An Anonymous Hero: Inside IDF's Elite Unit 669 & the Rescue on Oct. 7th (Behind the Bima #181)

From Bocarone, Florida, this is Behind the Beimma. On this episode, the rabbis are joined by a true hero of the Jewish people, an elite commando in the IDF's legendary unit 669, whose face and name must remain redacted for his ongoing security. Known to us only as Guy, he is a sergeant major, a combat paramedic, and the author of a powerful new book, The Rescue, October 7th, Through the Eyes of Israel's top rescue commandos. Guy shares his remarkable journey from an aspiring doctor to a member of one of the IDF's four elite units. details the grueling physical and psychological training designed to create soldiers who can rescue anyone, anywhere, under any conditions. And he offers a rare inside look at the mindset, resilience, and nerves of steel required to be part of the worldrenowned unit 669. All this and more behind the beimma. Welcome back to Behind the Beimma. We're so excited to be coming to you from our brand new studio. And the very first guest we have in our studio, in our formal setup, is a real hero of ours, someone we admire enormously. And as you can tell, his face is blocked out. You can't see his identity. And we won't be able to use his last name because the Israeli government uh has redacted his name and his face as an elite commando, a member of the 669 unit, a real hero of the Jewish people in previous wars and whose uh skill set will still be needed is somebody who can't be revealed and visible to the public. But we couldn't be more excited, guy, that you're here with us in studio for this conversation to hear your story, your background, and to talk about what's happening now in Israel and this war. Thank you so much for going behind the beamer with us. Thank you so much for having me. Really, really excited to be here. I hope uh now my face is blanked out. So, you can see how excited I am, right? See, but we can see. But we can see and we appreciate it very much. So, guy is a sergeant major, IDF unit 669. And uh this new book came out uh called The Rescue October 7th through the eyes of Israel's par rescue commandos. Uh this isn't your first book, but this is the first one that's been translated into English. So much to talk about. Tell us about that first book and how viral it went, how popular it became in Israel and why. But maybe take a step back. First thing, tell our audience who don't know what is unit 669. 669 is one of the four elite units. Mostly known are the Shayet 13, the Navy Seals, the Seat Matal forever will be known for Antbe Rescue. Sheldag is the air force commando and we are the smaller younger sister. But my opinion not objective is we have the best job. Our job is to be able to reach, rescue and evacuate while treating medically wise anyone anywhere whether it's air, sea or land. Why I'm saying that? Because obviously in the army our duty is to evacuate and treat extract casualties from combat. Um pilots ejecting their planes but over the years 669 also got the responsibility as coast guard for Israel hikers when they get caught in places that um civilian forces can arrive there or uh humanitarian u missions many of them over the years. So that's the mission and that's what we do 247. So you're combining several expertise. You have to be able to medically treat and evacuate, but do it under fire, exchanging fire, taking out enemy and terrorists and trained to do it, like you said, in all these environments. So, what's the training to be a member of 669? Is like a Navy Seal? Are they doing that underwater? I mean, you're doing it in all these environments. You have to be in crazy shape, be able to have nerves of steel. What's the training for? And this is also like a real elite unit. It's not like the elite units that my kids are in, which are not part of the four elite units. We we joke and we shouldn't joke obviously during a war time but before wartime we used to joke everyone you meet in Israel everybody elite unit says yeah but this is a legit elite this is the legit elite unit everybody is tell us about that training what that's like so uh I I I wanted to be a doctor in the army there was that's I went through biology in high school I did um my major in um health science I really wanted to be a doctor I went to mand do volunteering but I didn't get enough of my essay 80s that's uh I was like 100 I was so far away and then I kind of you know okay what do I do with this and then I a teenager didn't really understand how it works so I saw just unit 669 well it's like doctors you know that's what I thought and eventually I went to the tryyous it's multiple stage you start one day thousands of kids arrive teenagers and for the last two years also uh female it's not only men and then after if you pass that there's a one week grueling one either with the Navy Seals or with matkal on both tryyouts. There's instructor today instructor from 669. We uh try to allocate teenagers we think have what it what it takes and then for a year and a half of training depends what year it is but usually it's about a year and a half of training and then like you said you start becoming a soldier then a medic then it's um commando and special forces and all that warfare and then it's the most exciting part when it's about the rescue part because then you do all the cool stuff. Now, it may look really cool as like, you know, what's bad jumping out of helicopters in the ocean and parachuting and repelling out of mountains, but you do it with kind of gear on you in the middle of the night. You didn't sleep for a week. It's It makes you hate anything that is extreme. I hate scuba diving. I I mean, I really hate NOA. My My wife loves I What is it to love? You do in the middle of the night. It's like all pressure. And I was sent after that year and a half uh for additional year as a paramedic. uh training in Mandavid Dome and after almost three years of training I came back to the unit to serve as a combat paramedic. So walk us through a little bit of that training. You you spoke about it in broad terms but what were some of the most challenging parts not just physically but mentally obviously part of the goal of these training programs is to push you and every time you think you hit a limit to push you beyond that limit. So what are some experiences that you had that showed you that you're much more capable of things than you thought you were? So one of the main methods to train um in any kind of of army facility but especially in 669 is the uncertainty because that's the nature of the mission and different and that's a bit of the world of of of special forces or or special ops. It's how does it work? It's a lot of training for a very precise moment that you're going to sometimes months even a year you train for one thing to happen and you're just trying to make the the place for a mistake and you're trying to shrink it right to make it become precise and it just in 69 it works the other way around. you have a siren and then you get the mission, right? So for what we do, it's a year and a half of training for any siren that might come up. So it's always uncertainty. You never know when you're going to go to sleep, when you're going to eat, when you're going to it's always always you go by sirens, by surprise, and you always be caught by surprise. And that's the main method of resilience because you're always it's like this phrase in the unit, always be prepared for anything. Sounds kind of stupid, right? What does that mean? That's life, right? But that's gen you could be in Teln that's where the unit is based and you're going to be sleeping in bed. 10 minutes later you're going to find yourself on a bus on a way to the desert and for a whole week you're going to be uh uh just uh running hiding from um airplanes and and canines in kind of a survival drill eating for 5 days. And that's what it is. So the uncertainty is so big you just get used to it and then when you become a civilian you just hate it. That's another thing. But yeah, but uh is that training trying to get your nerves so that