A Family's Terror Experiences

(Guest posting from "Grandma's Army")

In Israel, the boundaries between the home-front and the army are very blurred. My son and family, who live in the south, are constantly being bombarded by  missiles from the Gaza Strip - by air and ground. Two weeks ago, 700 missiles were fired from Gaza to the south of Israel! in which several civilians were killed. One rocket even reached Tel-Aviv. 

At the same time, their youngest daughter (Adi) is an army instructor. She belongs to a corps which teaches soldiers, taken from  all the army’s ground forces, how to use the different weapons used to locate and destroy enemies and armament - in order to clear the area. 

It’s hard for me to picture Adi, who is an extremely feminine young woman of 20, instructing soldiers on how to use lethal weapons. These include a particular type of rocket called “Gil”, which was developed in Israel. With the means of a special device the “Gil” can follow any target, even a moving one. The shooter can manoeuvre the rocket all the time while it is in the air, in order to strike the target with maximum precision (just like a computer game), and can reach to a distance of up to 4 kms.

Usually two divisions of a regiment, each consisting of 20 fighters, are sent  to  her corps simultaneously. Adi mostly instructs older civilians from the army Reserves who are called up, usually one month a year,  in order to maintain their fighting skills. Since the Reserves make up 70% of the fighting forces, it is very important that they keep up with their particular task, since it is  never known when hostilities will break out.

It is particularly hard to instruct middle-aged civilians since they are not accompanied by commanders of the corps who – in the case of regular soldiers - can impose disciplinary measures. To keep them focused on the subject at hand is a real challenge, especially when the instructor is a young woman.

Adi spends an entire week of  intensive training with each group, in which they eat together and train together in the field. She says that she finds the work very stimulating since she has to adapt her training methods according to the particular group she is instructing at the time. In this way, she gets to meet interesting and diverse types of soldiers from a wide variety of backgrounds.

At times when no such groups of Reservists are sent, the instructors are taken to frontiers all over the country in which regular soldiers are serving. In this way Adi has the opportunity  to travel to different army bases which is an experience in itself. 

The work can be difficult, especially in times of pressure when they get up very early and get to bed very late - the whole day being spent, either in the field, or giving lessons. This also affects the attention span of the soldiers who have to be motivated enough to concentrate.

In Adi’s words: “The job has taught me how to stand before an audience and to speak without getting nervous and with self-confidence. I have learned to master complicated material and to present it in an interesting way. Also, the ability to conduct a discussion with different types of people. I am grateful to be part of a team of female colleagues with whom I enjoy a warm and very friendly relationship".

The fact that the ability of the fighters to serve their country in the best possible way is dependent to a large extent on their training, gives the trainers a significant role in any future war. The satisfaction they experience as a result is enhanced by the trainees themselves, who show respect and appreciation to their instructors.