics will no longer include the shooting of animals to simulate battlefield injuries; although the pleasures of stabbing, burning and bludgeoning, and the scientific joys of critter-testing new hardware, will not be withdrawn. A retired naval doctor noted the difficulty in replicating the experience of treating a genuine human being; which presumably explains why there are as yet no publicly acknowledged plans to offer medical trainees the opportunity of practicing on non-Christians, immigrants or Democrats.