"How do four in one tank get along?"
Lieutenant Uri Mazor serves as a platoon commander in the Vulcan Company in the 77th Battalion of the 7th Brigade of the Armored Corps.
His parents come to visit him at the base on the weekends, but he was not expecting this visit.
Mother Siegel, who is very interested in her son's service, was given the opportunity to experience her son's service for a day, put on the body armor and entered the tank.
Before Rosh Hashanah, the parents made their way to the Oz base in the Golan Heights, where son Uri serves as a platoon commander.
After putting on the overalls, Siegel walked in the "powder", the soil of dust left by the tanks as it is called by the soldiers.
Son Lt. Uri helped her climb into the tank.
Segal says that her son Uri shares with his family "only what he can".
According to her, "It is very exciting to see the things he does and I find it very challenging."
Siegel served as an observer on the northern border, where she met her husband Shahar, who served in the patrol company of the 7th Brigade. So the tanks are well known to her, but mostly through binoculars.
Like any concerned mother, Siegel regularly has questions about her son's service.
"The thoughts that go through my mind are that they have many nights and days that do not leave the tank, or how do four people live inside the tank and get along. These are thoughts of every mother, and it seems fine."
An article for the Hag supplement - The Armored Corps // Photo: David Cohen Jenny
Uri does not forget to mention that this is the first time his mother entered the tank.
"It seems to me that after she saw the things with her eyes, it calmed her down, but in a week she will forget," he says with a smile, "I showed her where the crew members are located, where I stand with my head out, how to insert a shell, and how to eat and live inside the tank."
Uri's soldiers were also enthusiastic, and the requests to host their mothers inside the tank came immediately.
Uri's father, Shahar, has trouble understanding how they manage inside the tank, "It's a terrible claustrophobia. I can't understand how they manage."
After tasting a bit of their son's service, Mama Siegal and Papa Shahar can only be a little more relaxed, and above all much more proud.
Uri and his mother Sigal guard the tank together.
Now she worries less, photo: Eyal Margolin/Gini
"What she does in a day in the army, I don't do in a year"
21-year-old Noa Chen is an officer with the rank of lieutenant who serves in the position of deputy chief of machinery on a navy ship.
Noa was assigned to the department responsible for the engines on the ship, and her mother Limor got to know the place that became her daughter's second home.
"When Noa was little and I was at a drop of milk, the doctor said: 'Just don't disturb the girl, let her grow,'" Limor recalls.
"She is opinionated, independent and knows what she wants and got where she is thanks to herself, and I only support her."
"However, we see that it is a heavy price, because she has reached the place of men," Limor explains.
"My father, who is a Navy graduate, was shocked by the idea of her being a machine chief, because there is a superstition that the machine does not like women and if a woman enters the machine then the machine gets angry."
Different from mom
And did the apple fall far from the tree?
To this Limor has a clear answer: "Nothing she does here has anything to do with me. I can't sleep in a one meter by meter room with five people - it's very crowded. The 40 degree heat in the machine room is something unbearable - it's not for me at all." .
You will not be surprised to learn that Limor did not believe that her daughter Noa would serve in such a position.
"When she was born, a neighbor told me that she would be a famous and very special girl," she recalls.
"All these years I thought she would be a pilot or serve in the Intelligence Corps or the IDF theater, but to serve in the Navy - that was a surprise."
Was looking for an experience
When Noa enlisted in the army, she didn't know what she was going for, but according to her, she wanted her service to be "a kind of experience".
She says: "At the end of the formation, they told me that I would go to the machine course and I didn't know what that meant at first - it was a big surprise for everyone. I really like it and feel the uniqueness that I am the first in this position."
Limor the mother concludes: "Every day Noa is faced with multiple tasks, motivating people and managing crises. I need a year in civilian life to deal with and deal with such things."
Noa and her mother Limor in the ship.
"At the end of the formation they told me that I would go to the machine - it was a surprise for everyone", Photo: Eyal Margolin/Gini
"It's a challenging role - perfect for my daughter"
Lieutenant Noa Azoulai, a flight control officer, never believed that her mother, Tamar, would come to visit her in the control tower at the Tel Nof base and climb on the jumpsuit with her.
When Tamar came out of the dressing room - it seemed that she had been on the job for years.
Noa and Tamar go up to the fourth and last floor of the control tower, right into the heart of the air control and surveillance center of the Tel Nof base.
The excitement and pride of Tamar Bena could not be missed, and every floor the two climbed - so did the threshold of the two's emotions.
As soon as she enters the control room, Tamar immediately gets down to business.
Naa brings her special communication headphones and binoculars, and Tamar watches and closely reviews the take offs and landings of the Air Force planes.
Article for the holiday supplement - flight attendant // Photo: Gil Kramer
maintain peak concentration
"It seems like a very challenging role - and it suits my daughter perfectly," she says proudly.
"She is very sharp, manages to do several things at once. These are skills she has always had. I am extremely proud of her."
Naa, who watched from the sidelines and had a hard time hiding her excitement, says: "Mom did an amazing job - not that I expected anything else."
Noa talks about the heavy responsibility in the position, and says: "There is a lot of responsibility in my position - I am ultimately responsible for human life. It is sometimes stressful - for example, a plane that arrives with a serious malfunction and emergency teams need to be sent to it. There is also a lot of workload, which requires you to be very alert." .
She further adds: "From the beginning of the shift to the end, you have to maintain peak concentration. It's a job that requires all five senses to be activated all the time. We have to be careful about sleeping hours, there are actually procedures about that."
"Support her in every decision"
Tamar, how do you as a family cope with the role of Naa?
Do you want her to continue in the army?
"We are insanely proud of her - she is doing a very difficult, but significant and interesting role. We support her every decision, but she still has a long time to serve as an officer until she has to come to a decision. In any case - we will all be with her."
Naa and her mother Tamar in the control tower.
"I am ultimately responsible for human life", photo: Liron Moldovan
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