The IDF is passed down from generation to generation: while 20-year-old Noa Dori will today wear her officer ranks with great pride at the graduation ceremony of the officers' course, the image of her great-grandfather, Yaakov Dori – the IDF's first chief of staff and one of its founders, whose military path served as guidance and inspiration for her. "I have a sense of mission and obligation with myself," she tells Israel Hayom.
According to her, "It has accompanied me since childhood. My grandfather was also a military man and reached the rank of brigadier general. I grew up in a Zionist home based on values of love of the homeland and the country. I grew up with the fact that the land we stand on is not something to be taken for granted. If we don't preserve what they have achieved and sacrificed, it will be a disaster. That's our mission. I am their successor."
"To give more of myself." Noa, Photo: Hagit Even-Chen, Spearhead
Noa, the second daughter of her parents, enlisted in August 2021 as a combat soldier in the Border Defense Corps, which combines female and female fighters. "This is a very important force," she stresses. "We perform well even when we're fighting girls. It's an interesting service and an experience you won't have anywhere else. We enlist together boys and girls from basic training, and it's fun to see the combination with the fighting boys. There are no gaps. You don't see that in many places.
"We fighters don't feel any difference or discrimination. Support and believe in us. It's not a regular service, but we have no mitigations. There are a lot of girls who want combat roles. There is an increase among girls who do combat service. You have to be mentally and physically strong. We are making arrests, ambushes and thwarting smuggling."
Attribution and responsibility
During her service, Noa underwent eight months of basic training and tracking, went on a mech course, and after serving as a mech commander at the brigade training base, she became an officer. This week she successfully completed the soldier's completion.
As the great-granddaughter of the first chief of staff, Noa decided to become a fighter in order to continue her extensive family legacy: "There is no doubt that it was part of my decision to become an officer," admits the young officer sincerely.
"Right now I'm finishing the course and I'm assigned to the Border Defense Corps' hospital (brigade training base) for training recruits with 8 months of basic training and track. This is the near future. I hope I can give more of myself. The option of a military career exists."
Do you feel a special responsibility because of your family lineage?
"It's definitely a responsibility, but I'm able to take it on. It's the most satisfying feeling there is, to give as much as possible to the country and the army. I serve our citizens in this country. My main motivation is to carry on the legacy of my great-grandfather and grandfather. Completing the officers' course is a milestone in life, and I'm sure that if they were there, they would be excited and proud of me. Their characters are always with me."
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