At first light, in the early morning, the fighters of the August ’25 cohort of the Nahal Brigade completed their beret march, thus concluding an 8-month track. At a ceremony at the brigade’s memorial in Pardes Hanna, they received the green beret and the “Green” fighter’s pin. But this time, something was different in the air – and on their uniforms.
Photo: Spearhead
“This ceremony is different from a regular one,” began the Brigade Commander, Colonel A. “Today, for the first time, we are unveiling and awarding our new fighter’s pin.” After more than two years of long maneuvering in the Gaza Strip, the brigade decided to renew the symbol that has adorned the left pocket of every Nahal soldier for decades.
“During the war, I felt we needed to lead a change in spirit,” says the Brigade Sergeant Major, M., one of the originators of the idea. “To always remember and commemorate the Nahal fighters who fought for over two years, and those who fell or were wounded. I started thinking about what we wanted the new pin to look like, and what it would represent. And in parallel, we started designing it.”
Photo: Spearhead
And so, after a process of designing sketches and evaluating them, they arrived at the final result: unlike its predecessor, the pin is composed of 4 arrows that have been modified and attached to the left side of the sickle, with each symbolizing a battalion of the brigade – Basalt, Topaz, Shaham, and Granite. But the significant difference is hidden behind the sword, the sickle, and the arrows. “We added one more wing that represents our spirit in the brigade.”
The sickle and the sword complement each other, creating the brigade’s character. “The agricultural tool symbolizes the connection to the land and the country, pioneering, and the Nahal nuclei that were established to settle the country,” illustrates Sergeant Major M. “On the other hand, the sword expresses the pursuit of contact, the adherence to the mission, the readiness for battle, and the sense of security that the Nahal soldiers created. The combination of the two is our source of strength.”
Photo: Spearhead
And at dawn, after the new fighters completed the march, they were the first to wear the new pin that was awarded to them. “It was a very emotional moment for me,” admits the Brigade Sergeant Major, “both because this project we worked on for so long is finally coming to fruition, and we were all waiting for this moment.”