After decades: The heroism of transport drivers in Lebanon is revealed Israel today

As has happened in many cases in recent years, the story began with the Facebook group "Stories from Lebanon - What Happened in the Outposts".

This is the Facebook group that led to the decoration of fighters who participated in the dangerous operational activity in the security strip for 18 years, and did not receive recognition.

But this time it was not the heroism of the warriors, but rather the heroism of those who were considered "jobniks" for years, even though they were at the forefront of the fighting and sometimes risked even more than the warriors - the transport drivers.

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"When I returned from work, I got dressed and went out to ride the bike for three hours. When I returned, I laid the child down and when I finished, I saw that a letter of appreciation from the army was waiting for me on the table," said Yishai March, a group member. "Heartbeat begins. Knows what it is, but still very exciting. Opens and holds the tribute, looks at the emblem, finally a tribute to whoever was in Lebanon. Proper disclosure: I was not a fighter, not a tankist, an air force, an artilleryman, etc. Just a transport driver. At first I drove a Mercedes safari and after that I was trained as a trailer driver - APCs, 18,000 liters, etc.

March shared, like many participants in this group, the nature of his military activity, and from the words came up how dangerous the activity was, even though he was not officially defined as a soldier. "I did dozens of convoys, in difficult times when soldiers got stuck in Lebanon for a long time we also had to do three convoys a day. Aisha, then pumpkin, then Beaufort. More often than not the old trucks also got stuck inside Lebanon at night, "Lebanon and we had an 'experience' of absorption alert at night. Attack of an outpost that the cook shouted and it turned out to be just a tool experiment. Discharge back due to suspicion of cargo at the aliyah junction to the Hadas outpost of the" Niks, not far from a gourd. "

"One of the scariest things about Lebanon beyond the fact that you do not know whether you are returning alive is that if God forbid there are any incidents with terrorists it is that you are not a fighter, you have not undergone the training they received and you are in greatest danger of being killed or abducted. "I mean you have no friends. For me personally it was depressing and very difficult to bear. I was always looking to go back to the same battalion and the same platoon and try to connect with someone, only the line changes every few months," concluded March.

"We could not have done it without you."

Israeli fighters leaving Lebanon in 2000,

The soldier's story managed to excite the many surfers, and more than a thousand liked him.

Hundreds of comments were recorded for the post.

One of them was the journalist Haim Har Zahav, who led the reservists' initiative to receive the award.

"When we were asked in a committee that discussed whether to recognize the campaign, a committee composed of a major general, generals and lieutenants generals in reserve and in reserve, who do we think should receive the signal, we immediately answered: not just the fighters. Then they asked us - and who?"

"They probably expected a long list of Air Force and Navy personnel and combat supporters (and of course we mentioned them all), but first and foremost we said, 'To the drivers.

Heroes with a beret on their heads without which we would not have reached the outposts, and there was no supply for the outposts, and there were no outposts. Warriors without a degree of warriors. Thank you and your friends, wholeheartedly, for everything you have done with us and for us. Respect! ", Wrote Mount Gold.

"Yishai, my dear brother. I am Golchik and from what little you have told you have done no less than us, with conditions that suck at Allah, without friends. Salute your deeds and you deserve the decoration," wrote a former fighter named Meir.

"Do you deserve it? You are more than worthy," Adi wrote.

"A soldier across the border during a war or during delivery is a soldier across the border. Man, in my eyes you are more than a warrior."

Alon, a former company commander, said: "You underestimate yourself. You are real heroes, no less than the warriors, and you have earned the pin honestly." Oper noted that "the transport drivers are brave people, and of course you deserve to get just like any other fighter who was there. Remember convoys with drivers who have not seen with their eyes, in vehicles most of which are unprotected. And we gave work. " Uri noted that "you are the heroes who sacrificed their lives day after day in the dangerous deputies. There is no doubt that the traffic in the deputies was the dangerous part of the stay in Lebanon. We would deal with it 'only' at the entrance and exit every time - and you heroes on the day".

Yishai's story also led to another story about the fighting in southern Lebanon and the heroism of the drivers.

Ronen Margalit posted a picture of two drivers inside Lebanon next to a truck that got stuck and said: "I do not know the drivers, I just took a picture: anonymous drivers who sacrificed their lives to lead and take us out of Lebanon time and time again, day and night. "With us. Heartbreaking tears of fear. He entered Lebanon in a convoy, but his truck got stuck for the night on some road - and he was unarmed. In my eyes - anonymous heroes, but how much love they received when we dismantled in the country.

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