nothing can phase you? I mean, we'll get to October 7th and did you even feel ready and trained for that? But the goal of the training is basically that you live this unpredictable life so there's nothing you just nothing phases you. You got nerves to steal. you just find it's always always like Rabbi Muskwood said you're always stretching that capability sense of yourself because like you've walked for instance on a how do you call it a maser there's a word for that but you're walking for the whole night for 50 kilometers in one night and then you do one night but then after you discover you could do it for three nights in a row so you're always extending that sense of capability and all it starts with how much time you could stay underwater because you have to really master staying cool underwater because um marine and ocean rescue it's all about staying calm. All about staying calm. It's not being a good swimmer. It's not about being fast in water. It's staying calm. So you are being trained to stay for 2 minutes underwater with no breath and you know manipulating or doing something and then you do the same thing when jumping out of airplane with parachuting. So it's always about discovering those limits that we all have in our heads. After you do it so many times at some point you master it. What percentage drop out of about 50%. So it's about 50. We started 55 guys and we finished a pretty big cohort. It was about 32. That's like a lot guys. Why are those guys dropping out? And it was who who got it wrong? The guys that applied for the position and thought they could do it or the army which accepted them and said, "Yeah, these guys are definitely good. They can do it." It's the army. It would be guys like me, instructors at the tryyouts. that our job is to try and it's a ve it's it's it's a very um elusive kind of ability to see in a 17-year-old teenager a capability to become um I'm going to use a big word but a commando soldier like how do you re I there's so many examples of what exactly does it take and I'll tell you it's not about the strength teenagers worked in Israel now the war for instance one of the effects it has it be it it sky high rating uh uh um motivation. Never before so many try out so many candidates at the tryyouts we never saw such a thing and still as they're training they think it's all about muscle right it's not. So if you looked at the three of us which which one of us would make it show me your biceps. No but let me ask you a different question based on that. If you're talking to a teenage lady in Israel who wants to be a member of 669 obviously they have to go running. They should do push-ups and sit-ups. But what should they be working on for that which is invisible? Not the physical part, but the mental and emotional and spiritual part. What should they be working on to be ready? I tell I tell them generally that I have also because of the the books uh now in English I get a lot of emails from teenagers in America before the um the book in Hebrew. I get a lot of emails and approaches. I tell them all to become um youth group counselors. There's something if there's something that is very very hard hard to build in a character. It's not that it doesn't have to be niva but if they're going to teach basketball coaches if they're going to any kind of position that'll make them stand in front of a group and take responsibility like a rabbi or a rabbi. Yeah. For instance. And uh so it'll build the character which in that aspect it's very very hard to build muscle strength run quicker. It's it's easy. That's easy. The army the army is really good in building that stuff but that character is very elusive. Let me ask a question. We spoke about resilience and grit and being able to push yourself mentally beyond what you thought you were capable of. A lot of our listeners are probably the three of us. We're never going to be in sh combat units. Goldberg, but for myself. Um, but but all of us want to learn how to push ourselves more. All of us feel boxed in by what we self-perceived limitations. And part of success in life is learning to push yourself beyond that. So, what have you learned through your training that doesn't require me to go out into a field and run, you know, 50 km in the dark, but how can I work on that mental part of the game? How can I work on pushing myself and realizing that whatever limitations I put on myself are self-imposed and that I'm really capable of that much more? It's a excellent question and we're talking we don't want to do in the middle of the night right and with no food. So one of this is of course my opinion and what as a team my team kind of we discuss a lot is who the people you surround yourself with and who you consult with on different problems. Many times when we have things in life that we are kind of you know we're not sure we're capable or we're like well but it's usually about people like is the person I need something from I want to do something with how is he going to kind of perceive it. So we kind of discuss inside my team, my cohort of quarter 42nd of the unit, we kind of talk about every time that someone wants to do something, who in the team because we're like a family, who in the team we're going to talk about it with. So who's a person that is kind of give us a yala like do it a yala and when we look for that person so it kind of gives you that that engine that you need and any one of us in in our life we're surrounded by so many people, so many capabilities, so many uh experiences. It's all about that person that you know if you come up to him he's going to tell you you can do this. Okay. Are are our enemies being trained in the same way? Are they better at what they do? Are we better at what we do? It depends on uh we're talking about search and rescue. Yeah. For instance. I mean because it really differs when you're talking about militaries in the Middle East because there are countries neighbors to Israel for instance that the navy is is is much bigger vessel wise and but uh but it depends. It's like a hospital. What department we're talking about? Search and rescue 669 is really is really worldrenowned. We have from different countries all over the world coming to train with us. Uh the only ones that were actually uh you know what this will stop. No, we'll take it out in the editing. So, let me ask you guy. Um this isn't your first book. Um this one, like I said, was translated into English and captures the story of October 7th. And you were so kind to share it with me and over Pesak. I I read it from cover to cover and had to have a box of tissues right next to me. Sorry. And and we'll talk about in a moment. It's not just what you saw in the communities in the south that you went into the fire that you took and the friends that you lost. So I think the most powerful part which was true when we first met you on a mission to Israel sitting in an office in Tel Aviv with our friend Hannah who put it together and you talked about Noga your girlfriend at the time and basically her role in the army and how the two of you were just whenever you could checking in over text like are you still alive are you still alive and that just you know gives you that sense. We'll come back to that in a second. Talk about your first book and why that first book how did you get into writing? You know you're interested in medicine you become this 669 elite commando that doesn't necessarily make you a good writer. How did you get into writing and what made you put out this book and how did this book blow up much bigger than anything you ever thought? um person that I generally owe first book is my father. It was his idea. He put the confidence in me um that it could become a book. We started I I'm my the oldest son of my family and I grew up in a religious community in near Tiberius my father asking questions. I'm the first son. Everything I do is exciting, right? You know, you have six kids. I don't I'm not I don't have even kids of my own but I assume you know at some point it's like okay another one goes to school what's a big deal okay and uh