Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz ordered two Israel Defence Forces reserve companies to mobilize in an impromptu drill on Wednesday, testing their speed and readiness for facing a surprise enemy attack. The exercise ended on Thursday. "Troops are generally given advance notice of several months for snap exercises, but this time they were called up without any advance warning at all. The percentage of soldiers who responded to the call was 90 percent, while 100% of the officers showed up. The timing, just before Yom Kippur, was not incidental," Ground Forces Commander Col. Shlomi Feuer said. Gantz was on hand at the drill to supervise from up close. "To win a war, you have to know how to take up positions, to shoot, to maneuver, to charge, to move at night on foot, and to approach the target," Gantz told officers at the Pilon base in the north. "The reality around us is not stable, and we have to make sure that we are as prepared as we can possibly be."
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