a gung-ho ex Golani (the most hardcore brigade other than the Sayeret Matkal, as i understand).
he works my gf's dad. i'm looking forward to meeting him to hear his stories first hand, but my gf's dad told me a few of them. i learned a few things that i've never heard of before.
he has been in Canada for about 10 years. that means he was serving pre-1997. he was fighting "Palestinian" terrorists in the narrow casbahs in the Territories, and Hizballah in South Lebanon before the 2000 withdrawal.
by his own count he has killed 6, and has been shot 3 times. he used to volunteer for extra service, and would choose the toughest missions. it goes with out saying i have much respect for him.
but why did he leave Israel if he was such a gung ho supporter? because of the stifling red tape and helpless government. he now urges his family to leave Israel because of the situation there.
one of the stories he told my gf's dad was about the incident that broke the camel's back and made him choose to leave Israel for good: one day he was on patrol with his team in East Jerusalem. an Arab tried to do something that is very common (i've heard about the same from other ex-IDFers). he was standing on top of a high wall and tried to drop a huge and heavy boulder on top of the patrol. the soldier's friend saw what the guy was about to do, so he shot and killed him on the spot, saving the lives of his friends by the act. upon returning to base he was arrested and faced a military trial for shooting with out his captain's authorization. had he waited for the captain's authorization, the captain would've been dead. anyway, the military police were done with him and he narrowly escaped jail. then the regular (non military) police went after him for the same incident. he also narrowly escaped jail.
he was demoted and reprimantded. a very typical incident. the guy saw many similar incidents, and this one made him leave.
he thinks that the government should either make peace with full force (like Rabin and Barak intended), or if that is impossible, destroy the enemy and force peace onto them. half-measures won't do because they only prolong the conflict. he refused to fight for a government that could not make peace (for one reason or another) and at the same time tied its soldiers' hands.
i suppose i understand him. whatever you do, do it whole heartedly. no half measures. being neither here nor there is not productive, and prolongs the conflict. nothing is being solved and soldiers keep dying to prolong the status quo. fuck the red tape.
he works my gf's dad. i'm looking forward to meeting him to hear his stories first hand, but my gf's dad told me a few of them. i learned a few things that i've never heard of before.
he has been in Canada for about 10 years. that means he was serving pre-1997. he was fighting "Palestinian" terrorists in the narrow casbahs in the Territories, and Hizballah in South Lebanon before the 2000 withdrawal.
by his own count he has killed 6, and has been shot 3 times. he used to volunteer for extra service, and would choose the toughest missions. it goes with out saying i have much respect for him.
but why did he leave Israel if he was such a gung ho supporter? because of the stifling red tape and helpless government. he now urges his family to leave Israel because of the situation there.
one of the stories he told my gf's dad was about the incident that broke the camel's back and made him choose to leave Israel for good: one day he was on patrol with his team in East Jerusalem. an Arab tried to do something that is very common (i've heard about the same from other ex-IDFers). he was standing on top of a high wall and tried to drop a huge and heavy boulder on top of the patrol. the soldier's friend saw what the guy was about to do, so he shot and killed him on the spot, saving the lives of his friends by the act. upon returning to base he was arrested and faced a military trial for shooting with out his captain's authorization. had he waited for the captain's authorization, the captain would've been dead. anyway, the military police were done with him and he narrowly escaped jail. then the regular (non military) police went after him for the same incident. he also narrowly escaped jail.
he was demoted and reprimantded. a very typical incident. the guy saw many similar incidents, and this one made him leave.
he thinks that the government should either make peace with full force (like Rabin and Barak intended), or if that is impossible, destroy the enemy and force peace onto them. half-measures won't do because they only prolong the conflict. he refused to fight for a government that could not make peace (for one reason or another) and at the same time tied its soldiers' hands.
i suppose i understand him. whatever you do, do it whole heartedly. no half measures. being neither here nor there is not productive, and prolongs the conflict. nothing is being solved and soldiers keep dying to prolong the status quo. fuck the red tape.