so the first one I I get to leverage all the excitement on those spec and also the army the military so my dad kind of you know he says to me why don't you I'm telling all you know excited about all these stuff I done all the the the first few weeks in boot camp and he says to me well why don't you write it down is and he kind of says well so you have memories he says to me I don't remember what happened back I need to make up all these stories so at least you'll remember something. And I kind of you know started at the beginning it was very technical. I was like today the commander was shouting at me. I was so embarrassed if it was in like in civilian life I would have punched him in the face. But you don't know who this it's 55 guys. They're like caught together. We didn't meet each other before are just thrown into this most intense environment. You don't even have 10 minutes for yourself a day to talk with anyone. You don't know these guys. And you're just running, shooting, uh um you're marching all night with stretchers on. That's all you know about them. We were even uh after 3 months in in boot camp, we were kind of the first time we met each other um off the base. The first regil, the first week vacation, we're actually kind of, you know, we suddenly understood we saw each other either in uniform or naked. never saw each other, you know, in uh in real clothes, in real life clothes. I was like, uh, so it's all this tension about it and in in it opened up. I was like, I was on Shir guarding in the night at the base 2 a.m. and I find myself, you know, writing in this piece of papers. I was like, today um I was like, we did this and that and then I was like, how did I feel? I was scared. I was tired. I was I wanted to I wanted to call my girlfriend back then. just it's suddenly it's a feeling it's not technicality I just got addicted to it then you know jumping out of helicopters crawling in running away from canines and in caves in the desert and afterwards after training after the that period so I would get off the helicopter and run to my laptop start typing you know I just need to get it out of me and I was embarrassed of it honestly it's like that it's not something a bunch of dudes the most toxic macho environment you could imagine And the guys are either at the gym or they're eating if they're not on mission. That's all they do. And or hitting on girls. That's true. So, so and then you have this here you are writing about your feelings. Yeah. I was like, so I know I didn't tell anyone. I was like putting a princess diary kind of stuff, right? But how do I even start to engage come up with all kinds of, you know, stock market looking into stuff like that? And after we got out of the army and my dad was always my dad was the only one to read that stuff and he was like, "God, this is amazing. It's amazing. I was like, "What's amazing about it?" He's like, "I don't know. It's amazing." And I was like, "I thought he's my father." You know, I I was so bad in basketball. And he still said, "Yeah, I'm amazing." Right? He's never going to say I'm not good at something. And then um it was a year before I got out of the of the army. It was a big pile of papers that made its way to Yadot. It's a publish biggest publisher in Israel. I got a phone call from the CEO there. He said, "I read it overnight. I want to make a book out of it. Keep writing." It was like the middle of the day kind of phone call. And uh that's what I did. And uh we never know what siren's going to be next, what's the mission, and that that's going to be, you know, and it's the only book from my knowledge, not only in Israel, that was written during service, not afterwards. And when no one knows what's going to be the next chapter and when I got out out of the army, the last day on service, I told my team, they thought they were like looking at me, what are you talking about? This doesn't sound real. Okay, when it's ready, tell us, give us. And then I let them also pick their names because we couldn't have our names there. So, it's all like internal jokes and stuff. So, that kind of got them engaged with it. And uh when it was out, it just became a huge bestseller. I didn't believe it. Still until today. I don't believe my name isn't on it. Obviously, now I kind of more understand because of I get a lot of emails from people and now I kind of understand why it's uh people feel connected. One is um teenagers, young Israelis that are aspiring to get into special forces. It's a huge part of culture in Israel and if if you could equivalent to that in America might be even colleges I think and you know so teenagers finally found someone that is talking in their voice not 10 years later not you know it's a that's their voice that's their way of thinking the second part which is was even more amazing for me was mothers mothers don't have access to what's going on with their kids and that period from 18 till like they get out of the army every time a mom comes up to and how how's it going? She feels that she can't understand what's going on there and the kids are impatient like I guess they are how they are. The father's kind of you know understand they're like yeah I went through that and that's the kind of the first time moms you know few moms of commanders of 669 call me up and said I've been living that unit for decades and suddenly I understand why what my kid is doing there. Her kid is like 40 years old now. Right. Right. That's my 50 cents of I'm trying to understand why. How viral did it go? How many copies have been sold in 10 tenth of thousands? I mean u because it's also not not that I look at myself as an author. I never thought about it that way. But in the marketing aspect it's very very smart because the um audience it's every year it changes. It's like it's always 18 years old always stay 18 years old and they still kind of look for for that and the mom's the same. So tremendous. I you mentioned that you didn't use real names in there. If you're looking for a name for like the the the star of the of the of the of the uh episode, you could use my name. I don't mind. Yeah. My first name, my last name. Kind of cool to be a hero in Israel. That's the closest he's going to call me. That's the closest I'm getting there. No, it's I'm very very lucky. And and I mean at the end it's a story of so many people. People like 60 years old looking in. They feel they feel the same. It's 18. They're they're afraid. uh uh they're under pressure, they're missing home, and that's what they see. It doesn't matter if it's a helicopter, it doesn't matter if a Jeep, it's it doesn't it's feelings stay the same at the end of the day. How did your unit respond to knowing that you were writing about their experiences? Did they appreciate it? Did they It introduced new sides that they might not have fully seen or were they a little bit like why are you telling our story for us? Great question. So, it's kind of at the beginning the commander of the unit then uh came up to him. He he he thought I'm bluffing him. He's like, "Yeah, whatever. Do whatever you want." He's like, "No, no, I'm serious. It's happening." Yeah. Yeah. I understand. Okay. And it's like and then he suddenly understood it it's it serious and then he was interested in how he's presented there obviously. Yeah. You know suddenly and then uh so I I he read the whole thing and then it it kind of it you could split it into half. First half is people that didn't read it yet. The all you know the guys from the unit is like you're telling all our secrets. That's what they think. And then after they read it they're like okay now I understand because I'm not telling secrets. It's all about emotions. It doesn't matter where exactly that surprise drill happened or you know what kind of weapon we use on a special operation. It doesn't matter. It matters what the guys there felt. You know when you see a friend for one of the rescue missions that we didn't make it the casualty were supposed to save he died there. One of our guys was almost killed there. the whole it it becomes such a big balagan and I'm