Paratroopers building 'Palestinian town' for training

By YAAKOV KATZ
In line with lessons learned from the Second Lebanon War, the Paratroopers Brigade will soon complete the construction of two new training facilities which commanders hope will improve the proficiency of soldiers in urban and guerrilla warfare. The two facilities are being built at the brigade's main training base near the town of Shomeriya just north of Beersheba and under the direction of base commander Lt.-Col. Yaniv Alaluf. The first facility is an urban warfare training facility which the brigade will use to train new recruits in urban warfare and how to maneuver inside Palestinian and Lebanese villages. The center, built like a Palestinian town with small concrete structures, is being built inside the base's firing zone. "Our main emphasis in training is on conventional warfare," a senior commander in the brigade said Sunday. "But there is also a need to train for urban settings. We saw this in Lebanon and we continue to see it today in the West Bank." Until now, the brigade has sent its soldiers to the Ze'elim Base, where a mock Palestinian town was recently built including some 400 structures, a four-story building and a mosque with a towering minaret. All new recruits in the brigade go through seven-and-a-half months of basic and advanced training, including two weeks in the urban warfare center. The second facility under construction is a ground forces simulator which the brigade is building for soldiers to be able to drill their responses to a variety of simulated scenarios, including attacks on roadblocks and raids on Palestinian homes. "An entire platoon will be able to go inside and using laser guns practice their conduct in a variety of scenarios," the officer said.