Training operation
Training operationIDF spokesperson

For decades, paratroopers have been known for their ability to carry out complex missions deep inside enemy territory.

After carrying out extended operational tasks in the Samaria Regional Brigade, the soldiers of Red Brigade's patrol battalion recently embarked on a unique operation designed to train the special abilities the unit is known for

The paratroopers trained in scenarios involving landing deep in enemy territory and stealthily approaching structures to carry out operations. This is regular offensive activity in the area, which has been carried out frequently in recent months and has been combined with training for the next military conflict.

The soldiers deployed from four Yasur helicopters which landed deep in the 'enemy territory' in total darkness among olive groves. Afterwards, they went down operationally and orderly as they had prepared in advance from the aircraft and joined forces with the various other helicopters.

גדוד הסיור של הצנחנים במבצע מיוחד בשומרון

"It's not like getting on a jeep and going to the destination," said Captain Amir Puri, commander of the company's raven company. "You have to know how to get up and down from a helicopter, how to behave in it, and how to connect with the rest of the forces right on landing, when you are in total darkness, in foreign territory and every critical moment."

During the flight the decision was made to change the landing of one of the helicopters, a decision designed to demonstrate difficulties encountered in real time. "You go out of a closed box to a world you never visited, and you have to understand in a few moments where you are, where the forces you need to connect with and how to act without being detected and thwart the mission," said Captain Puri.

"During Operation Protective Edge, enough that you looked back and could see the border fence. If someone, God forbid, was hurt, you knew that in a short time an armored vehicle would arrive and evacuated," Captain Puri added. It won't be like this in the territory of an enemy state. and the soldiers of the patrol battalion will have to fight even harder to strike the enemy with greatest possible force.

"On the other hand, they will have to maintain their personal safety and avoid unnecessary skirmishes or actions that could endanger the integrity of the mission, for which the soldiers volunteered for the reconnaissance battalion and for this purpose we carried out the exercise."

The training, the unit emphasizes, has greatly helped the soldiers understand the challenges they will face in the missions of the type they practiced in the operation and raised their confidence. "The soldiers of the Raven Company in particular and the brigade's reconnaissance battalion in general are the best fighters I have ever seen," Captain Pori boasted. "These are soldiers who are looking for the challenge and are ready for it, so I am sure that on the day they arrive, they will prove to all the citizens of Israel that there is someone to rely on," he said.