The female soldiers who serve in the Hummer Operators’ Unit – there are no male Hummer Operators – spend their days in the field, training other soldiers how to use military Hummer vehicles in real-life combat scenarios. The training they provide includes how to drive a Hummer on various surfaces and landscapes, avoiding the enemy line of fire, and operating the Hummer using various systems.
Every week, the Unit receives a new group of combat soldiers, mostly reservists and some active-duty soldiers. The Operators use their Hummers to demonstrate how to drive the military vehicles while the group of soldiers participates in the simulated combat drills. The Operators take part and participate in the battalion and brigade exercises just like any soldier.
In order to show the soldiers what real combat is actually like in the field, without exposing them to the danger of real ammunition, the instructors use a sophisticated system of lasers and laser-sensitive sensors, called the “MILES System” (“Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System”).
Rather than being loaded with ammunition, the MILES System is connected to lasers. Laser-sensitive sensors are then placed at strategic points around the Hummer and are connected to a computer.
Different colors signify if a vehicle has “hit” or has been hit. “Red” means that the vehicle has been struck severely (for example, if the vehicle has been shot in the motor), and “green” means lightly hit (for example, if the vehicle has been hit in the wheel). Through this laser system, the Operators are able to effectively simulate a combat experience as closely as possible.
The IDF’s Hummer Operators’ Unit is the only all-female unit of Hummer Operators in any army in the world.