scared to death like maybe we're gonna lose someone here on on this missionary. So that's something that people can understand that that fear deep fear and it doesn't matter where it's happening. So that that's mostly um the two half before and after. So you come out of the art you come out of the training you come out of your service. So now you're in medical school. the kid who didn't do well enough on the SATs is actually in medical school and um and you have you have this girlfriend Noa. How did you meet? Um there was a friend Nogga's best friend like really best friend was with me on paramedic course. She would drafted in to become a paramedic and we knew for years and uh I was traveling to Tulador after the army. I was in Australia. I got a text message from Yava that's her name text me how do you feel about redheads? And then I was like, "What do what do you what does that mean?" And uh No, at that time she just broke up from her mythological boyfriend for like six years or so. I don't know. She there something really long. We don't go into that. And then she's like, "Yeah, I was like, I have an idea." That's like six hours after they broke up or something. And then she let she gave it some time, but she was cooking it nice. And then um she g she tried me out a few months later. What do you say? My girlfriend's your friend here is still available. and and that's how I came to life. Yeah. Yeah. I think you tell the story in in in here. Um you're a medical school Nogga. What's Noga's role in the army? She is um during the war she is the commander of a frontline headquarter headquarters of the par special forces obviously but the special forces of the paratroopers. So she is the only female in the army who does that role. It's usually um you know ex commanders of of of uh brigades of the paratroopers and the command of the paratroopers five years ago came up to her and and asked her to do that position. So walk us through what's going on. You're in medical school. She's in law school. Yeah. And um how you can't get more Jewish than that. Even it's in a high-tech nation like Israel. It's still there. Medical school, law school. Both put in your time. Both did your service. life should now become graduate school, get married, white picket fence and all that and instead October 7th. So take us take us to the book, take us to the rescue, take us through obviously you can't tell us the whole book in this conversation, but um what what those first hours and days were October 7th and some of the things that you had to do and that you're still doing because I know you've gone back in and out. Yeah, so um at 669 generally we do a lot of reserve duty because it's a such a small unit. There's no like another units that do it and we're shifting around. So, as a combat paramedic, a general, every year it's about two to three months of reserve duty. So, it's kind of my life in some sort of a way. For Noga, it's different because it's more it's uh exercising. It's like the big army, the the army, it's not the air force, it's not the navy, it's definitely not 669, it's infantry. That's how you win a war. Paratroopers are the forces that win a war. So when they train every few months, so they're like, you know, on the Golan Heights, if there's an attack on Syria, from Lebanon, etc. And but that's usually usually it's so far away from our our thinking because it's we were young generation. We grew up into a world perhaps that we thought that it it could never happen to us, right? It's like we're all about training, you know? and suddenly October 7th and this is also one of the things that we understood as we're working on the book the guys from the unit and I it's so hard for us to explain how little we understood happening it's not it's like I'll tell you guys today tomorrow there's going to be an alien invasion you're never going to be able to imagine something how does it look green it's black what that's how we felt we're driving down South on October 7th. I was I was just called in till today. I don't know why they called me and not someone else and they call me in. We get into base and to tell North base. There's two mandatory service soldiers younger than me that I know. They're waiting for me. They hand me over combat gear and they tell me we're going down south. We're driving down south. Obviously, it's an airborne unit. So, I tell them, "What do you mean we're driving? We're flying." Like, "It's fast. There's no traffic." And there's like no there's no pilots, the helicopters. They're not prepared. We need to drive. No one really knows what's going on. And we get into a white pickup truck, the same one the kamas were using apparently a Toyota pickup truck. And we drive down south. And just so you understand, and it seems now if I'll tell you this, you'll feel you'll say that's really stupid of you. But I was generally drinking coffee, texting noa. I was like not even on full uniform. I was like, you know, kind of miluimnik we call it, right? And and there was no prep. There's no like let's get together in the room. Here's where they are. Here's the mission. Here's where we're going. Here's because nobody knew what was going on. Well, the what we've been told by one of the officers at the unit that there is been uh kamas squads that infiltrated Israel. That's a scenario. We knew tunnels. We knew it could happen, right? We've been practicing for that. So, and this is also talking about the way any person thinks. And that's in 669 and rescue missions. It always works that way. We always apply prior scenarios, prior patterns of thinking on new challenges. It's very hard for us to break out of a box. We It's not about rescue missions. It's about human beings. So, as my instinct, I acknowledge that, right? I try to apply scenarios I've been training on this what what we're facing. So, it's must be a kamas squad that has gone through a tunnel and popped in the kibbut. That's what we're thinking as we're driving salad. The first time we kind of get slapped in the face and uh we understand this is something different than anything we've seen before is when we reach this point. It's on the road in the middle of nowhere. I'm not familiar with the area of Gaza envelope at that day. Both sides of the roads there's open fields and casualties everywhere. Everywhere you look, you see people lying on the floor screaming for help. You see people like from a far away can see someone resuscitating a body. You can see it's nothing's alive over there. And I start running around doing triage, putting tourniquets, trying to make people useful to like apply pressure on bleeding and, you know, trying to make something out of this huge scenario. I don't even think what's going on. And until at some point it crosses my mind in a very intuitive way that it seems like everybody's dressed up. Like why is everybody dressed up and I'm Israeli? So it's like it seems like they came back from India. I was like, why? It looks like a party in India. Like I didn't know it's a Nova festival. I had no clue that there's a festival going on. Then we get orders and as we're in the middle there in the big still big Bagan to get to Nal and we are uh we join another team there. Our mission is to um enter the kibbutz to liberate the kibbuts and uh there's no other way to to say it. I mean Hamas conquered portions of Israeli territory, Israeli communities that morning. That was our mission. Of course we have casualties where um and the whole army is in chaos. So we were struggling to understand how can we evacuate the casualties. At some point one of the casualties there was a soldier that was shot in the chest and he I didn't have any communications, no helicopters, nothing. So I just put him on a on a jeep and I told the driver just drive as fast as you can as you or either you bump into uh ambulance or to ER just keep driving. He asked me what what do I do if he deteriorates? If he loses conscious, I said you just drive faster. There's nothing better to do at this point. And that was a legit method that morning with many other casualties. Then after we