My War Story

In the first seconds, everything is black. No sound. No pain. Then the shapes start to come back, everything is blurry. I gather myself and see I'm outside the tank, on top of it. I don't understand how I got there.

I feel like I have the power to decide if I'm going to lose consciousness and let the people around me decide what happens to me, or stay awake and start putting myself back together. I keep myself conscious.

I want to get off the tank, so I start lowering myself to the ground. I feel like my right leg isn't working with me, so I land on my left leg. When I hit the ground I feel like it starts getting hot. I look at my back and I see it's on fire. Out of instinct I fall to the ground on my back, trying to put the fire out. I can hear someone say, "his whole back is burnt."

Right after, four fighters from Sayeret Golani come to me. I look at them and say: "help me." Each one grabs a leg or an arm, and they lift me up. One of them wants to put a tourniquet on my leg. I tell him no, I want my leg.

In that moment it comes to me — where are my soldiers? How come I'm the only one out here? I want to check on them, make sure they're okay. The moment the door of my tank opens from the inside, they put me in the evacuation vehicle. I don't get to see what's going on.

That's where the pain kicks in. I feel everything. Every single one of the 150 pieces of metal that went into my legs. The fractures, the wounds, the nerve damage, and worst of all, the burns. On my back, on my hands, on my face. I grab the paramedic's hand and ask him to do something, anything to make this pain go away.

The drive is five minutes. It feels like hours.

During the drive it hits me. I start thinking about my mom. My dad. My sister. My brother. How are they going to react. How do I tell them I was hit. I have no idea what's going to happen to me.

Then my platoon. Did everyone get out? Is there a Hamas invasion? Can they fight back without me? Do they know where I am? Are they hurt? Are they alive?

The pain is unbearable. The paramedic looks at me. He says: "do you want to see dolphins in the sky?" I have no idea what he means, but I say yes. If it'll ease the pain, yes. Then he injects me with a mix of drugs that would've been too much for a horse.

We get to the helicopter pad. They take me out on a stretcher and put me on the helicopter. The whole ride, all I can think about is the dolphins, swimming in circles above my head. I don't remember anything else from the flight.

The helicopter lands. They roll me into the hospital. About six doctors come at me at once and start exchanging information with the special unit that took care of me on the helicopter. I look up at one of them and ask: "do you have a phone I can borrow? I want to call my dad."

He hands me his phone. Somehow I get my dad's number right. He answers. I tell him: "hey dad, it's me. Everything's okay, don't panic, but I'm in a hospital. I don't know which one. Can you and mom come?"

I don't remember what he said back. Right after that, I go into surgery.

I wake up. My mom and dad are there.

Now the next chapter of my life begins.