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Brigade 933 - NAHAL Brigade

The Nahal Brigade (Brigade 933) is a regular infantry brigade in the Israel Defense Forces , subordinate to the Steel Division . Brigade 933 [Nahal Brigade] is a regular infantry brigade in the Israel Defense Forces, subordinate to the Steel Division. The name of the brigade is derived from the acronym of the Warrior Pioneer Youth (Nahal), because it originates from the Nahal nuclei that were established from the early days of The State of Israel. However, today the majority of the brigade is made up of soldiers from the general public, who are not connected to the settlement movement.

The brigade participated in all Israeli systems starting with the Galilee Peace War , with the exception of Operation Cast Lead in which it occupied a line on the borders of Syria and Lebanon. The Nahal Brigade is currently subordinate to the Steel Design (Division 162) in the Southern Command and within it operate the 50th Battalion (Bazalet), the 931st Battalion (Shaham), the 932 (Granite) and the reconnaissance battalion containing the reconnaissance company, the engineering company and an anti-tank company.

The Nahal Brigade (933) was founded as part of the Nahal nuclei (warrior pioneer youth), who established countless kibbutzim and settlement points in the early days of the State of Israel. Later in its years, the brigade was composed of a majority of fighters who were mobilized in the general IDF mobilization, and who are not necessarily connected to the settlement movement and the nuclear forces.

The Nahal organization (which preceded the Nahal Brigade) was established on August 19, 1948 . The Nahal fighters and Parachute Nahal fighters of the 50th Battalion (which was attached to the Paratrooper Brigade) fought under the Paratrooper Brigade from November 1955 and took part in all Israeli wars, as a battalion within the Paratrooper Brigade, due to a lack of manpower caused by the fact that only members of the core and kibbutzim could enlist in the battalion.

Today's Nahal Brigade was established in 1982, as an alliance of several battalions, following the need for additional infantry forces in the First Lebanon War. In the decades that have passed since the war, the brigade has been involved in countless complex operations throughout Lebanon, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Since the establishment of the Nahal Brigade, the brigade's battalions and its units have been regularly deployed in the security strip in South Lebanon and in various combat arenas.

With the outbreak of Operation Protective Edge, the 931st Battalion of the brigade was the first force to enter the Gaza Strip. In the hard battles in Beit Hanon, three of the battalion's fighters fell and at the end of the fighting, the battalion received the division commander's medal and five of its soldiers were awarded the medal for their bravery in the battles. The incidents of Palestinian terrorism in the territories of Judea and Samaria brought the fighters of the brigade to get to know the cities of Judea and Samaria closely, where they conducted special operations to eradicate terrorism.

The soldiers of the Nahal Brigade wear a light green beret with an infantry pin and wear red infantry shoes. The unit badge of the Nahal Brigade consists of a sword, sickle and wheat. The sword symbolizes the value of defense, and the sickle and wheat symbolize the work of the soil and pioneers - a sign of the connection between the infantry brigade and the nuclear heritage of the Nahal. The brigade's emblem has four arrows, symbolizing the four battalions - Granite, shaham, basalt and the GDSr.

Recruits to the Nahal brigade spend the first eight months of their service at the Nahal's brigade training base, located near Arad. For the first four months of their service, the recruits are at the Nahal Tov base, the unit's training base, and for the remaining four months, the soldiers are at the Nahal Kiryut base, the advanced training base.

Nahal is the Hebrew acronym for "Noar Halutzi Lohem" - Fighting Pioneer Youth - a military cadre unique to Israel. It is a framework which combined military service in a combat unit with civilian service in a newly founded kibbutz or moshav (collective and semi-collective agricultural settlements).

The Nahal was established during the 1948 War of Independence by David Ben-Gurion. It was the natural continuation of the pioneering values and customs of the nascent state and the legacy of the elite underground Palmach unit. The aim of the Nahal was to ensure security and settlement, combining the sword and the ploughshare (the Nahal official emblem). The Nahal was created as a subdivision of the Gadna (pre-military age youth battalions). The unit's function was to maintain Gar'inim ('nuclei'), or groups of youths who had united for the purpose of founding new settlements or joining existing ones, in the framework of youth movements. At the time, 17 year-olds were drafted along with these groups of youths in times of national emergency. From its inception, the Nahal included women in its ranks. The aim of the Nahal Gar'in was to provide its soldiers with extensive military capability as well as the basic tools for life on a new kibbutz or moshav. Since its establishment, The Nahal has helped found at least 108 new settlements and has assisted in the development of many more.

