What’s it like to be an IDF soldier? Ha’aretz takes a close look at IDF boot camp.
During his first weeks of basic training, Uriah Maimoni had a problem: Whenever he stood together with the other recruits in Platoon 1, he could not stop smiling.
"The commanders were always telling me to stop laughing. Even the company commander got angry at me. But I couldn’t stop. It took me a month to get used to being serious and orderly when we stood in rows opposite the commander. But in the end, I understood: We came here to live the lives of soldiers."
The transition from civilian life to the Israel Defense Forces, from being a carefree high-school senior to being a combat soldier, is not easy for anyone, though not always for the same reasons. And the Golani Brigade is a microcosm of Israel – moshavniks, Tel Avivians, yeshiva students and new immigrants. In a series of articles, Haaretz will follow five of the brigade’s soldiers. Each had to deal with different challenges, both expected and unexpected, during the first weeks of boot camp.
Full story here.
