The Proving Grounds – The Golani Brigade

“THE ONLY TRUE DEAD ARE THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN FORGOTTEN” ~ Israeli Proverb

The notorious Golani Brigade, considered “The Dirty Dozen” Infantry  of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), have engaged Israel’s enemy on the ground in Israel and its surrounding countries more than any other combat unit in the IDF.

The Golani brigade was formed on Feb 28 1948 when the Levanoni Brigade deployed on Israel’s Lebanese border was divided into two smaller brigades: the Carmeli Brigade and the Golani Brigade.  The Golani Brigade was stationed in the valleys and hills of the lower Galilee in Northern Israel. Their combatants included members of the HaganaH, residents of settlements in the area of combat and enlisted soldiers of the IDF from all over the country. Often new arrivals to the state of Israel were thrown into the fray.  The new refugee recruits were reluctant soldiers and fought against the odds as they were often outnumbered and under equipped.

Upon foundation of the Israeli state in 1948, Arab armies invaded the newly formed country.  In the north, this included the Syrian army, the Iraqi army and the Lebanese army.  The Golani brigade were deployed to face this threat. It had severely depleted ranks, it was short on arms and poorly equipped against a well equipped Arab enemy.  In spite of these odds the Golani Brigade succeeded in bringing the Syrian columns of armor and infantry to a halt. Iraqi forces were also halted in the Jordan valley.  The partisan methods which included face to face combat and guerilla improvisational tactics, that sometimes deployed the use of Molotov Cocktails, prevailed in this infant state of Israel. These methods were the birth of what would become a superb fighting machine – The Golani Brigade.

It would be nearly impossible to document and write the Golani Brigade’s involvement in each battle engaged throughout the history of Israel’s wars. These wars included the War of Independence in 1948-51, The Sinai Campaign in 1956, The Six Day war in 1967, The Yom Kippur War in 1973, The Entebbe Rescue Mission in Uganda in 1976, The Peace of Galilee-Lebanon War in the early 80’s, The Second Lebanon War in 2007 and the Gaza War in 2014. The Golani Brigade has literally become the Northern Guardian Angel of Israel.

The uniqueness of the Golani Brigade lies in its recruits being from the “middle class” of the state of Israel. The “upper class” who tended to be more of an intellectual type often joined the paratroopers.  Due to the demographical logistic of its recruits being the middle class, they typically were more of a brute work force.

Majority of the Golani Brigade are from the Sephardic Jewish community in Israel with a smaller percentage being from the Ashkenazi Jewish community in Israel.  Some believe that because the Sephardic community is the actual Middle Eastern Israeli community that they have a better understanding of the Arab enemy than the Ashkenazi community  which is of European descent.

Due to the countless numbers of engagements with the enemy, the Golani Brigade has developed a unique way of molding an infantry soldier to be ready for combat in relatively short period of training time.  In fact, the Golani Brigade are the only members of the IDF called Warriors and not soldiers.  At the end of six grueling months of infantry boot camp, each member receives the Golani Warrior Brigade Insignia pin.  The pin represents Warrior status almost to a legendary status.

Boot Camp in the Golani Brigade is divided into two phases. The first phase takes three months at the famous Bezek Infantry Training Base.  At Bezek, the landscaping of the training is divided in three categories:

• Combat Fitness
• General Infantry training
• Individual specific weapon selection and training for each soldier. Upon completion of this phase of training, the novice soldiers receive the Golani Shoulder Tag.  The Golani Shoulder Tag is the only shoulder tag in the IDF that is square shaped.  All other shoulder tags in all other units in the IDF are shaped like a shield.

The second three month phase of the six month boot camp is field training somewhere in the Galilee which includes:

• Integration of the individual soldier working as a link into his team platoon in coalition with the other soldier’s expertise using their weapons.
• Basic navigation and long marches fully equipped
• Urban warfare training in Zaoura, also known as “Hell Town”, the Golani Brigade’s Urban Arab Village Replica training base. This training phase is unique to the Golani Brigade and it’s notorious to be complex and intense. In this stage of the training the Brigade will try to expose those who can’t handle the hardship and stress of real combat. Members who decompose during this phase must be exposed prior to actual combat or they will be a liability to the rest of the unit in a real combat situation. More grenades are thrown in this training base than any other training base in the entire IDF. Those who decompose are usually assigned to administrative or other duties in the brigade and will not graduate as full warriors at the end of the six months. Those who succeed and finish this punishing 6 months boot camp will become warriors forever in one of the 3 Golani Battalions: Battalion #12, Battalion #13 or Battalion #51.

Although the primary objective of the Golani Warrior is the Northern border of Israel, from the moment you become a Golani Warrior you are officially a Guardian to Israel and will be first to fight any conflict Israel is faced with. It is important to understand that Golani Warriors are extremely motivated to fight for Israel and have done so and will continue to so over and over again, without complaining.  They just do it, because it simply won’t be done by itself.

GOLANI LOCHEM

A true soldier never decomposes.
Before the fight he harnesses his emotions.
During the fight he manages his tactics.
At the end of the fight,
He always reaches his objectives.
 
 

The Special Forces Units – The Best Of The Best

“IF SOMEONE IS COMING TO KILL YOU, RISE AGAINST HIM AND KILL HIM FIRST ” ~ Ancient Hebrew Proverb

Simply put by nature, the difference between a regular Golani Warrior and a Golani Special Forces Warrior is the fact that the Special Units will spearhead pre-emptive strikes missions on top of their regular Infantry duties.  They are the shadow warriors…

At the moment you step off the bus on the first day of arriving to boot-camp at Bezek Infantry Training Camp all new recruits are offered the opportunity to enter selection for the 3 Special Forces Units of the Golani Brigade:

• Sayeret Golani - Recon
• Orev Golani - Tank Hunters
• Chan Golani – Demolition

This selection process is called a “Giboush”. It is an extreme test designed to challenge the durability, endurance, problem solving, and ability to work within a team under extreme amounts of pressure.  The test lasts 24 hours. During that time, at any giving moment you can give up and simply fall back into the regular infantry recruits pool. Those who pass the Giboush become candidates to one of the 3 Special Forces.  During the 6 month Golani Brigade boot camp at Bezek those candidates are closely watched for further selection criteria. At the end of the 6 months, only the best enter the Special Forces training stage.  Those that do not make the cut into one of the Special Forces units are put into one of the Golani Battalions.

For those that made the cut into the Special forces unit, the next stage of training is called “Maslool”.  This stage is an additional 6 months long process consisting of a series of one week, or two weeks combat courses leading into the final 4 weeks graduating course of each unit. The one weeks, and two weeks courses are literally identical in all 3 Special Forces Units. The only variation is the final course due to the specific objective of specialty attached to the different natures of these 3 units. The graduating course for the Sayaret is the Counter-Terrorism School. The graduating course for the Orev is the Anti-Tank school. And the graduating course for the Chan is Explosives school. Any failure of any of the one week courses, or the two weeks courses, and especially of the final graduating course results into being deleted and placed into the regular Golani Battalions. There is no opportunity to trying again. Those who graduate are truly the Best Of The Best.