Israel held a practice mobilization yesterday to test the efficiency of its system for calling up the reserves in a national emergency. The test was held only a day after the army announced that such an exercise was impending, a shorter advance notice than usual.
Reservists were summoned to their units by a series of codewords broadcast on radio throughout the day. Only four series were used, fewer than in the past. Military sources explained that the number of code phrases does not indicate the number of reservists ordered to report. Each code can apply to a few dozen men or vehicles or to several hundred or even thousands.
The publicly broadcast codes are one form of call-up. Another is a secret system of individual notices delivered to reservists by messengers from their units.
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