Reporters are being trained to cover the Republican Convention like a 'war zone'

For the price of $1,195, journalists headed to Cleveland for the Republican National Convention can go into the affair with the kinds of skills needed to report in a war zone. Paul Burton, the training director for Global Journalist Security, usually counsels photographers and writers preparing to enter conflict zones like Afghanistan and Iraq, but he recently offered a special course to journalists covering the Republican convention in Cleveland, The New Yorker reports.

A retired British commando, Burton served in the invasion of the Falkland Islands and ran operations in Northern Ireland before joining Global Journalist Security. "Trump's supporters have been primed to be aggressive," the former military man told his students. "We've got a feeling something may happen, especially if Trump doesn't get what he wants."

Training included learning jiu-jitsu moves as well as how to treat burns, breaks, and chest wounds. Burton also walked his students through simulated conventions, rallies, and Black Lives Matter protests:

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Desperate times do indeed call for desperate measures, it seems. Read more about how journalists and photographers are preparing for the convention in The New Yorker.