IDF to train all infantry sub-squad commanders as sappers

As part of the lessons learned from Operation Protective Edge, all infantry sub-squad commanders will undergo training as battle engineers and learn how to handle explosives. The training will allow them, in the next war, to better cope with the type of urban combat in which booby-trapped structures and objects are the norm. Training for the current class of sub-squad commanders was already underway at the IDF's School for Infantry Corps Professions and Squad Commanders in southern Israel.

The Israel Defense Forces has pondered the idea of "spreading" engineering capabilities throughout its infantry brigades for quite some time already, so that soldiers in the urban battlefield can independently defuse bombs and booby-trapped homes without needing to wait for an engineering force to clear the path.

The decision will eventually lead to the abolishment of specialized engineering units currently attached to infantry battalions. Until now, aside from the specialized engineering units, only squad commanders (who are officers) were trained and authorized to handle explosives, meaning that often times they were preoccupied with the engineering task instead of commanding their troops.

Sub-squad commanders will be taught the new skills through a specially designed training program plan called "Sapper 01." Within the framework of the new program they will learn, among other things, how to administer plastic explosives, deploy remote detonation and mine-clearing line charges, and to breach walls.

There are between 1,000 and 1,200 soldiers in each new class of sub-squad commanders, meaning that altogether about 3,500 soldiers will receive the engineering training every year. The IDF's goal is for every infantry squad to be comprised of a commander, sergeant and three sub-squad commanders, each with the ability to handle explosives.

Maj. Tomer Meltzman, the operations officer at the school, said, "The initiative has been in the works for the past year, and stems from the lessons learned in Protective Edge. During the operation there were missions that required elements of sapping, entrance breaching and using simple explosives. From operational inquiries we learned there is a gap in the area of engineering, and the idea came about to train sub-squad commanders for simple engineering tasks."

Maj. Itai Bar, who heads the sapper department at the Military Engineering School, said, "During Protective Edge, 12 soldiers were killed as a result of explosives and booby-traps. This is a need that arose from the field -- to give squads engineering capabilities to overcome simple booby-traps. The army's engineering force is limited in size and [soldiers in combat] cannot wait for an engineering unit to provide a solution. Today, in the context of modern warfare, the threat posed by improvised bombs and booby-trapped structures is high, and this is what we will encounter in the future war."

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