The U.S. Army National Training Center (NTC) a wired (to record everything troops do) center for realistic combat training, has constructed nine "Iraqi" villages. They are spread out, so that troops have to travel a distance to get from one to another, and watch out for ambushes along the way. In the mountains of the 625 square mile facility, several cave complexes, similar to those found in Afghanistan, have been built. The staff of the NTC regularly visit Iraq and Afghanistan to collect information from the troops so that the NTC training can be as realistic as possible. Iraq specific training sites have been set up in other parts of the United States, and Kuwait. But the NTC operation is the most realistic and allows for brigade sized units to train over a wide area. Iraq is a big place, and dealing with the distances is part of the realistic training. The Afghanistan cave complexes at NTC are meant to be used for training Air Force pilots, as well as SOCOM and army helicopter crews.