Commander's Course

This past week soldiers were chosen to go to a course to learn how to command a hooliya, small group (4 people). From my team there were 6 people that were chosen, and for some reason I was chosen. Not that I don't think it is something I could do, but I was surprised that they felt my Hebrew was good enough. Harrison was also chosen to go, but in the end he couldn't go because of his concussion.

We spent two days in the field learning how to storm a hill with a small group. It is almost exactly what we had done before, except we also learned about all of the different jobs that people have within the team. For example, there is a sharp shooter, someone with a machine gun, someone with a grenade launcher, and so on. In addition to learning how to control the movements, we also learned how each person works sith their particular job. The sharp shooter, for instance, is used to judge the distances so that the commander can decide whether to shoot a grenade, throw a grenade, charge, and so on.

We were supposed to stay in the field an extra day, but the soldiers who did not go to the course were on the base doing guard duty and they were short on replacements. After we got back to the base I got the chance to practice what we learned in the simulator. We had three simulations on hills and different outdoor locations and our fourth simulation was in a neighborhood in which we were placed on the roof of a nearby building. This I think was by far one of the coolest things I have done since I have been in the army. It felt somewhat like a video game, but we were shouting out orders and there was someone with a headset speaking with someone else in the control room that simulated what it is like to talk with other groups in the field.