Female artillery fighters who came kilometers away from Hezbollah
The 55th Artillery Battalion, which recently finished four months of operational duty on the Lebanon border, includes both female and male combat soldiers; 'Sometimes I feel even safer with the women,' says senior officer.
The IDF has been trying to keep the co-ed battalion's unusual deployment to the Avivim area on the border quiet, with a senior artillery officer telling Ynet that "normally, combat engineering battalions are the ones deployed in that sector."
The battalion, however, was heaped with much praise for its operations from sector commanders Brig. Gen. Rafi Milo and Col. Eliad Maor (Moati).
"What was special about this is that the battalion quickly took over the sector professionally, and the division and brigade commanders, who believed in the soldiers, gave them tasks considered groundbreaking for an artillery battalion," the senior officer said.
Unlike other co-ed battalions like Caracal or battalions in the Home Front Command, the ratio of female to male combat soldiers in the 55th Battalion is different, with 6 to 10 female fighters serving in the front Fire Direction Center in an artillery battery, but not in roles inside the canon itself, which are considered more physical in nature.
Normally, the battalion does regular operational duty and is not deployed to the northern border, with all of the soldiers - both men and women - performing the same tasks.
Soldiers in Division 215, the home of the 55th Battalion, have already gotten used to seeing women on the front lines.
The most senior female officer in the division is Lt. Shir, the operations officer for the 402nd Battalion, who served as a deputy battery commander and is now up for promotion.
In addition, over the past six months, other batteries from the division have been deployed to sectors like Bethlehem and Qalqilya, where there is also complete equality between men and women.
"Someone asked me if I weren't afraid our female fighters are integrated like this," the senior artillery officer said. "I told him that a week earlier I was accompanying a force from the battalion on an arrest of a Palestinian suspect - Sivan and Moran were with me, and I felt fine. Sometimes I feel even safer with them."
One female fighter serving in the division told Ynet she regrets the fact that "the rabbis who condemn women's service have not come to see our operations, not even once. When there are female fighters and officers who are not afraid of any enemy in any sector - the quality of operations is only going up and no one gets hurt. The most important thing for us is to carry out the mission in the best manner possible."