generally managed to liberate the we uh get a we get a phone call with three guys pickup truck and we're out of medical supply at that point. We get a phone call from the deputy commander the the unit. He says to us to uh make it as fast as we can to Faza. It's about noon and then still it's if I cannot emphasize enough definitely today as we're u doing my opinion um not such a good job as we're investigating not because not in the investigation that perhaps we're doing a great job but to also understand how little we when I say we soldiers forces that were sent down there doing our best we didn't know we arrived at Faza I couldn't imagine in my worst scenarios. I couldn't imagine that there's actually 300 terrorists holding buildings, you know, captured that that kibbutz. It's it's out of my scope that morning. I think there's a squad. There's a few casualties. We'll eliminate them in a few hours. And there's so many casualties. I'm in the I'm trying to enter the kibuts of faza and there's it's like a stream of casualties. worst terrible wounds of combat, you know, grenades and and and gunshots and there's so many coming in. I'm out of medical equipment. We're three medics and we're trying trying to do our best there. Then there's civilians coming out because soldiers managed to rescue civilians and then it's a whole different scenario. Mass casualty incident of soldiers and then you have elderlys, children coming out in the middle of the night. who generally managed to um gain control of the kibuts. I thought, you know, this is the worst. And then we get a phone call. Deputy commander of the unit says to us, you feel that you've done what you need in Karaza because no one really knows the picture. It's all about what we decide where we need to be. And he says to us, make it to Ber. Then we got to Ber. How long at this point? You've been awake for how many hours? Yeah. Neaten in how many hours? you're exchanging fire and so it's uh I got out of shish uh where my uh no's parents live it's um around I think 7:38 around that and uh I was so stupid the mother made me sandwiches I left them in the car until and all I could think of I can't believe I left it and that's a that's a mistake I'll never do again and it was like around 2:00 a.m. First time a United ambulance comes up, opens door and there's a big pile of pizzas. Yeah, the be I don't know where they bought them for sure. World record the best pizzas on earth like that. I can tell you for sure. So I got a slice then we get went to B. their mission changes and uh our mission is what we told we need to do is to look for signs of life and it's not about running a mass casualty incident. It's not about uh engaging combat. It's to look for people alive whether it's casualties and it's elderly stuck in their houses or disabilities. And that's what we did with drive to keep it slowly in those paths. This whole time you're not processing, you're just going. I assume that's part of your training is to not allow any emotion, to not allow yourself to really think, but just to allow the training to kick in. I'll tell you what, I want to say yes. The real answer deep down, no. I think in this point of life, not I mean 30 years old, it's not like I've been through whole life, but I think in as time goes by definitely I was I had more resilience and that more ability to stay stiff as a mandatory service soldier. There's a few moments. One of them um at the entrance of Faza. There's a lot of moments, but one of them I remember till today at the entrance of Aza is as I'm I'm man I'm running that mass casualty incident trying to evacuate casualties. There's no vehicles, few ambulances of United Silent. Then suddenly one of the officers, Eric, comes up to me and he says to me, um, in a few, he says a few minutes or in a short while, there's going to be a truck that comes in with casualties and, uh, bodies and they I in the middle of chaos, I was like, "Yeah, yeah, of course. I'm not dealing with anything that is not happening now. Don't talk with me about." And then that that truck arrives and there's uh were a few guys from the unit and we have casualties. We have children and and civilians that were still waiting trying to figure out how we're evacuating from there. We have also detainees Hamas detainees that we have in one point it's like big chaos. And what I'm telling I'm asking the guys there, well, two guys from 669 is to take that truck and there's uh whoever visited Kavaza, there's this line of trees that goes on the road down to that yellow gate. Behind the line of trees, we put all the bodies, of course, soldiers, civilians, whoever, what whatever is not alive, we just put behind those trees. And they asked the the guys, those two guys from the unit to take the truck behind and and just so all the kids here and all the civilians don't see it and we forget about it and there's more casualties coming in. And then I feel like they're gone for hours. They come up after sudden I I I start looking for them and they come up. We're walking up the street back and and they I see they're pale and they're sweating like after a marathon and they're not like kind of looking me in the eyes or like and I asked them um what's what's up? I'm even a bit angry. Where are you? I mean I need you guys here. What are you doing so long? What took you so long? Then one of them says to me he says it was it was terrible. Then I understand to a dot myself. So what happened? And he says that there were pieces of of bodies of he said he recognized friends of his from officer academy. And there were like it seemed for me like hours. All what they were doing is unloading pieces of bodies of soldiers. Some of them they knew. They're young guys from a a truck trying to hide that from all the people around there. And that moment it's more of a moment of emotion. I see them. I look them in the eyes. I'm I'm looking I'm trying to search for their eyes because their eyes are like going all around. I'm trying to catch them and then I feel I feel like uh this this uh um this I feel I feel tears in my eyes and kind of choking. I can't allow myself to choke and keeping myself together, you know. But that's that's those moments that the feelings and emotions it so strong, you know, you can't keep that mask on. So that's one of those many moments as one of the first responders when you when you got down there and you didn't know what you were coming into and obviously the people that were sending you had no idea what was going on down there. What did you tell them? Were you like you guys don't understand? I'm seeing we got to get the whole army down here right now. Like like now like maybe you don't understand. What were they telling? No, don't worry. Like what were they telling you? What was the response? So when we when we were in Akalos in the middle of uh the kibbut with the first casualties that arrived and I start treating them then my phone it's all about phones WhatsApp was saving the country because cop nothing was really working and uh I I work in medical research that's a med student you know trying to make a living in Tel Aviv and uh there's a WhatsApp group and the institute where I work as a med student there. So someone's asking everybody okay where um anyone need help and someone asks uh guy where are you and then suddenly because you know it seemed like everybody is on reserve these days in but that's not true I mean from where out of 50 people in that institute were like three people on reserve and some people start calling me like at some point I just say look and then I text on the WhatsApp group Zazal pel you know there's nothing ali just start praying. I mean that's that was the when I first saw there were so many corpse on the on the lawns on the green beautiful lawns of the kibbutz and most of them were Hamas terrorists that the the people of the kibuts give gave a hell of a fight they defended their homes like heroes I I cannot express in enough words but when I saw that first time that that was my feelings as my late the book you chronicle like the details like every second, every