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Shomryyi Southern Infantry Training Base

The Israeli Army has a new training area, with assistance from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Israeli Ministry of Defense Director Gen. Amos Yaron, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer, and Brig. Gen. Bo Temple, commander of North Atlantic Division, cut the ribbon 15 July 2003 for the Southern Infantry Training Base in Israel, completing the first of three installations built under the Wye River Memorandum program. This first of the bases set a positive focus for the program. It showed that the Corps with its partners can deliver a quality product. We've done that to great success, and to the customer's great satisfaction.

The base construction is one of the concrete steps lined out in the 1998 agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority signed at Wye River, MD. Funding for the bases ($266 million, with $42 million of that for the Southern Infantry Training Base) was included in the fiscal year 2000 Consolidated Appropriation Act as a Foreign Military Sales case authorized under the Arms Export Control Act.

Thanks to the new bases, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) training activities in the West Bank can relocate to within Israel, reducing West Bank tensions. Paratroopers of the 35th Brigade occupied the base just two years after ground was broken.

Construction began mid-May 2001 on the Southern Infantry Training Base situated near Shomryyi, about 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) north of Beersheva in the Negev desert region. Although delayed by two of the worst winters on record for the region, and the precautionary withdrawal of U.S. personnel during Operation Iraqi Freedom, key facilities and infrastructure were all ready a month-and-a-half ahead of the contract completion date.

The Israelis were able to move in before the contract completion date and begin training because the core facilities and systems were ready. Construction was done as a joint venture by Solol-Boneh and Minrav Holdings Ltd. Goldberg said the contractor adapted well to the Corps way of doing business and received high compliments from the Israeli Ministry of Defense (MoD).

Under the Wye River program, the Europe District Israel Program Office also managed the construction of a Northern Infantry Training Base near Hadera for the Golani Brigade, plus a reserve division storage base east of Tel Aviv. The Northern Infantry Training Base mirrors the southern base in design, but was modified for a hilltop location beside to an existing Israel Defense Forces training camp. All of the installations are of Israeli design.

As the first major military construction project the Corps has done in Israel since building Ovda and Ramon Air Bases in 1979-1982, the Corps has benefited from the Southern Infantry Training Base experience. The Southern Infantry Training Base is a perfect example of a successful project delivery team (PDT) engagement and execution. In addition to the Corps elements, the PDT included the IDF project manager, IDF-managed Israeli designers, and the Ministry Of Defense Construction Department providing supplemental quality assurance support and in-country administrative assistance with the Israeli government.

The 10 company quarters areas, company headquarters, staff housing, and all the support facilities of the Southern Infantry Training Base are located in one of the isolated military reserve areas that the Israelis use for training. The Southern Infantry Training Base is a new concept in facilities for the Israelis in terms of design and quality. Unlike other Israeli bases that have been built piecemeal over time, this base is a first-class facility designed to fit into the overall training concept for fighting companies. The facility houses infantry trainees together for both basic and advanced training to benefit unit cohesion.

All of the Israeli design and planning team members in the project had served in the Israeli Army, many with combat experience. They said they were building the base for their children, based on their experiences in training and combat. IDF Logistics Branch Construction Center designers considered the psychological aspects of training a cohesive infantry company, and the impression the design and layout of the facility will make upon trainees.

While most of the southern base is straightforward vertical construction, all of the infrastructure (potable water, fire suppression, electricity, communications, sewer lines, and drainage culverts) had to be built before any buildings were begun. The installation's positioning across a narrow hill valley, bisected by a rainy season stream called a wadi, required that a giant culvert be installed beneath the site and 360,000 cubic meters of earth and stone to be drilled, blasted, and dug from the hillsides. Three-quarters of that material was re-used as fill low places, and to build berms for 14 fire-and-maneuver lanes in two ranges that are part of the base.

Topsoil from the cuts was saved and stones were crushed into gravel on-site for compaction into pads to serve as level foundations for buildings. But the base itself is by no means flat -- facilities are positioned at varied elevations. Although the base's mission is utilitarian, aesthetics were also considered. The MoD/IDF design incorporates regional style with cut stone facades along the main street, and rooftops designed to hide unsightly air conditioning units.

Compared to training locations now used, the Southern Infantry Training Base and its sister base, the Northern Infantry Training Base, have larger rooms, more barracks space, more common use areas, a larger, more efficient dining facility, a gymnasium, and running track. Nevertheless, it is their new locations within Israel that trainees and their families will most appreciate.