Draw Me An Army: Soldiers depict their IDF service
When asked to portray their time in the army, soldiers from different units emphasized camaraderie, help to others, and hardships that can turn into triumph.
The hardships alongside the moments of triumph, the dull and banal alongside the different facets of Israeli society. We've asked IDF soldiers from different units to draw their army service. This is the result.
Life from up above
"The drawings show our work with the squadrons in the field, and setting up landing strips for heavy cargo aircraft," says Sergeant Leon Semet, a combat soldier in the Air Force. "In one of the drawings, I drew the landing of a Hercules aircraft on a dirt runway, which went well."
Camaraderie
"There is a kind of uncertainty, you feel like the ground is moving. Where are we going next? What is the next destination? I get to see and experience life in the battalion. I feel the people around me, I can understand what 'camaraderie' means," says Corporal Shahaf Grossman, a sports instructor in the Nahal Brigade. "The greatest experience of all is to look at it from the inside. To support and be there for them and know that there's someone watching over you."
Search and rescue
"The drawing portrays the activity of the Search and Rescue Company fighters during emergency time," says Corporal Yarden Arditi, a combat soldier in the Home Front Command's Ram Company. "These are the same soldiers who are responsible for search and rescue activities, the same fighters that I am a part of, who lends their hand in the time of trouble."
Hardships turn into triumph
"You can look at the comics in several different ways. It describes my life as a soldier in combat training, as a fighter," says Corporal Assaf Shtrassler a combat soldier in the Nahal Brigade's Battalion 05. "The moment you traverse the difficult and challenging moments, you understand the service incorporates within it hardships that turn into triumph. The long treks, the camaraderie, the fitness tests - all of these taught me that everyone, and I mean everyone, can do it."
The Haredi warrior
"I chose to portray the Haredi combat soldiers who serve in my unit, giving their time to the IDF and the State of Israel. Just like everyone else," says Sergeant A, who serves in Army Intelligence. "The drawing is an example of a unit that brings together people from all over Israeli society, who work together and contribute a lot to the operations of the unit."