terrorist you shot or you were shot at, each casualty you evacuated, how you treated them till you got them on a helicopter. How do you remember all that afterwards? it all so vivid in your mind because it was so so um when we started like initially we thought to before the war to translate the book the renowned book about 669 that all the candidates what's the title me it's from zero to 100 that's kind of a phrase also at the unit because it that demonstrates the way the unit works like you're sitting around hanging out all of a sudden you're at you're in a pool you're playing ping pong you're sleeping and then within 15 minutes. Not like it 15 minutes by definition. That's the the orders by the HQ. By 15 minutes from the siren, you're on the helicopter no matter what the mission is. So that's why it's called Memphis. And generally in after October 7th happened. So, you know, we're thrown we're thrown into the war. And we kind of thought maybe, you know, you can't write anything about army, Israel, Jewish people without mentioning October 7th. That's the killing. And then, but how do you engage? There's so much there. It's like, and it's such a a big balagan in our head. That's like a few months after the war began. We're we're generally extracting casualties from Gaza at that point. in between and trying to figure out how do I how do I grasp this? where do I start? And and I tried I tried like my own kind of uh uh path. And then I said, well, this is this is not enough. And I I approached the guys that were fighting there. Uh one of them that I woke up in the kibbutz and he he and a few guys from the kibbutz generally they saved hundreds of people. one of the guys from 669 I uh he asked one of the guys in the helicopter and this is a this is a combat operator that over the years he told me you know I'm doing reserve with them he said that he has a diary and he likes writing and I know he was on a helicopter that day and I come up to him and I say matan what happened and the guys with me I tell I told him let's put this together what I found and I was shocked were three guys three guys that pickup truck they and We all remember different parts. There are hours blacked out of the the m the younger guys. There's black generally like they can't remember a thing from things that you know the most terrible scenes. They was like no guy that didn't happen that didn't happen. It's it was it was almost it could have been so funny if it wasn't so sad. And the process process with them of putting it back together. It was just to watch it I sometimes reflect from you know outside like I'm not a part of the scene and I was like amazed they started crying and like right right that happened I can't believe oh my god I it's like it it was a journey of itself just to put the stories together and we didn't even it wasn't an intention to become a new book but it gave us a reason to go back there's a whole generation that doesn't want to go back there thousands of soldiers died on October 7th and they're thrown two weeks after the whole new battle. One of the guys that his story is in the book, he told me after, this is his words. I think they're stronger than anything I'll tell you here today. He said to me, "Guy, the reason I don't remember I have so many blackouts from that those days is because now he's talking from selfies 22. He says, I've seen war, seen in Gaza, seen in Lebanon. I know what war is like. But what we saw October 7th, 8th, 9th is what I imagined when I was standing in Ashwitz on a high school trip. I was standing there and I was trying to imagine what happened there. That's what I saw when I was on the Gaza envelope that day. And I think in so many ways, I'm not a psychologist, but it kind of says it all. Sure. We're not even dealing with that yet. I mean, there's so much money raised. We went through our phase of buying the ceramic bulletproof vests and sending over the drones and now we're making barbecues still for soldiers. But the PTSD that the country is going to suffer, not only members of 669, that small group of elite, but the average, you know, even today I was talking to my family, my parents, my siblings, my children in Israel, the Houthis, they're running to bomb shelters every 5 minutes. My sister was in the mall with her kids. They couldn't even find a shelter. And now my daughter is at my parents for shabas. I was talking about it could be a very intimate evening if they all end up in the show. And I said the thank god the the ballistic missiles haven't hit. Your kids are there. Thank god they haven't hit. Your kids are there. But the trauma of just living with is the siren going to go off? Where am I? Where would I go? And what happens? Waking children, not waking children middle of the night. So much more so obviously those who served on those days. Um, are you seeing that from your your unit and other people that you know that there's this growing untreated trauma that's going to at some point need to be addressed? I think what I kind of and and just before we talk about that, but so unfortunate that the Hoodies are very successful. It's not about I don't think they're even aiming for a missile to hit Israel. It's about that's the definition of terror. That is the definition of terror. people being afraid and that's their biggest success. And if we're talking about um clinical PTSD, there's a a whole generation. It seems kind of weird how I'm going to phrase it because they're 30 years old, but I look at when I go to the army, it's everybody's so young. It's like a big youth group. They're 20. It's a youth group with guns and responsibility. They're 20 years old and they have such an immense my my cousin, he's 22. He flies an F-15. like that's he's like he can't drink a maybe can't 22 it's like and my brother he's an officer in uh Nal he's a company commander there and on October 7th he generally I mean when I look at him I I have tears in my eyes because he had to deal with his whole battalion like half of them were killed there his commander all his superior everyone was half of the nal battalion was killed on October 7th and he there picking up their bodies, you know, afterwards and fighting and and and all his friends because that's those commanders, officers sometimes, men, many times in infantry, they're very alone. They're very alone because they have this distance from their soldiers. So, their group is the officers and so many of them are injured. He sits here in Tel Aviv. One of them PTSD on a very very uh severe level. One of them doesn't have a leg, the other one doesn't have an eye. It's like that's it's like it's things we can never imagine. And still they're having a beer tail of laughing about it. He tells me their jokes about, you know, about the the guy he got of them got a really nice car because he doesn't have a leg and now he says now he's getting all the girls because dark humor. Dark humor. But you know what? It's legit, right? Everything is legit when it comes to developing the resilience you need to look forward. But let me let me ask you that same question from a different angle, which is you and Noa. So obviously you're engaged at the time. I think you she's experiencing the war very different than you are. I'm sure the things you're seeing, the things you're experiencing on a day-to-day basis was very different than hers. Um, Israelis with like a machismo attitude aren't necessarily known for communicating emotions and feelings and experiences. How do you navigate when you're seeing something that is so deep and personal and traumatic? How do you share that with someone that you love that you want to get married to? Give her the space to share her experiences. How do you develop that commonality? Because that's something that we hear all the time from people who are in Mulu and they come back for Shabas to their to their wife, to their children, and they're like, I can't talk about it. Like my kids would never understand the experiences I go through and so I keep it all bottled up to myself. Obviously, you're very different. You're writing about it. You're