I am a faculty member at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine and also at the Virginia Tech/Carilion School of Medicine.  I support the proposal to allow DVM candidates to experience hands-on practical work as early as possible in their career.  MD students at the VTCSOM begin rotations in clinics after only two years in didactic classroom instruction, and there is every reason to allow DVM students to do the same.  Students in both schools study the same subjects and utilize the same techniques, therapies, and instrumentation.  The old saying "There is only one medicine" applies; and students who are (as ours are) throughly grounded in the basics can learn a great deal by seeing practice and working with a veterinarian treating actual patients.   This proposal has the support of our Academic Affairs Office, and with good reason: it will get our students to the level of competency they must attain to succeed faster and more effectively than the current system of mandating they be in their final year.