Israel Training Logistics Cadets to Avoid 2006 War Mistakes, be Ready for Future Conflict

The Israeli army has revamped a training program for army logistics cadets to prepare them for any future war in Lebanon or the Gaza Strip and to avoid a repeat of failures in the 2006 conflict with Hizbullah.

The Jerusalem Post said the two-week exercise placed around 180 cadets in simulated combat conditions, in a bid to avoid the same critical logistics failures experienced by the Israeli army in the July war of 2006 with Hizbullah.

Col. Eli Gilad, commander of the Logistics Training Center, located at the Ground Forces Training Center in southern Israel, said the program prepares cadets who carry out key wartime functions, such as refueling armored vehicles and ensuring a fresh supply of ammunition, to ensure that ground forces could continue to operate.

“One of the lessons of the Second Lebanon War is that there was insufficient training for logistics units,” Gilad said.

“Our conclusion was to set up a training cycle, just like the one that exists in the Armored Corps. A regular, set period of training, to reach professional standards,” he said.

“These officers are far more prepared for war than their predecessors after this,” Gilad told the Post. “They need to be ready for any front, be it Syria, Gaza, or Lebanon.”