Fighters of the 601st Battalion's combat team in a face-to-face battle against Hamas terrorists/IDF spokesman
In less than a week, it will be 150 days since Lieutenant Amit Fogelman entered combat in the Gaza Strip together with the 601st Battalion where she serves as a battalion liaison officer (Keshregit). Apart from short refreshers to which the fighters go every few weeks, it has been a very long time that she has been fighting shoulder to shoulder shoulder with the general as his liaison.
"There is a reward for every pips we do here," said Deputy Fogelman in a conversation with Walla!.
"Obviously there are challenges and days when you kind of want to go home and take a shower, but when you're in the field and you're really breathing it and you're with the general and the soldiers at the front, it's really easy for you to stay satisfied because you see the work itself and the meaning of everything you do."
Lt. Fogelman, 21 years old Mahod Hasharon, arrived at the position in an unconventional and even unprecedented way. While liaison officers are being recruited from the UN Security Council for training on a dedicated track for their position, Lieutenant Fogelman was able to transfer for the first time from another position where she began her service in the regimental liaison corps company of the Golani brigade. "In Operation Wall Guard they jumped Golani , so I jumped in with them," recalls Deputy Fogelman. "I really fell in love with working in the field and with my hands, experiencing the edge and the action and less the office.
At that time I realized that I wanted to be a Git liaison.
Deputy Amit Fogelman/IDF Spokesman
After first going to the officer's course in the combat supporter orientation, she managed with great determination to switch to officer training in the combat orientation.
As part of her role in the ground maneuver, she is the "ears" of the Major General in communication and recommends to him the locations of headquarters. "I wanted to serve in the army because of the feelings I had in the field during Operation Wall Guard with the fighters," shared Lieutenant Fogelman. "You die to return to that feeling of satisfaction that you See the people using your contact systems.
The feeling that you are experiencing the area yourself and not under fluorescent lights.
Not that I'm belittling it , God
forbid, but personally I'm more excited by the terrain and the edge that there is in influencing the maneuvering and fighting and also being a part of it myself."
A phone call from the headquarters and the entire battalion quickly jumped together to plan for combat.
On the same day, they arrived in the Gaza Strip, where they took part in the efforts to clean up the area and collect the bodies.
"It was a very complex day for us," Lt. Fogelman shared.
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Deputy Amit Fogelman/IDF Spokesman
After her battalion raided the area close to the border fence, three weeks after Black Sabbath they entered into persistent fighting inside the Gaza Strip.
For Lt. Fogelman, the day of entering the ground maneuver was one of the most notable moments for her, as the engineering battalions are known as the first forces to enter and break the way for the large ground entry.
"It was a 'Wow!' moment for me.
All the work of my department worked and we were able to control the breaching of the passages perfectly," Lieutenant Fogelman said with satisfaction.
"Hearing my Major General say 'Final attack' and after that everyone leaves - it was thanks to the fact that all the systems we were working on worked with exemplary coordination."
Lieutenant Fogelman and all the fighters of the battalion are expected to remain during the coming year fighting in the sector, where more work is needed A great deal of engineering that will be done by them. A difficult event that Lieutenant Fogelman told about is the day of the death about a month ago of Major David Shakuri (30) from Rehovot, who was the deputy commander of the battalion and fell in battle in the northern Gaza Strip.
"I was with the general when it happened," Lt. Fogelman recalls. "It gave a slap to the battalion and also a slap to myself when I realized that people with ranks can be killed as well as young soldiers and it can happen to everyone and no one is immune.
A week before that I was with him in the exact same place where he was killed.
It's pure luck."
Major David Shakuri, SMG 601, who fell in Gaza/documentation on social networks according to Section 27 A of the Copyright Law
Lieutenant Fogelman is actually currently the only female fighter in the battalion.
For her, it is a very great feeling of pride especially when International Women's Day is celebrated and against the backdrop of the battle that women are waging to be accepted into fighting positions in the IDF. "It gives me a lot of strength to prove myself every time again that girls have a place on the battlefield and at the front," said Lieutenant Fogelman. I routinely trained together with the fighters for combat, so there's no reason why it won't happen now.
Even in the routine, I would train alongside the general and go out with him to arrests in the Iosh and carry an amplifier and police officers of exactly the same weight as other fighters carry."
She makes sure to get organized earlier every morning and cook food in the kitchenette, although it is important to her that the other fighters take part.
"They love that I say they stink and that now everyone stops and cleans up," she said with a smile.
"I feel that they look at me in the eyes just like they look in the eyes of men in the battalion. At first I had to prove myself because there were some doubts from people who don't know me, but in the battalion and in the brigade they accept it very well. I have my place. People in the battalion trust me And they are not afraid to challenge me."
Lieutenant Fogelman with the fighters of the 601st Battalion/IDF spokesman
Fogelman with the Major General, Lt. Col. Shimon Orkabi/IDF Spokesman
On the occasion of International Women's Day, Lieutenant Fogelman sends a message to other women.
"I think that girls can really be anywhere: even on the battlefield, shoulder to shoulder with soldiers. If someone wants to, then I think she will be able to get anywhere in the army."
More on the same topic:
Gaza war
War of Iron Swords
Women in the IDF
IDF
International Women's Day