THE IDF REVISITED - II

One of my grandsons just successfully completed his officer’s course and his whole immediate family - plus sundry other family members -  attended the impressive and moving closing ceremony. He will now be one of the two commanding officers of his special commando brigade – at the ripe old age of 22!

At the same time, another of my grandsons is finishing his army career, after serving as the deputy commander of the commando brigade in which he began his service - making  four years and eight months altogether.  He waited until fulfilling his army duty to the end, before informing the family of his engagement to his long-time girlfriend. He is already 25 and  only now will be beginning life as a married civilian, with no profession. However, an arduous army career has helped him acquire confidence, self-esteem and belief in his ability to face life’s challenges.        

As part of my extended family – one of my in-law’s granddaughters was accepted to an unusual army unit for a female soldier. It appears that  the “weaker sex” are breaking another glass ceiling in the IDF. For the first time,  the IDF allowed 6 female soldiers to join a special course that will teach them to climb, rappel and rescue both civilians and soldiers and to command and instruct fellow soldiers.

Graduates of this prestigious eight-month course will go on to train soldiers in IDF's most classified elite units in counter-terrorism and rescue missions in both urban and mountainous terrain.

As part of the course, the participants train for different scenarios in multiple field conditions around the country that will simulate the rescue of civilians and combatants. The girls' participation in the course will necessitate extending their enlistment for eight more months, so they will serve as much time as their male counterparts. All the participants in the course are recruits who know and love climbing. 

Search and Rescue Unit is a highly skilled force trained to execute special search and rescue missions, both in Israel and abroad. The soldiers go through special training in combat, search and rescue from disaster sites, and responding to ABC (atomic, biological, chemical) warfare. The unit is sent on missions all over the world to aid in natural disaster relief.  

Their most recent mission was almost on home ground. The incident began early last Thursday afternoon when 37 students from an Amman private school, along with seven adult chaperones as well as other visitors, were taking a break at hot springs several kilometers from the Dead Sea shores. Sudden heavy rains sent flash floods surging toward them from higher ground, sweeping them away, some as far as the Dead Sea. At the request of the Jordanian government, a number of helicopters carrying soldiers from the elite Search and Rescue unit were flown there by a number of helicopters to help locate students still missing. Apart from trying to locate the missing victims, they did all in their power, in spite of the adverse weather conditions, to assist the survivors in the flooded area.

Some 1,000 women were inducted into the Israel Defense Forces to serve in combat units this year, the most to do so in the country’s history. This new record comes as the military is having female soldiers take on more and more combat roles.