Australian troops are being trained to be ready for the worst if they’re captured by the enemy, according to Right Thinking.
Read Lee’s post in full. Towards the end he notes some protests over this training in Australia, and adds:
I remember when I was in navy boot camp. As part of our CBR (chemical, biological, and radiological) training they had us wearing gas masks, put us in a room full of tear gas, and had us take the masks off. Now, I am sure that putting a prisoner in a room full of tear gas to coerce him into talking is a violation of the Geneva Conventions, should I have complained?
I have a related story. When I worked on the San Diego Union as a reporter I was assigned a stint covering the Marine base Camp Pendleton (a great beat to cover). I did a story on the Devil Pups camp — the camp for high schoolers where they are subjected to Marine training. The Marines suggested I go through the tear gas chamber wearing a gas mask to see what it was like. So I put the mask on, the Marines nodded at each other, I entered the gas chamber — and the mask leaked.
I was later told that someone intentionally gave me a leaky mask to give me a feel of what it’s REALLY like out there in the field (and for a few laughs). Somewhere I have a picture of me sitting by a car with tears streaming down my face. And to be honest it WAS enlightening..and definitely added to my education!
PS: I have enormous respect for the Marines after covering that wonderful beat. One story dealt with how diligently Camp Pendleton worked to preserve the base’s pristine environment with all its plant and animal life. A slew of stories were nuts-and-bolts breaking reports on the base’s successful efforts to resist efforts by nearby Oceanside to annex it. And my favorite story was on the first fast food chain restaurant ever opened on a military base…the opening of McDonald’s…compete with the late Ray Kroc proudly zipping around in his motorized wheel chair — and Ronald McDonald conducting an embarrassed Marine Band in a chorus of “You Deserve A Break Today.”
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.