speaking about it. How did you and Noga come to a place where you were able to communicate about those experiences? I'm not any different. This one, this this was my way also. So I gave it to Noga was on my laptop. It was uh still in Hebrew. And that's when we we dropped we said forget about translating from zero to 100. I was like, you know, it doesn't matter. And I came up to her and I said, just please read it. And as she was reading it, I sat next to her and I was crying. I couldn't bring myself to a place to say this to share with her in my words. I couldn't. And as you said, I'm I'm not I'm not the typical macho is really and still couldn't myself to the most the closest the closer the person is. Yeah. So, it's it's even more challenging to share. And what Noga told me after like she read it and then she's like she had kind of she didn't she she didn't have any words and I was kind of hurt by that. I was like don't you have I'm like sobbing and soul she put my heart on a plate and like she looks she looks at me and she's like yeah and then she said something that I found fascinating. I didn't even think about it. She says to me, "I just cannot imagine. It's just too hard for me to imagine that all I read now is you. I feel like I I I have to put in a place like I read a story of someone. I can't I can't imagine you being fiction. Fiction. Yeah. So, and it hit me. And then after the book came out, so I a lot of guys I know because they shared it with me. That's what they did. They took the book, went to the parents, said this is not me, but this is what went down there. Wow. So that's another value of it. You gave people a voice. He gave a voice. He gave them the ability. And is this book in the Hebrew also catching on in Israel? Has it been so wide? It's um I mean one example I mean of the the from my feeling I feel so that we're so lucky the guys and I that wrote it is and just because we had a reason. That's the thing. We had a reason we wouldn't have done it. We would just continue with life, you know, surviving this balance between milim and and civilian life. We're a year and a half from October 7th. Not not even, right? A little more. A little more. More than not even two years. There's more than a 100 books in Hebrew about October 7th. More than 100. And still this is the only book that is written by soldiers, not testimonies of victims or journalists. The rest is is is and and you know it comes back to that thing what is the reason you need to cling on to a reason to go back into those days. So so yeah it gives a perspective it's not an easy we were struggling you know a long time how we we stick with the truth if we sugarcoat it we're we're just going to you know what are we doing? It's it's worthless. But if we're just gonna make it a tremendous traumatic read, so we're also going to lose a reader. We don't want to torture anyone. So, you're a brilliant writer because it also doesn't just grip you, but the drama and and changing scenes and flashing to what Noga is doing and what you're doing. The most powerful parts, as I said, are are you and Noa checking in on each other. Maybe you can speak about that. And then when you talk about, you know, when you finally do steal a little time together, collapsing in each other's arms and falling asleep that way, you're like, "Wow, you read." Because you could see the image like two heroic soldiers risking their lives, not knowing the other's alive. And when you're reunited, you just collapse in exhaustion and gratitude that the other's there and fall asleep that way. I think there are a couple scenes like that that you write like that. So what what was October 7th, 8th, 9th like? this woman of your dreams that you love that you were so nervous to propose to in the biblical zoo that um not knowing like with every soldier that you're evacuating and not knowing if they're going to live, you could picture maybe that's her where she is and she's doing the same thing, fighting for her life, wondering what's happening with Guy right now. So, what were those days like and how often did you get to check on each other? So, um, it's I kind of discovered a new NOA from October 7th and on. I think it was also the same with me because we were soldiers once. That's how we thought. And suddenly in an instinct, it came back. She became more of a commander than a st spouse or partner. And I just my team and I we just became soldiers again. And the girlfriends were like we're one in each other's tas in Tel Aviv. We're like the the my my team and we're and the girlfriends started talking. They they felt like they lost a bit of their their their boyfriends or husbands into that chaos because they brought up all this with instincts that we didn't need anymore in life and here we are soldiers again. And I found for myself one of the things I I became very mad at NOA was before a wedding. We were very looking forward for it and then suddenly was talking about a wedding, right? And I became very mad at her and um I just I couldn't understand why she she didn't answer my phone calls. every time she we would call each other as like talking just kind of reporting more than talking and sharing and I found myself very mad. I I barely saw her. And it took me a while and um until I kind of understood that that's that anger I'm feeling is just my very um stupid immature way of missing her and like the and and and I think many of these emotions they kind of evolve and um and it very hard for me to find a way to put it through a process that it'll stop being anger angry at her and more of expressing how I miss her. She's much dread in that than me. That's why she's not angry. She's dismissing. But I'm I'm a male Israeli typical. So, uh, so yeah, those are that's one of a lot of examples of ways that we just need to understand how to communicate. The 669 called on to rescue people outside of Israel. If there's a mission happening in Syria, there's a mission happening across a border somewhere, a covert mission, 669 is the one who's going to evacuate if something goes wrong. 669 is an integral part of any operation special as as it goes um that Israeli army and not even the army conducts because there's no other rescue. So if Mossad's doing something in another country 669's on alert they may be needed to come in and rescue. I think we would we'll take it into Shul and Chabas without them. Got it. hostages. One of the tremendous biggest privileges of serving in 669 during the war is um also of course when attempts to rescue hostages some of them successful how we call commander ways like using military force of course 669 is there but also one of the missions from the point hostages are returned to Israel the different rounds hopefully manov and and if it's on the border with Gaza or with Egypt from the point they cross. So there's designated helicopters from the unit taken the hostages and now also the family from the crossing point to designated hospitals around the country and that's in my opinion and for us it's a tremendous privilege to be to be there and witness those moments. Did you have special training and preparation for that? Yes, at the beginning of course like everything and you know it's we're all trying to figure out how to do it. So um we were like ordered to shave and um u military you know there's like the combat uh um how do you call it again um clothes and with the more civil like more the more formal ones and then no touching no no no looking and all kinds of instructions from psychologists and just to share with you one of those powerful moments one of the guys from my team his name is uh Lead and he and his girlfriend's um fiance they met when we were in 669 the mandatory service her name is Mayan they from O near us and October 7th they happened not to be there but and but her all their friends and family you know got her and many of her friends were kidnapped and her best friend also was was going to have been held in Gaza she was returned few months ago and for and Mayan was you know just all she was doing was to try and keep near Oz above water for a year and a