Israeli Defense Force Experience
What it takes to make it into a combat unit in the IDF
The 24 hours that made up my "IDF experience" were probably the toughest 24 hours of my life. Within 3 seconds of getting off the bus my group was getting shouted at saying we had 40 seconds to get all of our bags off the bus and get into formation...we had no idea what we were about to get ourselves into. All I can say is that I have the upmost respect for any individual that serves in the Israeli Defense Force. Everything we did was timed and on a schedule, thirty seconds to grab our hat, two minutes to go to the bathroom, 45 seconds to fill up our water bottle. What we did was incredible and scary all at the same time. The first day we were taught the different positions to shoot a gun - while holding a paintball gun. I thought the paintball gun was heavy but real IDF combat guns are twice even three times the weight. At night time we learned how to navigate in the dark using night-vision glasses, all different tactics to keep quiet, every step we took mattered, the directors were making sounds and every time I heard something my heart dropped. Anything at night time is very scary. I cannot imagine doing what they do at night time in order to arrest terrorists. We went to bed at 10pm and were waken up at 4am by the loudest banging. By 4:15 we were dressed and in a circle with a stretcher and dummy in the middle. Our group of 8 - 4 at a time walked and ran with the stretcher and dummy on our shoulders for about 2 miles. When those 2 miles were up we were so beat. A normal march for the soldiers are anywhere between 24-40 miles while carrying 40-60% of their body weight on their back, their guns and a real person on the stretcher. Afterwards, we did Krav Maga before breakfast. After breakfast we did paintball. All I can say is that getting hit by a paintball really really hurts. Afterwards we continued to do stimulations of what soldiers do on a daily basis, such as figuring out a way to get passed a mine that is about to blow up, how to detect underground tunnels, and how to enter a terrorists home to make an arrest. This has been one of the most surreal experiences I have ever been though.