This was on CNN today. Soldiers are building replicas of several Bosnian villages including a cemetary. They are buidkling these in the Rocky Mountains near Denver for the purpose of training soldiers to fight in these villages.

We have been in Bosnia for several years. Why is it necessary to build replicas at this time? Could this be the start of a relocation program. It sounds far fetched and unbeleivable but then a lot has/is happening that is unbeleivable.

I know this is off topic but wanted to get others thought. URL can be found at CNN.

-- Linda A. (adahi@muhlon.com), April 19, 1999

Answers

uh, Linda, it's the start of something, but not relocation - my bet is that they're building are mockups for urban combat drills - in other words they build something that is relatively similar to the actual sorts of villages, in similar terrain, to what they would find in Bosnia, or for that matter in it's neighbor *ahem* serbia *ahem*...

so much for assurances of no ground war, eh?

Arlin

-- Arlin H. Adams (ahadams@ix.netcom.com), April 19, 1999.

They are to be completed by June.

Could it be the US will be taking a lot of refugees and relocating to an area that is similar to their homelands. Many of the refugees have expressed a lack of interest in relocation because they want to go home.

-- Linda A. (adahi@muhlon.com), April 19, 1999.

Linda,

I agree with Arlin. The building of mockups is common practice prior to "swat team" deployment, or even special combat patrol assignment. This was done all the time in training execises for Vietnam.

-- Gordon (gpconnolly@aol.com), April 19, 1999.

if they were going to relocate anybody they'd do it the same way they did to the Hmong - drop them in relocation centers and holding camps, then farm them out to local communities. Relocating folks from a rural agrarian society to the US, even the rural US requires a LOT of support to the refugees in a number of different areas - the *last* thing they would do would be to dump them in isolation - especially when there would already be large percentages of the refugees exhibiting PTSD-type symptoms. Whoever suggested to you that the mock-ups were to be used for relocation didn't know anything about dealing with refugees...

Arlin

-- Arlin H. Adams (ahadams@ix.netcom.com), April 19, 1999.

One wonders if the observers are capable of discerning "mock-ups", "Potemkin Villages" (typically the same thing), or relo sites. there would be SERIOUS differences. Not havein seen teh CNN article, I wonder if the mock-ups had backs as well as fronts and sides, floors etc.

I have my doubts that CNN has a lot of folks that can see the differences.

Chuck

-- chuck, a Night Driver (rienzoo@en.com), April 20, 1999.

Chuck -

practice villages generally would have walls and all around, and some will have interior walls, doors etc, similar to the real structures they are attempting to simulate. What they will NOT have will be things like glass in the windows; running water (you might see a faucet and a sink, but it wouldn't be connected to anything); or wells - you might see a pump on a pipe coming out of the ground, but again not connected to anything; wiring from power poles to individual buildings, or any of that sort of thing.

These sorts of mockups are designed to confront soldiers with all of the stuff (gates, doors, interior walls of buildings, steps, and so on) that they will have to deal with in a real combat environment.

Arlin

-- Arlin H. Adams (ahadams@ix.netcom.com), April 20, 1999.

The CNN story was mostly a "PR Flack Piece." Many of these sites of various sizes have existed for years at most infantry posts, and training centers around the country and throughout Europe. Ft Benning in Columbus, Georgia has an entire village. Another is at Ft Hood, Texas in Killeen. Some are mere mock-ups, others are a building or two, while the best are an entire village to include complete sewer systems. Some are made out of tires for live fire exercises, but the most common utilize laser harnesses called "Miles" which sound a small beep at a near miss, or a shrill alarm clock type noise when a soldier is hit. Actual "eyesafe" lasers are used, to simulate actual firing of weapons. Each laser is mounted on the end of a rifle barrel and is designed to simulate the actual range of the weapon that is being fired. Similar to paint ball warehouses now popular for kids. This training is quite effective! When combined with smoke and other training aids it can be quite real. The principal purpose of these sites is to save "our" soldiers lives when they meet the real thing, so they don't do stupid things like throw a grenade up the stairs only to have it bounce right back down into their own laps. This type of training is called "MOUT" Training which is Military Operations in Urban Terrain. Most "grunts" are required to do several days of this training each year. Rehearsals are the name of the game whether your about to take a machine gun nest or preparing for Y2K and you just bought a new generator and you have no experience with one. View this training as a sports team practicing their "plays" before the big game. Only difference is a blown play or coverage for these guys means death! Such sites are also used by fire departments, ambulance crews, medial and search and rescue personnel. Police and FBI can use for hostage type scenarios. No conspiracies involved with these sites whatsoever, just go solid training that we should all be proud of! Even excellent for earthquake response.

-- (snowleopard6@webtv.net), April 20, 1999.