Preparation for the Nahal once began before the actual induction: it started at high school, when Israeli teenagers became active in youth movements. As the actual draft year approached, groups of youth movement members declared themselves a Gar'in" in a formal ceremony (attended at the time by Nahal representatives). Service in the Nahal also obligated these youths to serve an additional 4 months in the army. The nucleus was then registered with a defined goal: the founding of a new settlement or the strengthening of an existing one, affiliated with the youth movement to which it belonged. Their military and pre-military service was divided into eight phases to train Nahal recruits and to ensure settlement:

The Gar'in first settles at its "target settlement", where they receive agricultural instruction and aquire social cohesion. The Gar'in members then go on to basic training. They re-unite at a joint ceremony and proceed on their route of service, which includes periods on the kibbutz or moshav out of uniform as well as operational activity. The path of service may be divided as:

• Agricultural orientation and group binding at the "target settlement" (at which the nucleus was to spend several months)
• Basic Training
• Agricultural Training and Social Development (at the outpost - "Heahzut")
• Border security deployent (men - military operations on the border; women - administrative and rear duties)
• More advanced military training
• Service at a kibbutz on non-paid leave
• Further operational deployment
• Further service at a kibbutz on non-paid leave

Upon completing military service, the Nahal soldier has undergone both extensive military training and acquired a basic knowledge of agriculture. Nahal Gar'in soldiers have completed their military service in this way up to present day. As reservists, they are able to serve in some of the IDF's elite units.

After discharge there is no obligation for Nahal soldiers to remain on their "target settlements" though many have ended up doing so. The Nahal aims to see that once a settlement is established it becomes permanent. If economic conditions and manpower are sufficient, the settlement may be handed over to civilians.

Until a decade ago, Nahal recruits were volunteers primarily from youth movements. The Nahal also accepted new immigrants, who have always been highly regarded for their motivation. They found the Nahal to be an exellent means of integration into Israeli society. Immigrants receive a special pre-military program which includes an intense course in Hebrew education, weapons handling and military orientation. The Nahal likewise accepted a number of high school dropouts, or "problematic" youth, in special programs geared to give them remedial education and train them to be productive citizens.

Some 108 villages, moshavim and kibbutzim had their beginnings as Nahal settlements. These settlements were established to secure the border. In the years following the Six Day War, Nahal outposts played an important role in combatting infiltrations. Nahal outposts in the Jordan Valley and the Arava may well have helped to deter Jordan from participating in the Yom Kippur War. In the Peace for Galilee War the Nahal troops also played a key role, fighting in all sectors of Lebanon. Nahal paratroopers entered West Beirut. In an attempt to rescue an incapacitated tank, the unit suffered a large number of casualties. Inside Israel, Nahal soldiers were carrying more security-related duties than any other unit at the time. In 1982, the Nahal also doubled its capacities. It was at this time that the Nahal realized that it was in desperate need of an increase in manpower.

Most Nahal settlements were started on sensitive border points, and have by their location improved the defense situation drastically. Nahal settlements have made many other settlements possible indirectly, by beginning a population flow into a particular area targeted for development.

Since its birth, the Nahal has developed many institutions and divised unique organizational methods to provide "tools" to enable unit to obtain its goals. Among these are the following:

• Mahane 80 ("Camp 80") - the Nahal (basic) training base.
• The Nahal NCO school
• The He'ahzut (the outpost) - located either at a sensitive border point or at a purely defensive one.

In 1988 Nahal had an estimated total strength of 5,000 men and women who had volunteered upon call-up. The basic unit was the platoon, which ranged from about twenty to eighty young people depending on assignment. A small headquarters served as a command element for a number of platoons located in the same general area. Platoons were assigned either to reinforce existing frontier settlements or to establish new ones in areas unsuitable for development by the civilian population. Strategic considerations were fundamental in selecting locations for Nahal units. Some sites were later abandoned as no longer useful; others became permanent civilian settlements.

The brigade was established by combining existing battalions and changing their purpose:

• Battalion 50 (Bazalet) - which was a parachute battalion (until 1987) in the Parachute Brigade. (First the 950th Battalion was established in which the soldiers of the Nahal route served in the late Btash episode and then in 1987 they merged)
• 931st Battalion (Shaham) - which was a regional battalion of the Northern Command.
• Battalion 932 (Granite) - which was a spatial battalion of the Central Command.
• the Falchik (a liaison company) was formed in addition to the battalions
• patrol team was formed in 1983 and was the basis of the Nahal patrol, the
• Falnat ("Crow", anti-tank company) was formed in 1991
• Falhaan (a company Sabotage and Engineering) was formed in 1992.

