Mock Iraqi Villages in Mojave Prepare Troops for Battle
Ann Johansson for The New York Times
At the Mojave base, Iraqi expatriates pretend to be civilians in Iraq,
as in this scene in a make-believe home. Most are terrified of having
their identities publicized, lest family members be killed by insurgents
back home. More Photos >
by DEXTER FILKINS and JOHN F. BURNS
Published: May 1, 2006
FORT IRWIN, Calif. — Three years into the conflict in Iraq, the front
line in the American drive to prepare troops for insurgent warfare runs
through a cluster of mock Iraqi villages deep in the Mojave Desert,
nearly 10,000 miles from the realities awaiting the soldiers outside
Baghdad and Mosul and Falluja.
Out here, 150 miles northeast of Los Angeles, units of the 10th Mountain
Division from Fort Drum, N.Y., are among the latest war-bound troops who
have gone through three weeks of training that introduce them to the
harsh episodes that characterize the American experience in Iraq.
cont'd...
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/01/world/americas/01insurgency.html?_r=1&oref=slogin