Home Front Command troops train for combat rescues
The IDF's mixed-gender Shahar Battalion of the Home Front Command trains for search and rescue operations during combat in either the Gaza Strip or in Lebanon.
The drill was meant to simulate possible scenarios in both southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
While the scenario envisages an extreme case, it is one that has already happened to IDF ground forces in enemy territory. Examples include the 1982-1983 Tyre truck bombings in Lebanon and an explosion that trapped several soldiers from the IDF's elite Maglan Special Forces unit in a building during Operation Protective Edge.
The Shahar Battalion is a mixed-gender unit that, due to its role as a combat search and rescue force, puts its soldiers—both male and female—in more active combat situations that any other mixed-gender unit.
Shahar Battalion commander, Lt. Col. Benny Meir, discussed his female soldiers while detailing the training operation. "They marched ten kilometers carrying rescue equipment designed for active combat scenarios that weighed some 35 kilograms, with very little food and very little sleep," he explained.
"In rescue operations under fire, they may have to deal with Hamas terrorists emerging from concealed tunnels. I would not enter Gaza without them."
Meir emphasized the difficult physical and psychological realities of the unit, paying special attention to unique and exceptional dilemmas.
"It's human lives versus human lives. I will endanger the lives of my troops in order to rescue and save the lives of other soldiers from other units. We will act courageously, coolly and responsibly where values clash with striving to save those trapped."
