This article is provided
courtesy of Stars & Stripes, which
got its start as a newspaper for Union troops
during the Civil War, and has been published
continuously since 1942 in Europe and 1945
in the Pacific. Stripes reporters have
been in the field with American soldiers,
sailors and airmen in World War II, Korea,
the Cold War, Vietnam, the Gulf War, Bosnia
and Kosovo, and are now on assignment in the
Middle East.
Stars and Stripes has one of the widest distribution
ranges of any newspaper in the world. Between
the Pacific and European editions, Stars
& Stripes services over 50 countries
where there are bases, posts, service members,
ships, or embassies.
A group of "demonstrators," who seconds before had been chanting,
"Hell no, we won’t go," react to the taser on Wednesday. One
probe attached to the soldiers at opposite ends was effective
on all five (Photo by Rick Emert, Stars and Stripes).
BAMBERG, Germany — It’s shocking what some soldiers will go through
to get training.
About 25 soldiers from the 793rd Military Police Battalion in Bamberg
knew their M26 Taser training would include a written test in the
morning.
But the MPs got more than they bargained for in the afternoon session.
Every soldier who attended the training had to experience a burst
from the Taser, which operates on 50,000 volts and 26 watts but very
low amps, which means there is five seconds of pain but the electrical
current is completely safe, according to Eric Niver, U.S. Army Europe
Non-Lethal Weapons action officer.
Mandatory exposure to the Taser is an Army policy meant to show trainees
how the burst feels and how effective it is in controlling riotous
or unruly people, Niver said.
“The Taser effectively incapacitates a person without causing harm
to the suspect or the police officer,” Niver said.
The burst from the Taser causes electrical muscular disruption — the
suspect loses control of all muscular function for five seconds, Niver
said. However, there are no long-term effects, other than the possibility
of small pin-sized burns where the probes penetrate the skin.
The Taser is safe even on people
with pacemakers, Niver said.
“At a convention I attended for the X26 Taser, [a smaller but more
powerful version], a guy took a hit and mentioned afterward that he
had recently had triple bypass surgery,” Niver said. “He was fine.
It is a perfectly safe, effective tool to control a potentially dangerous
situation.”
Sgt. Ted Morrison, center, goes down after a burst from the
M26 Taser during training Wednesday while being supported by
Sgt. Miguel Espinoza, left, and Sgt. Joseph Ward, right. The
taser’s five second blast makes it impossible for a "suspect"
to stand (Photo by Rick Emert, Stars and Stripes).
The Taser’s firing cartridge has two probes
attached to 21-foot wires. Once fired, the probes need only penetrate
a person’s clothing to be effective.
Several of the soldiers took full hits from the Taser, with the probes
being fired at them from about eight feet away. Others had the probes
attached to their uniforms and experienced the burst that way.
“I didn’t feel the probes hit,” said Master Sgt. Jeffrey Palmer, who
volunteered to take a full hit, with the probes fired at him. “It
was the initial shock that took me down. I lost track of time. You
cannot move, and you can feel that shock moving through your entire
body.”
Immediately after the hit, however, Palmer was able to stand on his
own.
“This is an excellent tool, and definitely a nonlethal tool,” Palmer
said. “With proper training, like we got here today, this could end
a really bad situation without an MP having to pull his weapon.”
Sgt. Joseph Ward said the Taser is long overdue.
“I’ve been in bad situations before where, if I had had something
like this, the situation would have gone away,” Ward said, adding
that being exposed to the Taser’s burst would be a one-time thing
for him. “It felt like something I never want to experience again.”
Almost everyone at the site, even members of the unit who didn’t take
the course, voluntarily took hits from the Taser as a show of support
that would have made the cast of “Jackass” proud.
