Asymmetric Military

CNN.

HONOLULU, Hawaii (AP) -- Animal-rights activists want the United States to stop using animals as subjects to help train its military, calling the medical and trauma exercises cruel and a disservice to the troops.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent a letter Monday to Defense Secretary Robert Gates asking him to replace the use of animals with non-animal methods such as human simulators.

PETA seems reasonable this time. If the Army can use an alternative, it should; we shouldn't use animals just for fun.

I was wondering about this battle, in which nine brave (overused sometimes, I'm sure, but not here) Americans lost their lives defending an outpost, after I heard it in the news. Here is its recounting. The last paragraph, first and then the rest under the fold:

"It was some of the bravest stuff I’ve ever seen in my life, and I will never see it again because those guys," Stafford said, then paused. "Normal humans wouldn’t do that. You’re not supposed to do that — getting up and firing back when everything around you is popping and whizzing and trees, branches coming down and sandbags exploding and RPGs coming in over your head … It was a fistfight then, and those guys held ’ em off."

Stafford offered a guess as to why his fellow soldiers fought so hard.

"Just hardcoreness I guess," he said. "Just guys kicking ass, basically. Just making sure that we look scary enough that you don’t want to come in and try to get us."

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