From Eilat to Gidonim, the road trip nobody asked for

Returning to base on a Sunday morning is hard enough, but let’s be honest, would you even draft in the first place if you knew it was going to take you 7 hours? Meet Shilat and Yuval, the two soldiers who are probably still sitting on a bus back to Eilat whilst you’re reading this.

Yuval and shilat travel together every other week, getting dropped off by their parents at 6 am at the Tachana Merkazit, taking a 5 hour bus to Tel Aviv, waiting an hour for the next bus, and then finally a last 35 minute ride to Gidonim base. 

“In total, it takes us around 7 hours to get to base from leaving our house”, explained Shilat, which is quite the drastic journey in comparison to most of the remaining soldiers in the Dover Tzahal course who live in the Mercaz. 

Even getting the chance to leave base in the middle of the week, the girls simply said they wouldn’t take it. “I was sick, with a terrible temperature, and even then I told the doctor not to give me gimmelim at home. I’d preferred to take them in my room because it was just too much of a shlep”, recalled Shilat.

When I asked the girls what the journey itself looked like, they glanced at each other, clearly thinking the same thing. “There are some less nice places we stop at along the way”, started Yuval. “Beit Kama isn’t really the place you want to get stuck in, neither is the Beer Sheba train station”.  

“But we have each other and we make it fun”, they reminded me. The girls will decide before each journey what food to buy, and treat themselves before the long trip. “And then we have a mini feast on the back of the bus!”.

The day of the Iranian missiles, the girls were met with an exciting, unrelated surprise. Upon descending their bus, they spotted a familiar bus parked opposite. “We were staring at it, and all of sudden we realized it was our youth group activity bus!” They quickly transferred their bags and jumped on the opportunity to catch up with old friends.

Being home during the weeks of the Iranian attack was also a journey that looked entirely different for the Eilatiot. “We would wake up in the morning to hundreds of messages from the night”, they both agreed, “People checking in, nachsalim from mefakdim… but we had just been sleeping the entire night”. In a strange twist, they were the fortunate ones.

In addition to the buses, the girls also receive two flights a month, granted to them from the army. Still, the journey ends up taking 6 hours including switching terminals and taking buses to base. “Sometimes for our mental health we take a taxi and pay for it ourselves,” Said Shilat.

For Shilat and Yuval, the journey isn’t just about distance – it is a test of commitment and resilience. “It’s our service”, Yuval ends simply. “To serve Israel, you should be ready to travel a thousand miles if you have to”.