It must be due to the fact that there is hardly any scenario that the IDF has yet to experience. or deal with.
Indeed.
And it has to be said, in 1973 Israel did not just win - they utterly humiliated Syria.
I was in Quneitra a few years back and it's a humbling site. They simply pulverized it, and left it as a message.
I always remember a Syrian guy saying to me in Damascus that "I don't like Israel, but for my kids - I tell them not to fight a war with Israel. Because we always lose, and we will always lose."
I quite enjoyed hearing that!
Yes, well, it all comes to the point of dealing with different situations. The IDF teaches you that more than anything. Israeli youngsters can sometimes, in 1 year, go through things that the European or American won't go through in a decade.
I myself served in the navy, which is one of the most cruel IDF systems to serve in. The limit you to the smallest tiny thing, and when being a Private you with less then the toilet you use. This is a cruel system, which makes you cry at nights, humiliates you, and other things which are to many to mention. But my greatest values I have learned from the army.
I learned about friendship more than all the years I have been with my friends. You don't screw up your army mate, each girl is like a sister, while doing something, help your friend, she's with you in battle and group if needed, you are always a part of something. If one girl collapses in running, give her your bottle, if she falls, not only she will have to run again, but the 70 girls who pushed forward without checking on her. if we don't have any room for a soldier in the table, we will push our elbows together, or all of us will eat standing. We have 1 hour of showering, each will shower 2 minutes (giving up the soap or shampoo) or no one will. That's what I've learned, i would have never gone through it if not in the army.
When I was about ten years old, I went with a relative to the amusement park of "6 Flags" in Maryland. they used to have this "sea-like-pool" there, and at the time, it was full so much, a needle could barely enter there. But I did. While the waves started, there was a huge mess, because a storm started suddenly, and people started pushing. I was in the deep area of the pull and my body was very small, and suddenly I felt that people began crushing me with their bodies. I was in a point where the surface was far from me, and I began drowning and sufficating, for long minutes faught for air, while rising my head about the water only to be sinking again. Lucklily, I succeded pushing myself up out of the pool, but was highly traumatized since then. I had a nearly drowning experience in Ko-Phi phi Tahiland, at sea, two friends of mine, sadly, didn't survive that incident. Those two experiences shook me up quite hardly.
When I got to the army, I was to belong to the navy. In the end of our first private training, we had to go through training phases in sea, one of them was testing your team work in time of emergency. We were pushed through a small room which simulated a ship cell, filled with water, and we needed to find a way out or block the holes of the boat before the water filled up. For me, it was like a flashback to a time which I didn't wanna remember. But we did it. The second one was going on to the sea on a rubber boat. one of the phases was carrying it for a place to place, the engine fell down and broke the leg of one of our soldiers, we have failed that task, but the second was, again, a drowning mission. we had to jump off and follow instruction. It was few kilometers from shore, and I again felt exposed. My commander yelled at me all the time, to let to of the rubber of the boat, she knew it was hard for me. I was a terrific sweemer as a kid and swam like a fish, but that specific experience in USA had it's influence on me. My commander kept yelling at me to obey the order, to let go, she kept barking that I was a soldier and that no-one gave a f*ck about my wierd fears, that I was in the IDF and not a sissy, and to push my head and go beneath the water. If I failed to do so, all the team was to fail the mission and to do it again, untill all of us succeded.
So I did it, for my team. And It was horrible, but I did it. My part in the force was not to be a fighter, but a battle-supporter, i was the brain behind the battle soldier, and went through things that I would not have imagine possible. But I'm glad I did. Most of us do in the service. they sort of train us for anything.