half. And then after a year and a half, her best friend was uh on the the deal to to be returned on the next Shabas. Her the hostage family asked the representative from the army that lead for my team is going to be on that helicopter. So she sees uh so she sees a familiar face and Lead was on the helicopter. They took off from the base. He land there and suddenly kamas playing tricks. Uh didn't release her. She um and the next week the same thing. Lead was on the helicopter. They're waiting and she finally she she returns. Then she looks at him and she that's how he says he spoke to me on the phone the day day after and he says to me I see her and she looks at me she says and what comes out of her mouth is in Arabic she she she didn't speak Hebrew for such a long time she she almost forgot to speak her language and they were hugging and and she asked to see you know Israel from above in the helicopter I mean and but it's so I mean so close geographically and yet so far away in the tunnels and dungeons of of this death cult And and oh, and the last thing is my um they were engaged for such a long time, but my aunt said, "I'm not I'm not getting married until until they uh my girlfriends are are back home." And uh I think it was a week later. So we all knew it was going to happen, but still she they send out a save the date in September, this upcoming September. So such a small country, such a small nation again. I mean, I know for us whenever there's a hostage released a video, the pictures from the helicopter or they're holding up a sign now, which has become traditional is so emotional and so moving and it makes you feel part of the Jewish people. I can only imagine what it was like to to be a part of it. What's life like for you now? Do you know when you go back in? I mean, even in nonwart time, you were saying you're doing two, three, four months a year. So, what's life like right now? Could you be called at any minute? Do you have set times that you know when your next reserve duty is going back in? So, um, my my team now is, uh, we had a wedding last night and now we're my team is going down to Gaza and we're on routine for the combat that's going on there. I was on emergency call up like all the way straight through until March. So, and then the commander of the unit, it was his um let's say wisdom to say to the guys on mandatory service, we're not bringing in reservants. We need to give them a break otherwise next time we need them, no one's going to come. So, if we had now saying that it was like a week every month, it's not like we disconnected from the unit, but beforehands it was a week in a week out for a long time. And um I was uh I was supposed to be also called up, but I spoke with my commanders. They're very very pro any I mean they acknowledged that one of my way big ways to contribute is the book speaking out loud at any time there's an option. They're like like you have to do it. This is you're speaking for us. Come back. There's going to be enough work, you And I feel I really feel generally obligated that if I'm not on reserve now, I need to do the best I could I can to convey a story to say it out loud as much as possible. So this is perhaps also my additional mission and my vision but also from my commanders at the unit. Where where can people get the book? It's uh Amazon, Barnes & Noble. It's like online everywhere. So, it's pretty easy and uh love for people to uh we put an email anonymous one at the end of the book so people could respond or if they want to leave on Amazon because I'm given a hard time for the publisher because of the I can't have my face anywhere and he kind of you know he says well I they're amazing but they're called uh wicked sun post amazing publishers but I given a hard time and so they told me to swear anyone I see anyone I meet to ask them to put a review on Amazon because they're doing such a uh but anyway It's this is our voice. This is our testimony. And uh we voted for years to come because one day we're going to need to say this happened so it doesn't happen again. Guy guy, you're one of the most impressive people I've ever been privileged to spend time with. Med school 669 author. The way you communicate both facts and feelings is just it's astounding. His face is blacked out so they couldn't tell that he got emotional when he was just choking. That's what makes coffee. The only thing is more impressive than you. He's also good looking. Um, you've accomplished so much. Obviously, you have a story to tell and you're going to continue to tell it. What are some of the character traits that you think your parents gave to you that you've developed along the way that have contributed to your success? What are some things that people can Not everyone could be in 669. Not everyone can, but everyone has the capacity, as we said, to push themselves a little bit more. What are some character traits that that you would look to that you think that have that you've been given and endowed with that have contributed to your success? Um, what do you think that secret sauce is made of? Um, one which I owe to the environment I grew up. I grew up religious in the environment. Text was a huge portion of my education at school at the high school in yeshiva I studied. They didn't care about math. They didn't care about English. My English teacher I speak English because thanks to my mom. I mean the my English teacher was a Tunisian uh seven years old. I asked him once I asked him why are you teaching English? You're so bad at it. He was a great guy. He told me it's the only profession you didn't need to finish high school to to to get your certificate in. But two things were there. One is our educators the rabbis raim they every time they would come back from they would stay with their uniform for another few days just you know I like out of fun to set an example. this is what important this is what this is what you need to look up to and it really uh shaped um how I looked second uh trait I might say my parents um they we didn't have a TV back home uh now it's it's hard right now but they we we pushed books uh into you know like like it was like it was orange juice my my father in Hebrew and then my English and my mother in English and the third thing it is I received from my parents. We had a karate club at the community that uh my my father was the um the master and very young age he came up to me and he said guy I want you to teach on your own. I was like I think ninth grade I was very afraid from the responsibility. I know it's also part of the and I was a lot of pressure I remember until today I was like I felt if I'm going to fail I'm going to destroy my father but talking about a character I think that is one of the biggest gifts I got from my parents as a little responsibility. Absolutely incredible. Thank you for spending time with us much more. there aren't words to say thank you for what you've done and what you do and what you certainly will continue to do and your sacrifice and please send our best to Noga and thank her of course and uh there there's just no words to thank you for what you do for AmI not only in Israel the front lines of Israel is fighting for all of us around the world and so it's a privilege to know you and to spend time with you and I can't recommend the book highly enough like I said I read it cover to cover it's a difficult read not because the book is difficult to read the book is brilliantly written It's a difficult read because it's it's a it's a eyewitness testimony. It's an insider's experience and there moments of success and happiness and moments of devastation and tragedy and very descriptive and very dramatic because that is what what was lived through on October 7th. But it is a it's a testament. It's a piece of history and and a modern and contemporary one. And really um if you want to understand from the eyes of those who lived it, I don't think there's a better a better book to read right now. So, thank you for sharing it and giving a voice to all those who needed to say it. Thank you for giving us access to it by reading it.