!אחריי לצנחנים – After me to the Paratroopers!
The Israeli Paratroopers or Tzanhanim have always been a brigade that I admired in the Israel Defense Forces. They were created in 1955 to be an elite infantry airborne force, led by their first commander and future Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon. The brigade was used in an airborne assault during the 1956 Suez Crisis and is also famous for uniting Jerusalem during the 1967 Six Day War.
To date, Tzanhanim is the only infantry brigade that holds a two-day tryout or gibush for all potential recruits. After not being able to attend Yom Sayerot, it was very important for me to attend the gibush.
I arrived at the base, Tel HaShomer, where the gibush would take place at 8:00am in the morning. For most of the day, we handled logistical issues, such as medical checks, paperwork, and splitting up into groups for sleeping.
At about 4:00pm we began the “Bar-Or Test”, that is a two kilometer run as fast as you can. However, this was no normal two kilometer run, it was up and down hills, in sand at some points, and in a four to five meter lane for all forty of us in my group. I was by no means in first place during the run, but I was in the first third of the pack. I usually run two kilometers in about 7:50, but this one I can estimate I scored about 8:20 due to it not being on a normal terrain.
After my run, they sent us to the cafeteria where I was dying to eat dinner, since I had pecked at my lunch out of fear that I’d throw up while running the Bar-Or. It was the best hot dogs and beans I have ever eaten. After dinner (8:00pm), we were introduced to our new groups that we would be in for the morning part of the gibush and notified that wake up was to be at 3:30am. I’m assuming that they based these groups off of our two kilometer times.
At 3:30am we woke up and met with our commanders or mifakdim that would be running our gibush and writing comments about us, whom were about five or six reserve soldiers aged from twenty-five to forty years old. We were each given a number which would be our name for the day, a sand bag to carry, and I also volunteered to carry a jerry can of water on my back to the field where we would begin the day’s activities.
When we got down to the field, we were told to put two sand bags down about fifty meters away from us. Our mifaked lined our group of forty into threes, which meant our running lane was about ten to twelve meters wide. Our mifaked yelled that we were going to run around the two sand bags and without warning called tzeh! or go! After a few sprints, our mifakdim notified us that they would now be marking down who arrived in the first five places and the last five places in order to track statistics. I had placed in the first five about three or four times, but I was also trapped in the back of the pack making it impossible to pass twice, leaving me in the last five as well.
After about thirty minutes of sprinting with no breaks our mifaked told us to each grab a sand bag and hold it above our heads. Every time someone dropped it, he added another minute, by the time we finished I am guessing we held them above our heads for ten minutes.
Our mifaked then split us into two groups to argue pros and cons about reality television. I was in the pro group and right away volunteered my reasons and took initiative to find out other’s reasons. After deciding on seven pros with my group, I also volunteered to present our reasons to all forty guys and our mifakdim, which was very hard because I am by no means fluent in Hebrew.
After our debate ended, our mifaked told everyone to roll down their sleeves and pick up another sand bag above our heads, but this time for much shorter. He then told us we would begin crawling to the sand bags we sprinted to, so everyone crouched to their knees and on his mark we would began. The field we were crawling on was desert with rocks, thorns, and I even found pieces of glass while crawling… it was not pleasant. He had us crawl there once, then there and back, then there and back a third time. For the first two, I scored in first place, which also earned me a spot to begin from the farthest spot with the most thorns and rocks. The last crawl I was in the back of the pack due to exhaustion and whacking my elbow on some big rocks.
He then told us to get back on the line again in threes. We began sprinting for another thirty minutes, except this time the first four to make it to the line would carry a stretcher with weight for their second sprint. I didn’t make it in the first four for any of these sprints, but I made sure to always push myself as hard as possible, always making it in the first half of the pack.
Then we were told to make a map of Israel using anything we could find on the ground. I again made sure to input my leadership skills and assure that the southern region and borders were set well, they asked for another presenter, but it was time for someone else to volunteer.
We were then given shovels and told that there was about to be an attack by an enemy, use the sand bags and shovels to make fox holes. At all times there also needed to be three people holding sand bags over their heads. We did this for about thirty minutes, I asked those holding sand bags if they needed a rotation, but every time they said, “no.” I dug for half the time and placed sand bags around our fox holes for the other half, I always was moving and keeping busy. At the end of the thirty minutes our mifaked yelled, “RIMON" or "GRENADE", and obviously we had to jump for cover in our fox holes.
We were then brought to a pull up bar area and told to hold on until our arms gave out with our eyes shut, opening our eyes would disqualify us. We did this about three times, I remember my arms shaking between this and sand bag holds, but I held out as long as possible. I wasn’t the first to let go, but I definitely was not the last.
Our last exercise we were told to pick up most of our stuff and put it onto a truck, leaving us with a stretcher with seven sand bags and a jerry can. We set out for a masa or a hike, with one person holding a jerry can and four underneath the stretcher. Every once and a while our commander would begin to run, which meant those carrying the stretcher also had to run. I carried the stretcher twice during the masa, which lasted about an hour. Even at times that I wasn’t under the stretcher, I was right behind those carrying it, encouraging them that it would end soon and to drive through.
Finally after finishing the masa, the physical part of the gibush ended. We were told to shower and prepare for interviews. I was prepped by friends on the questions that the interviewers would ask me, but to my surprise none of those questions were asked. Instead, they asked me why I made aliyah at twenty two, why I want combat, about my time being president of AEPi, and about my plans after the army.
After leaving Tel HaShomer, my nerves began to get the best of me. I was nervous I hadn’t been in first place enough or that my number was called for bad reasons too often. However, I have had much time to think about what they’re looking for during the gibush.
In my opinion, they’re not always looking for the best athlete that gets first place in every activity. They’re looking for the person that gives it their all, even if they’re huffing and puffing while sprinting. You can be in last place every time, but continue to fight through your thoughts of quitting, they’re looking for the mentally tough. Anyone can be physically built up, no one can be mentally built up. So for those reading this post for their future gibush, don’t worry specifically about places, just give it your one hundred and ten percent, and they will see how badly you want Tzanhanim.
After a week of anticipation for my answer, I finally heard back from the army. I passed the gibush and have been accepted into Tzanhanim! I am drafting on November 21st, when I will begin my basic training.