When we moved around our temporary bases we also had kitchens, floors, and good tents. Why are these soldiers not being given the same? A mobile unit should have a mobile base, or even better build bases in areas where the Iron dome will be deployed. This makes sense for security reasons as well as comfort and morale.

Maybe a corps other then the AF should adopt them. The AF doesn't seem to know how to manage off of a large permanent base.

that's crap. In one day a truckload of treated wood and plywood could be brought to the location and a platform could be built for the tents. I could do that with a small crew in 1 day. This is complete BS. There is no excuse. The truckload of wood for platforms should be on its way right now. Obviously the generals are foot-dragging turkeys.

Let me have at it. I'll have the problem fixed in under 48 hrs.

We have to keep supporting the important things like the haradiem.

DISGRACEFUL and UNACCEPTABLE. A MK should have to stay with them until the problem is resolved. It will quickly be resolved then.

Iron Dome is not a fixed installation. It is deployed in the field in the area best located to protect the population from an immediate threat. Not the most convenient sleeping location for the soldiers. When it rains, sometimes the field floods. This is the army, not a country club. We all did it. Man up and stop whining. My goodness, what a bunch of complainers.

be accepted under field conditions. Still, this has been going on for a long time. And while the Iron Dome batteries are portable, the installation is still of an ongoing nature, and so the soldiers should be provided with decent living conditions. Why not use simple, movable barracks, like road workers use or caravans?

Yes, Gaza and south Israel were no more than the tasting grounds, we taste it in our labs and then offer the systems for export. That was the true Gaza war.

There's absolutely no excuse for putting these guys through such conditions. Ever heard of Portacabins (which include heating/air-con and lighting) and would take a couple of hours to arrange and install. There's clearly elements of the IDF that have very little experience in such matters. I certainly wouldn't want anybody operating such facilities to be hungry, cold and tired - one mis-programmed missile would cover the cost of housing the group in a five star hotel for three months (lol).

I want to thank these giborai Israel for their service to the nation. I pray that before shabbat platforms will be built for the tents to sit on and all other means necessary to make the lives of these soldiers and all of our soldiers better.

and California that belong to Tom and Linda Vanasperen who can be contacted on Facebook at Linda Logan Vanasperen. I don't know what they are asking for the business, but that is what is needed in some of the outposts. They are trying to sell the business as a divorce settlement. The IDF at least needs to take a look at how they are built and operated and set up.

and I hope that I shall soon be reading an article about haredim who dwell in puddles and squalor, it will lighten the load.

There are always pre-fabs available for the settlements - why not for our soldiers? Emptied of separators for rooms Each one could easily sleep 10, just as the tents do.

... living near an Iron Dome deployment: Get off your asses, cook some decent meals, gather some clean warm bedding and blankets and bring them to the soldiers who are protecting you. Offer them your homes as a place to enjoy the occasional hot shower and invite them on a rotating basis for a nice Shabbat meal. THEY ARE PROTECTING YOU. Isn't that the least you can do? I remember when U.S.-manned Patriot batteries were deployed in Israel in 1992. Israelis fell all over themselves doing precisely that. Why cannot this be done as an expression of gratitude to our own? Imagine that is your son manning an Iron Dome battery. What would you want your fellow Israelis to do?

no toilet: hole in the ground, no proper tent: hole in the sand covered with cloth, no bed: blanket on the ground, no shower until monthly leave, no hot water to shave or wash: freezing water in winter, weekly change of fatigues(when available), no pyjama (!): sleep in full combat gear including boots, and no mobile phone: once-a-month phone call home. Scabies and parasites. For months. And NO COMPLAINT ! That was combat troops. So get on with it and do your duty. It is your turn, delicate sweeties !

gains. This is fitting behavior for a government who pays healthcare workers - who save lives - peanuts while jacking up the cost of living. The message is consistent: if you save lives, you don't deserve to live.

I know what you are talking about, I was there for 5 months, but you do not compare a combat zone in the wake of a full scale war with the deployment of AMB's in a built up area for defense and determent purposes. No comparison.

iron dokme soldiers are important. Cadillacs are not needed but basic army living conditions so air force and other personnel should get off their asses and implement measures and fast with regard to mats for puddleproof set up quarters, toilets and spares. Barak is disconnected and could care less. He is gone soon. Bibi should appoint yaalon and nno one else in his place, not mofaz, not shamir, only yaalon. Bibi is not qualified to run defense one bit and mofaz hired the incompetent olmert halutz so I need say no more. If bibi does not appoint yaalon, then his legacy will be severely damaged, severely. Yaalon is 10X better than barak.

...quit your kvetching and get over it...

There's no excuse for this. If Friends of the IDF wants to fund a trailer for the troops that will travel with the equipment trucks, I'm willing to join in the effort. Or they could invite a settler group to show them how it's done.

If this were a weeklong place,net of the Iron Dome battery, I could understand this. It is the military. But if, as one can readily suspect, these soldiers will be placed at this installation for any substantial period of time, a platform should be placed below the tent above the ground, such that there is at least some separation between the cots and the mud. These are super cheap to construct, and can be assembled and in less than an hour. This is a hygiene/health, and ultimately a performance issue for the soldiers. Of this was the middle of the summer, I would say that they should deal with the heat. As long as there is water, and some form of shading when required, you will survive.

Whilst I feel sorry for these guys its a fact that unlike the Golanis & armored corps who they are comparing themselves to Iron Dome operatives have no permanent based they go where Iron Dome goes and they go where they are needed rain or shine. If its in Tel Aviv then they have better conditions that they would if they are in the Galilee in the middle of winter but thats where the Iron Dome has been sent so thats where they go. When your always on the move you cant arrange decent living conditions unless your based somewhere long term. It might not be the kind of conditions the airforce people are used to because air bases are in fixed locations so have good facilities but sometimes soldiers have to rough it so come on guys you don't have to like it but just accept its part of the job.

This is a dangerous very dangerous incompetence .

Excellent solution.

We had caravans in 1984 in Lebanon. I can't believe that people in Sderot, Ashkelon, etc could possibly read this article and not act immediately. I can believe in the inadequate conditions based on other experiences, incompetences, etc. from my service in 1984.,

Shouldn't really be too difficult to create a small support unit within the military able to assemble and re-locate decent temporary bases each time a battery is re-located. Trailers, portacabins,caravans and mobile homes will do for starters.