page_title: Nahal Brigade
section_title: Training
hierarchical_section_title: Nahal Brigade / Training
caption_attribution_description: Ceremony of receiving berets. IDF Nahal brigade.Zeremonie zur Verleihung der grünen Baretts. (Nachal-Brigarde der Israelischen Verteidigungstreitkräfte) טקס הענקת הכומתה הירוקה של גדודי חטיבת הנח"ל
context_page_description: The 933rd "Nahal" Brigade is one of the Israel Defense Forces main infantry brigades.
context_section_description: Nahal Infantry Brigade soldiers undertake around four months of basic training and around four months of advanced training in the Israeli desert.
  Basic training: consists primarily of physical conditioning, Krav Maga, rifle training and the qualifying obstacle course. Recruits begin their desert marches at this point in order to prepare them for their beret march at the end of advanced training (70+ kilometers, depending on company). These marches are performed fully kitted in order to prepare them for battlefield marching. Rifle training aims to perfect recruits' day and night shooting skills prior to advanced training. Recruits will also undergo two-man team live firing exercises in the field. Weapon understanding and maintenance is also an important element of basic rifle training. Recruits are taught army values and weapon safety and responsibility. Recruits are also introduced to long field exercises in the desert. There they will learn to survive for the first time on combat rations, limited water, extreme desert heat, sleep deprivation, and field injuries all while being subjected to intense physical activity. Camouflage, fortification construction, combat first aid, and stealth maneuvering will also be taught at this stage.
  Advanced training: recruits undergo specialist combat training. This part of the training will primarily take part out in the field. By this stage recruits are expected to comfortably cope with speed-marching in full kit, distances ranging from 15 to 30 kilometers during field exercises. By the end of their training recruits will have been required to march over 400 kilometers through desert and mountainous terrain. Recruits will also be expected to be fully proficient with their rifles, both maintenance and shooting. Recruits displaying certain aptitudes will be sent on various specialist courses: sharpshooter training, squad automatic gunner training, tactical MATADOR-missile training, radio operator’s course, advanced camouflage and fortifications course, combat paramedic course, APC driver’s course, and tunnel and close-quarter training course. Training with helicopters will also be introduced at this stage, although this can vary from draft to draft. All recruits will learn how to conduct live-fire drills at a squad, platoon, and company level. Recruits will learn how to operate both on open field battlefields (desert and mountain) as well as in urban terrain. Room and building clearing training will take place during this stage of training. Recruits will also take part in more advanced Krav Maga training and introduced to crowd-control methods (tear gas, non-lethal ammunition, physical restraint techniques).
  At the end of advanced training recruits will qualify as IDF “lochamim” (“warriors”) after they complete:
  1. War Week: An intense one-week-long war simulation in the field. Recruits will be on combat alert during the whole exercise requiring them to be in full kit, at all times, throughout the week. They will be purposely subjected to extreme sleep deprivation, very limited food rations, and physical exhaustion in order to prepare them for the extreme conditions of war. Recruits will also be required to put into practice their training against heat strokes and hypothermia. Desert temperatures will fluctuate dramatically from day to night. During this time recruits will be expected to cope with intense marches carrying regular kit and support weaponry. Recruits will carry out numerous intense live-firing exercises at a company level, including fire support from the tank and artillery divisions where available. After War Week recruits will earn the Nahal warrior ("lochem") insignia, qualifying them as IDF combat-ready soldiers.
  1. Beret March: A 70+ kilometer (depending on company) night march through the desert’s mountains. This is performed fully kitted and at full tactical march speed, usually ending at Masada. After this recruits earn their green beret at a ceremony at the Nahal Memorial.
  As of 2013 Nahal pioneered a new form of very advanced training aimed at their qualified comba
caption: Nahal soldiers receiving their green beret
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