My Service

Sharon D.

Country Of Origin: Panama

Unit: תותחנים

Draft: March, 2019

Hi my name is Sharon D! I came from Panamá one year ago. I am a combat soldier in תותחנים (artillery) in the 334 battalion (גדוד) or better known as “gdud ha raam” of the MLRS system and I love it. Yeah, I am that kind of soldier, the soldier that loves the army, the soldier that is in love with what he does, or better known in the army terms as a “yellow” soldier.
When I came to be a combat soldier I never would have imagined doing the things that I have been able to do until this point.
I have so many stories and experiences that I want to share, but this time I think I will tell you guys about a special moment that will always be in my heart. I was guarding the border in Jericho at the West Bank or as we call it “litfos kav”. Doing kav (operational duty) isn’t an easy thing to do, we work really hard, hours and hours doing missions, standing for hours under the sun, and barley eating or sleeping…you get the point… It’s a really demanding job, but is something that I do with love. One Friday night after the Shabbat meal our mem mem came to us and told to my whole מחלקה (platoon) that we are going to do a haganat ishuvim (village protection) in one of the villages of our territory, which means a mission of 12 hours. Me and my tzevet (team) arrived to our guarding point…. I will not lie, it was a freezing night, we were in a middle of a mountain, it was so so cold that we put on on our “hermonit” (big green snow suit) and still we were chilled to the bone. At some point in the night we divided our duties, so my mefakedet (commander) and one of the soldiers went to throw a paztol grenade, in the meantime me and another soldier sat together in the mountain admiring the view of the whole village, we started to talk, and it was one of those talks where you open your heart. The situation we were in was funny to me, we were in the middle of a mountain at 4am, freezing to death, starving, tired and not to mention that it started to rain (it was like in the movies, where you say, how it can get worst?, and then it gets worse😂). At that night I felt in peace, I was just so happy to be there (hard to believe, I know😁), but I was telling to my friend, while admiring the view of the whole village, what an honor it is to be here, we are awake, wet and freezing so these people can sleep in peace, we are awake so they are safe, we are awake to protect them. At that moment it just hit me, I started to cry, I was so honored to do what I do, to actually see what I am actually defending, knowing that the morning will come and the village will still be in silence and in peace