After a serious injury from a UAV strike on the Golani Brigade training base, a complex operation, and a long recovery process, Sergeant Aviv has returned to active duty: “From the beginning, I knew I’d be back at the Golani training base. When my battalion commander came to visit me and told me they were waiting for me, I decided—no matter what, I’m going to make it.”
“You have to act quickly, because there’s chaos all around”
On the evening of October 13, a UAV struck the dining hall at the Golani training base. At the time, Sergeant Aviv was a basic training squad commander. He rushed to help the wounded, unaware that he himself had been hit—shrapnel had severed the main artery in his neck.
“We suddenly heard an explosion. Within about three seconds, we understood what had happened—there were casualties and bleeding all around us. In a situation like that, you have to act quickly, because there’s chaos all around,” Aviv recalled in an interview with the IDF’s official website.
He managed to assist several injured soldiers before realizing he’d been wounded: “I touched my neck and saw a lot of blood—I understood I didn’t have much time,” he said. He was evacuated to Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera, where he underwent a 14-hour emergency surgery. The doctors succeeded in saving his life, but the injury left the right side of his face paralyzed.
“You begin a journey—a journey with yourself”
“I lost two liters of blood, and the shrapnel that hit my artery also damaged the facial nerve,” explained Aviv. “All I could think about was my soldiers. I hadn’t seen any of them since the explosion, and I was really worried about them,” he added.
After two days under sedation and on a ventilator, Aviv began a long rehabilitation process, including six weeks of hospitalization and four months of physical and occupational therapy. “You begin a journey—a journey with yourself. Suddenly it’s hard to breathe, you can’t talk, you’re hooked up to tubes, and you can barely move your arm.”
“Putting the uniform back on—it’s a kind of victory”
Despite the hardships, he never gave up on his dream of returning to serve alongside his soldiers. “From the start, I knew I’d return to the Golani training base,” he said. Today, he serves as the company’s communications officer. “It’s a full-circle moment to come back and serve with the same people I knew so well,” he shared.
“Seeing all my friends and the soldiers in the unit after rehab—it’s a little like enlisting all over again. But what drives me is the privilege of putting the uniform back on—especially after being injured. It’s a kind of victory,” he added with emotion.
His return to the Golani training base—the very place where he was wounded—marks a personal triumph. “What I missed most, especially at this time of year, were the sunsets—they’re the most beautiful here at the Golani base,” he concluded.
