Dear Friends and Supporters of Israel:
I am writing to you from the Gaza border with an urgent appeal. For over 20 years, I have volunteered to serve in an elite combat unit of the IDF. Following the Hamas’ barbaric attack on October 7th, our unit was called up under emergency orders. We were mobilized for 130 days; of which we were engaged in combat in Gaza for 114 days. Our brigade was the first reserve brigade to attack in Gaza on October 28th. We fought in Beit Hanoun, Sheikh Radwan in Gaza City, Shati Refugee Camp, and Khan Yunis. Recently, we were called up for a second time, deployed to the Rafah area, where we are responsible for leading and protecting logistics convoys, bringing in and out troops, escorting special units and providing casualty evacuation assistance.
Over the past couple years, the IDF planed to completely close our reserve division, as part of its doctrine of a “small and smart army” based on intelligence, technology, and the Air Force. This left our division at the bottom of the IDF food chain, with outdated and cumbersome equipment to fight and defend ourselves. However, due to the recent events of October 7th, and the failure of the existing strategy elements, the IDF was forced to retract its plans to shut down our division, still leaving our unit with outdated weapons, equipment, and vehicles in limited quantities.
Currently, the strategic plan for our unit is now set to expand from 20 to over 50 combat ready elite soldiers in order to have complete operational capability in any given scenario.
Our current deployment will continue for at least a couple months. In the event of an all-out war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, our division will become responsible for the majority of combat in Gaza thus delaying our release indefinitely from our current mobilization.We are reaching out to you for your support in our crowdfunding campaign.
The issued army personal equipment is severely outdated. Thanks to two spontaneous generous donors, we received over $63,000 for helmets and plate carriers. This covered the purchase of equipment for about 15 soldiers. As we are rapidly expanding our unit, we urgently need your help to purchase fire-retardant uniforms and more, lightweight helmets. Fire-retardant uniforms are crucial as they significantly reduce injury severity from explosions of IEDs and RPGs. Additionally, the helmets we currently have, although an improvement on the outdated and ineffective issued helmets, weight 3 times more than better made-in-USA helmets. High-quality, lighter US made helmets would greatly reduce the strain and fatigue on our soldiers in our unit, who wear this gear for sometimes more than 20 hours a day.
Your support is critical to ensuring the safety and effectiveness of our combat unit. Please consider contributing to our cause. Because of you and your contribution we may have a fighting chance to defend our country and this world from the evil which raised its ugly head on October 7th and time and time again before that.
Thank you so much for your generosity and support!