The training course of a fighter in the Nahal Brigade begins at the brigade training base (BAH) in Tel Arad. There he goes through training (basic training) for 4 months (at the Nahal-Tov base) and then advanced training that lasts about two and a half months (at the Nahal-Kiriot base). At the end of the advanced training, after a concluding week that includes company exercises in open and built-up areas, and a journey to Masada - the soldiers receive the warrior's pin, which symbolizes their promotion to the battalions and the beginning of operational activity.

The soldiers of the patrol units go through a longer training course, which lasts between one year and four months. After the end of the internship and advanced training, they go through LOT (war against terrorism) training as well as training related to their specific activity (Falchik - HAFK battalion, FLASR - reconnaissance and combat in enemy territory, PLANT - operation of anti-tank missiles , Falchan - mining and sabotage).

The Nahal Unit which exists today has undergone an enormous change. It has successfully overcome a tarnished image since the mid 80's, following tragic accidents and mishaps. In 1982, at the time of the Lebanon War, the Nahal began recruiting more personnel, since the IDF was in need of another infantry unit. At first the classic Gar'in recruits were sufficient sources to maintain the unit, but in subsequent years the unit's manpower demands gradually increased, and as a consequence the Nahal opened its rosters to young people wishing to serve in an infantry unit (who hadn't been accepted into the IDF paratrooper's unit).

Initially, the demand was for a 20% increase in manpower. In 1992, the demand rose to 30%, and in 1996, an 87% increase was registered. There are three existing courses of service in the Nahal today: Most of the soldiers undergo a course identical to that of other infantry units (basic training, advanced training, service in a combat unit, service on the border, command course). The second is for 3% of Nahal recruits with command potential who attend NCO school. The third is a modified version of the Gar'in track: after the basic and advanced training stages, the nucleus members spend 8 months on a "He'ahzut". Although there is much dispute regarding the need for this third course of service and the relevance of the Nahal's original goals in present-day Israel, there has been a marked increase in candidates volunteering for service in the nuclei and the Nahal Infantry Unit. As of 1997, the regular Nahal Infantry Brigade came under the command of the Central Command, while the Nahal Command, which continued to serve as a special cadre for combining military and nation-building civilian service was integrated into the framework of the Education and Youth Corps.

Since its establishment, the brigade's battalions and its units have been regularly deployed in the security zone in southern Lebanon and in various combat arenas. In the past, the brigade also suffered operational failures such as the 'Night of the Gilshonim', but today the brigade is highly regarded in light of the operational activity carried out by the brigade in Judea and Samaria, and especially in the sectors of the cities of Hebron, Bethlehem and Jenin. As a result, the demand for service in the brigade has risen dramatically in recent years, and in recent recruitment cycles the brigade was the first in demand among the non-volunteer infantry brigades.

In 1997, the Han and the Raven units included two combat teams in what became known as the greatest military disaster in the State of Israel and in the history of the Israel Defense Forces "L, the helicopter disaster. The brigade participated in the evacuation of southern Lebanon, and its sabotage unit (the Falchan) even blew up the Beaufort post upon its departure.

Since the days of South Lebanon, the brigade has been at the forefront of fighting in the Palestinian territories and cities, and is highly regarded in the highest ranks of the IDF. The Granite Battalion (932) was even awarded the Chief of Staff's Medal following its activity in the Protective Wall events and especially in the Battle of Jenin. The Patrol Battalion of the Nahal was awarded a command commander.

The Nahal brigade has operated intensively in the city of Hebron in recent years, severely damaging the local Hamas and Islamic Jihad infrastructure, with the help of the special forces. In the Second Lebanon War, all forces of the brigade operated in southern Lebanon, focusing on the eastern sector - under the command of Division 162. During the fighting, the brigade contained four of its fighters.

The Nahal Brigade was transferred to the Central Command in a process that was begun in 1996 and was completed in February 1997. In the context of the organizational changes carried out this year (1999) in the IDF, the Nahal Brigade was placed under the command of the a formation in the Central Command, and will no longer be an independent brigade directly subordinate to the GOC Central Command.

The Nahal Command continues to be responsible for the traditional service plan of the Nahal nuclei in the IDF. Today, the Nahal Command is subordinate to the Chief Education and Youth Officer.

The Nahal had proven that a standing army may serve not only defensive purposes, but also constructive ones. It has left its imprint by building some of the country's proudest possessions: idealistic, well-motivated men and woman. Although the Gar'in movement is no longer as necessary or possible as it was two decades ago, new Nahal recruits are making their commanders proud at sensitive border points, such as Southern Lebanon, and have definitely become some of the nation's finest and most productive soldiers.