With the first strike of the operation on Saturday morning, the air defense array entered a state of peak alert. So did the ‘Arrow’ battery where Sgt. M. serves, who, besides the operational intensity of that day, also returned to a painful moment she experienced nine months prior.
During the days of ‘With a Lion’, M. finished her high school studies, as did her best friend, the late Noa: “We were just before enlistment, but we’ve been friends since childhood – we danced together, studied together, and until that moment, we were inseparable.”
In the middle – Noa, and to her left, Sgt. M., at school
On the last day of the operation, 18-year-old Noa was killed by a direct missile strike on a building in Be’er Sheva. There, she was staying with her boyfriend, the late Sgt. Eitan Zaks, who also fell in that incident along with his mother and another neighbor in the building.
With unbearable pain, less than a month after the incident, M. reached the moment she was supposed to share with her friend, but Noa did not get to experience it – her enlistment day. “When I went to the combatants’ selection, air defense caught my eye. In retrospect, and especially after losing Noa, I understand that it wasn’t ‘just’ a choice, nor a coincidence,” she believes.
“Just a few months ago, I was a high school student who lost a close friend, and now I’m in a role whose entire purpose is to defend against the very missiles that took her life. It’s simply a different and complex perspective – on one hand, the sadness is always with me, and on the other hand, I feel pride that I can protect people the way Noa would have wanted.”
“Not everyone knows that the systems are not automatic – there are fighters behind them who operate at 200 percent. When an interception fails – the heart breaks: and that’s the hardest thing. Nevertheless, one must remain calm to stay focused and not lose balance for the next target.”
For precisely this reason, the training for air defense fighters is physical, but also very mental. “This is how you realize how strong you truly are. We are fighters in every sense of the word: both because of the weapon, but mainly because of the responsibility we carry on our shoulders – to directly protect our homes.”
But the longing for Noa, she says, never stops: “When I find it difficult where I am, I remind myself why I joined – and remember that I am doing this for her, and for all the other people I love. That’s what gives me the drive to lift my head and continue.”
And when I ask her how Noa would react if she knew about her service today, I hear a smile spread across her face in her voice. “She would have been proud of me, and I think she is proud of me now too. I have a feeling she’s watching me from above, and knows that thanks to her, I’m here.”
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