Our Brave Cousins

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These are the kind of men I would be proud to go to war with. The pragmatic service mentality that they express is something that used to be common in our country... but is now all too rare. Such is the price of the easy life and no real threat, I suppose.

Anyway, please read this... here's an excerpt that will grab you. It is an interview with two Israeli vets who lost limbs in the war. As far as I'm concerned, these guys are amazing and genuine heroes:

[[ ...people are worrying too much about things that are marginal... If you ask me, as I hear in your tone, whether I regret having lost my leg, of if I think it was for nothing - I say no, I don't think it was for nothing. I don't regret it for a second. It's not like there's some kind of [political debate] here... I would go out again to war with the knowledge that it could happen to me. This is a war that we didn't start, and it was very difficult and crappy, but I, and all my friends, went out with the clear knowledge that it's - it's either me and Evyatar here - or, well, if it's not us, then - this is what we're in the army for. This is how we protect the borders of the State of Israel. I can't cry or complain to anyone and worry that I might get wounded when Katyushas are falling at home and people are getting killed. I mean, I'm a soldier now, and I give my three years; what can I do that they happened to fall on this war? I mean there are reservists who are in the same situation. If it's not us, then no one else will...

As far as whether the war was handled correctly, or not correctly - what, every soldier in the middle of the battle will start giving his opinion on whether the Chief of Staff or the Northern Commander is doing it right or wrong, and whether we should take this village or go a different way? It can't work that way.
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Evyatar: The main thing is that we are alive, and therefore we have a lot to be grateful for; we now go forward. It's real nonsense - a hand, a leg, it's really not important. [In response to interviewer's raised eyebrows], yes, really nonsense.

Eran: Vanity of vanities, compared to people who lost their sons or their friends; total nonsense.

Evyatar: I mean, the bottom line is we're here!

Eran (chuckling): I'll have a prosthesis, and he'll learn to write with his left hand... No problem, I'll walk regularly; they told me that they have a prosthesis that I won't even limp [with] at all, and I hear that the Defense Ministry takes care of its wounded. I'm alive. And he'll learn to tie his shoes with his left hand, and it could be that his hand will even come back to normal -

Evyatar [smiling]: - with G'ds help -

Eran: I mean, people lost their friends, and their sons, and their husbands, and their fathers - so who are we at all to say anything... ]]

Wow... may God bless them and their families.

Here's the whole thing- go get it.

Wounded IDF Soldier: "So I Lost a Leg; So What?"

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