The military training center in La Union is basically a boot camp. Every 15 weeks about 250 recruits are transformed into troops, which President Jose ( Napoleon Duarte's government needs in its struggle against leftist guerrillas. Last week the trainees received a lesson in warfare when some 350 rebels, armed with mortars and rockets, staged an early-morning attack on the base. The young soldiers fought off the insurgents, but the two-hour battle exacted a bloody price: 42 of the trainees were killed and 62 were wounded. There were ten known rebel casualties.
The guerrillas later announced that their objective was to...
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