Is re-training to ride a motorcycle ever necessary?

In response to possible efforts to require Navy personnel to re-train in a basic rider course every two years. How long will it be before your Division of Motor Vehicles requires refresher training as well?

There are some real comparisons between the risks a soldier, sailor, or Marine would experience in combat and those risk many motorcyclists experience every single day they ride.

Prior to combat the military is trained at a basic level and upon exposure to combat they refine or adjust their skills for the environment they are in.

Similarly motorcyclists typically receive basic motorcycle training and are exposed to the risks they will have to accept to continue driving.

These risks are similar in that after a year or two of experience both the soldier and the rider are fairly adept at operating in their environment. Keeping in mind that, that adeptness may not be enough, in either situation, one can die instantly even if they are doing everything perfectly. Imagine how often they are doing everything perfectly?

So you have two experienced persons in similar environments operating with skills that those who are not exposed to can not understand. While the soldier may only spend 2-4 years in combat a motorcycle rider will typically ride most of his life so a  rider's exposure is much higher.

To require an experienced motorcyclist to be removed from traffic and learn in a parking lot is like taking an experienced soldier out of a fire fight to teach him how to fight in combat.

Am I confused?

Mark C. Carroll