Posted on 09/04/2003 4:55:46 PM PDT by yonif
They came from the hills. They came from the highrises, the farms and the settlements.
They came out of the pages of history.
Thousands of paratrooper veterans, many decorated, not a few glad to be alive, and all proud of their unique place in this young country's history, celebrated the 50th anniversary of the IDF's Paratrooper brigade Thursday.
The reunion epitomized so much the Israeli melting pot, with a spicy mix of nostalgia and adventure.
Gathering at Ramat Gan Stadium, old friends slapped backs and showed off scars. Some wore wings and other paratrooper insignia and smacked shaking bellies in a bizarre ritual of male bonding the world over.
Young recruits who had not yet earned their coveted wings or red beret sang at the top of their voices from the above the bleachers, while underneath a sergeant embraced his girlfriend, softly fingering his buzz haircut.
They all had a twinkle in their eyes. They were in a special club and bear themselves with a heritage they claim no other experience can match. You can find them front the heights of leadership to the garages of south Tel Aviv.
"Every paratrooper knows that those moments hanging in the sky with the wind rushing by your face is only a part of the making of a paratrooper," said Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, also a paratrooper.
Native-born Israelis and immigrants alike grew up with the legend of the paratroopers and still yearn to serve in the only fully volunteer combat brigade in the IDF today.
They say the paratrooper brigade is a green house for generals and heroes. They say anyone who has ever commanded the brigade is destined for greatness.
It's present commander Col. Aviv Kochavi, packing a master's degree in philosophy, has already "conquered" Nablus six times in the past 16 months.
"Kochavi isn't exactly God. But he's next to it," said St.-Sgt. Get-hon, 21, a tall, handsome paratrooper who was airlifted to Israel from Ethiopia as a child.
"We're a melting pot," said Col. Ya'ir Da'arf, commander of the paratrooper jump school at Tel Nof.
So far, 671 courses have gone through Tel Nof jump school, he said.
Detractors will say paratroopers don't have a future, that they are an anachronism of the bygone days of propeller flight. So, were Thursday night's celebrations merely the swan song for the brigade?
"Are you kidding?! This jump provides a test of courage that a soldier will never get anywhere else," Da'arf said in his heavy Yemenite accent.
Paratrooper red was everywhere at the stadium. There was a sea of red berets and symbols on a red stage.
To loud martial music the nation's leaders, or at least those who were paratroopers, marched into a cheering crowd. Like a Bolshevik rally, the field was decked out with old time Zionism slogans like: "We'll initiate. We'll lead. We'll set the example, and we'll win." And of course the ubiquitous "After me to the paratroopers."
Six paratroopers then swept in to wild applause.
"In this crowd are no few to whom I would gaze as a child and wish to be in the paratroopers," said Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe Ya'alon.
In the audience, middle-aged men rattled off the war and operations they had been in, some using the fingers of both hands.
"I was in the paratrooper reserves for 33 years," said Aharon Cohen, of Jerusalem, a heavy gold chain around his neck and his teenage daughter in tow.
They came from the pages of history. The legendary figures like Shimon "Katch" Kahane, and Rafael "Raful" Eitan, even Moshe "Ve'chetzi" Levy, who showed up in a wheelchair.
And of course, attending was one of the most famous of all Israeli paratroopers - Ariel Sharon.
"I was Arik's first commander, and I tried to get him to stop pumping petrol and join the army," said Gershon Yuval, 84, first commander of the IDF's jump school.
Three grizzled oldtimers sat keeping council on a bench watching the show. They said they were from the very first unit and had been through it all together.
"We fought in Kadesh (1956), and we liberated the kotel in Jerusalem ('67), and were the first unit to cross the Suez Canal ('73), and we even fought in the Lebanon War ('82), until some young'ns threw us out," said Yosef Schwartz, 70, who said he was only known by his nickname Yoskel Balagan. "I was always a secular kind of guy, but when I stood before the Western Wall I understood I belonged to the Jewish nation.'
Recruits stood and shouted, "Those who don't jump are Golani. They're pussies!"
Giora Ashkenazi and his son Ziv are farmers from Givat Hen and both came to the reunion. Giora echoed most men there, saying being a paratrooper had a profound effect on his life and values.
"It taught me to stand up to difficulties and never give in, to plow onward," Giora said.
His son Ziv said the phenomenon of the paratrooper is unique to Israel.
"Sure there are paratroopers in other armies, but there has never been anything like us in history. We don't just end our service after our mandatory three years. We are called up year after year. We show up, too," Ziv said.
Airborne & Amen
CSAR RULEZ!
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