Deputy N and Deputy G never envisioned themselves as Israeli Air Force pilots, but soon they'll stand side by side as graduates of the combat track at the flight course graduation ceremony, leaving everyone guessing which one is which.
The two men are set to become the first pair of identical twin combat pilots in the Air Force to graduate from the same flight course together. The duo, residents of a kibbutz in the Emek Hefer Regional Council, have always found it hard to part ways, both as children and as teenagers who excelled on a national league basketball team. As their enlistment approached, they gave up their status as outstanding athletes to serve in a significant combat role and were summoned together for the flight course selection process. Unlike other graduates, they don't come from a family of pilots; their older brother had started the course in the past but dropped out.
"We prepared for enlistment together and did a year of service," G recounted. "After growing up with basketball, we realized it wasn't our dream, and both of us wanted to be fighters. Initially, we aimed for the Shayetet (Israeli equivalent of Navy Seals), passed the selection for Shayetet and also for the flight course, and ultimately, after much thought, we chose to enter the flight course together, and from there we just rolled with it."
"In most stages of the course, we weren't in the same team, and even during the selection, we were quite separate," added N. "We went through similar experiences but in parallel."
They tried to go through the first year and the academic year for their bachelor's degree together. "We share laughs throughout the course and have common terms. There's always someone to vent to and share with, and that's a huge asset," one brother said.
The two shared that the hardest part of the course was going through it during wartime: "Being in training and not contributing to the war effort was hard for us, especially when our other friends were serving in elite units."
But their twinness had some lighter moments. "There were flight instructors who got confused when I came up right after my brother, and they thought he came up again," G noted. "Even our grades were quite similar in the end."