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<\/a>Growing up I’ve always admired my dad. He has managed to experience some of the most life-changing experiences, filled with ups and downs, and through it allBeing born in Jerusalem, Israel<\/a>, my dad was drafted to the army, like everyone else, when he was 18 1\/2 years old. He joined the Armour unit<\/a> and began\u00a0three months of general studies before beginning more intensive training. For\u00a0two months, he studies with the combat unit and learned everything about the M48 Patton<\/a> tanks. The war of Attrition<\/a>, which started in 1968, was still ongoing when my dad was placed in combat. My dad’s Company was stationed in the central line on the El Ferdan Railway Bridge<\/a>. His mission was broken down into day and night. During the day, he was to patrol the\u00a0area to ensure that the road was clear of enemies and mines. At night, their mission was to get close to the canal and ambush any predators that cross the line. His entire unit would be awake until midnight at which point they started rotation until 4am. If you do the quick math in your head, that means that they only slept for\u00a0three hours every 24 hour period!! Speaking to my dad, he revealed that this was such an exciting time for him. He was not scared to be in the combat \/armour unit. Like a little kid,\u00a0he loved “playing” with guns. To him, this was the best place he could be. It was fun and exhilarating. He never feared or thought that the worst was yet to come… On August 10th, 1970, my dad’s Platon started their patrol as they had for the past two and a half months. Suddenly, they received very heavy shelling from the Egyptian side. The Commander ordered the driver to get off the road in order to obtain a better position to identify where the shelling was coming from. When they got off the road, they hit a road-side charge. (It was later determined that the tank mine was place there by the Egyptian commander the night before as they were clearly aware of my dad’s Unit’s routine.) My dad heard a loud noise, he could smell something burning and his tank began to shake. He felt a ton of pressure, like someone was holding him paralyzed against the tank\u2019s wall. Parts of the tank starting crashing into his face and body and suddenly it become eerily quiet.\u00a0 My dad eventually opened one of his eyes and saw that there was no one else in the tank with him. As he tried to exit, he heard his crew scream for him. He yelled back saying that he couldn’t see them while they continued to shout his name. My dad somehow single-handedly exited the tank and made his way to his unit, who were hiding from the enemy shelling. The Commander asked my dad how he felt, and he said that overall, he felt okay, except he had some pain on his face. The paramedics were called over and my dad laid on the ground, holding a gauze to his face, for three hours, while the enemy continued to shell them. Meanwhile, headquarters sent a Doctor over to see him. The Doctor immediately opened my dad’s eyes and noticed that he had glass and iron shards. They decided to call in a helicopter to take him to the hospital.<\/p>\n Unknown to my dad, a documentary film crew was on hand that day and captured my dad being carried away on a stretcher and receiving treatment while on the helicopter. However, my dad did not find out about this footage until almost 30 years later. He thinks it’s pretty cool!! Here’s the clip of my dad: <\/a>He was specializing as the gunner of his tank unit but he was still trained in all other areas including; ammunition,\u00a0driving, computer use and tank maintenance. In total, he had\u00a0seven months of training before being deployed in Egypt.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n