14 December 2001

Ths is a set of pop-up, human-form targets for the ranges at the army camp we visited. They've built an entire village of hollowed out buildings, a gas station, schoolhouse, chemical storage area, wrecked cars, buses, helicopters, and planes. The whole thing is controlled from a tower on top of the tallest building. It's one of the best urban assault training programs in the country. They even have a "sewer trainer" - a series of tunnels going all over the place. Next thing they're planning to do is to install video cameras at every corner so the teams can study their training exercises and learn where they could do better. The new homeland defense initiative willl make this a busier place than usual during the coming year.

Despite the gruesomeness of these "human targets," it's nice to know the military department is getting good practice.

DWL