Breaking the Silence for Every School / Arnon Degani
Arnon Degani wishes to express full support of the initiative to provide every high school with an army officer as counsel
In the name of "Breaking the Silence" I wish to express full support of the initiative to provide every high school with an army officer – Lieutenant Colonel – as counsel. "Breaking the Silence" targets the issue of moral degeneration among warriors. As such, we encourage all efforts aimed at offering as much support as possible to future-soldiers who are candidates for combat army-service. Especially important is that the counseling officer be of a relatively high rank, as this is a proof of his devotion to the country, and dedication to its values. In addition, these days, as we witness problematic incidents of violence in schools, it's a good idea to reinforce the teaching staff with positive role models.
Members of "Breaking the Silence", recently discharged soldiers and officers, hereby sincerely offer our assistance. We feel we could contribute a great deal to the preparation of high-school seniors for their army service. As noted, a high-ranking officer is an important educational choice, but we believe an additional lower-ranking soldier who is familiar with the routine of lower ranking soldiers – checkpoints, routine arrests, and so on – would be desirable. The fact that we are closer in age to the target audience would help carry over the message and overcome the social distance.
We could tell the students from our own experiences many things they might not be aware of, things that a professional Lieutenant Colonel would, possibly, have a hard time mentioning. We could prepare the future warriors for service at checkpoints that are circumvented right and left, tell them that their ability to capture a terrorist will be close to zero, and that their goal – their order – will be to "hamper daily routine". We could explain to them how to look into the eyes of adults twice their age who don't understand why they can't pass through here, but can from a path one hundred meters away in the mud. We could let them know that the army’s prohibition on confiscation of identity cards is not really enforced, and that in order to carry out the mission "there's no helping it" and I.D. cards must be confiscated.
Soldiers should be informed about the routine regulation regarding the capture of an infiltrator, and how such an infiltrator must be "sat down" for a few hours with a cloth covering his eyes, and with his hands tied behind his back, and that after he's learned his lesson, he has to be released and sent home. Especially important for every soldier is to know that when he, the soldier, sees his friend slapping a Palestinian civilian—it's not customary to report it to his commander. We will tell them that despite the hard work, at the end of a shift they will be served excellent humus by generous citizens, and not be charged. They will learn all that from us.
Also, the future soldier has to be prepared not to have a real opportunity to know what is going on, and what actually needs to be done during combat missions. It's important to explain to the youth that not all search operations are guided by any specific information, but that in any case one must on entering an apartment mess it all up thoroughly. They should be prepared for the wrenching wails of the family whose home is being destroyed, often down to the foundations. It isn't easy.
It's important that they know where Captain R. went wrong: not in killing the girl, and not even in the verifying she was dead, but in unprofessional use of automatic fire on a dead body. It's important that such cases will not recur. How will the senior students know that when one fires with no particular target on a populated area, ambulances soon follow? They must not be taken by surprise. We could also give them some tips about how to make the best use of a long stay in a Palestinian apartment: it's ok to lie on the beds, watch TV, and if there is no toilet paper, one can even use the clothes one finds in the closets. And most important of all—they should be thought how to shoot a solar heater water-tank for “deterrence purposes”.
Presumably, A Lieutenant Colonel would not be able to pass on these fine details, and we are therefore here to help. We appeal again to all high-school principals who care about their students' right to know what awaits them a year from now—when they put on their ceramic vests and load their peletop rifles. We didn't get such preparation, and see how confused we came out!
