The role of the female lookout observer in the army is an all important one that helps the army prevent major disasters. These female observers sit in a chamal (war room), with many computers and technological devices, and they constantly watch the border and report to their commanders if they notice something they consider dangerous.
The daily routine of the female lookout observers is divided into shifts, each shift lasts four hours, during which the female observers must be focused, they must not take their eyes off the screen or the area they are watching, even for a moment!
In the War of Iron Swords, the Nahal Oz war room and its observers suffered a heavy blow. Many of them were killed or kidnapped and the chamal (war room) was damaged.
But that didn't stop Lieutenant Lior, a 22-year-old, from cutting short her vacation in Sri Lanka and getting on a plane back to Israel to re-establish the war room, this time a few kilometers from Nahal Oz, in a place called Re'im.
Lior asked many female lookout observers to join her, and to her surprise and joy, almost all of them responded yes! The army also recruited hundreds of new soldiers for this important position.
At the entrance to the new war room in Re'im, the artist Liran Tapiro painted a lovely painting. In the painting you see three female soldiers standing in a field of sunflowers. The sky is blue, and the painting inspires a calm and hopeful feeling. Beneath the painting, the artist wrote the words "The flowers will continue to bloom."
Lieutenant Lior is also convinced that the flowers will continue to bloom, and that life will return to some sort of normality. When she was interviewed for the newspaper, they asked if she was afraid to return to the position that claimed the lives of her friends. Lior answered:
"I wanted to go back. I was just waiting for the phone to call me here because I really feel that I have knowledge and experience that can help. When I see the number of soldiers that are here and their motivation to defend the country, I am not afraid. We have learned lessons from the past and are very strong."
We are indebted to people like Lieutenant Lior who give of themselves, and due to them we are a very strong nation.
Comments