Yom Kippur War anniversary: IDF drafts reserves in drill

Surprise drill held to prepare reservists for possible emergency call-up; officer says it's coincidence it took place on eve of Yom Kippur.

By YAAKOV KATZ
Israeli reserve soldiers 311 (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
Israeli reserve soldiers 311
(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
Thirty-eight years after the Yom Kippur War broke out, the IDF held a surprise drill on Thursday for two reservist divisions in an effort to prepare the Reserve Corps for possible emergency call-up orders.
The drill was overseen by IDF Chief of General-Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz, and included units from the Northern Command and the Central Command.RELATED:1973 war taught us ‘not to fall in love with our own ideas' 'If we call up reservists, the world will say we attacked'
“We live in an unstable reality, and the potential that something will happen is a given,” Gantz told the reservists. “We need to ensure that we are prepared as best as we can be.”
The IDF Ground Forces Command’s Col.
Shlomi Feuer called the drill “rare,” explaining that units usually received a warning of several months before holding such an exercise.
“The drill is intended to prepare the IDF in the face of the growing instability in the region,” Foyer said. “This is a rare occurrence and it was not just a coincidence that it happened today, on the eve of Yom Kippur and the anniversary of the war.”
During the drill, he continued, “The General Staff passed on emergency call-up orders to the Northern Command and Central Command, which in return issued orders to the divisions, brigades and then on to the relevant battalions.”
“The goal is to cut down the amount of time it takes for a reservist to be drafted – to reach the emergency warehouses to receive their equipment and to be prepared for combat,” Feuer said.