A Soldier Speaks
"You should know that a reservist is by definition a soldier who is also a civilian. That without clear answers we are not only aware of the questions but encourage them and demand answers ourselves."
By Yoni Heilman
Guest Commentary
Editor’s Note: Yoni Heilman is an IDF reservist who returned to the front line in July of 2024 and continues to serve. With his permission, today we share words he first posted on May 19, 2025.
Just so you know.
You should know that what happens at home reaches the front. That we see the debate raging in the headlines and spilling from dinner tables to the streets. About whether there is a long-term strategy for this war and who is running it and have we crossed red lines with our tactics in the field and what about the children of Gaza.
You should know that a reservist is by definition a soldier who is also a civilian. That without clear answers we are not only aware of the questions but encourage them and demand answers ourselves. That we are proud to be part of a democratic system and of citizens who do not relent when they are told ‘we see what you do not.’ That is well aware that ‘I was following orders’ will never suffice, and that in the battle between the people and the government it is the government that must explain itself or find itself voted out.
You should know that the war changed each one of us but it did not steal our humanity. That after nearly 600 days we continue both to storm the enemy and to hold our fire for women and children. To do battle relentlessly in the face of evil and to tread carefully in order to avoid harming civilians.
You should know that this is still a war. That the enemy is alive and well. That terrorist cells move around in the field and collect intelligence about our forces and open fire on us and attack with a preference for our evacuation teams and try with all of their might, every single day, to spill Jewish blood on our land. That most of the time we have the upper hand but sometimes they do, and those who are injured or worse are here readily so that blood is spilled on the battlefield instead of in the kibbutzim and towns and cities where our families continue to live their lives.
You should know that seared on the souls of each and every one of us at the front are the faces of the hostages and the truth of what is happening to them in the tunnels of Gaza. And the sights and sounds and smells of October 7th, before there was a graveyard for cars and porcelain anemones at the site of the Nova festival and cleared paths among the ruins of the towns in the Gaza envelope. Before the wheat grew again on fields saturated with bodies and with blood. That there is not a single person here who needs to be reminded what we are fighting for and what dangers we face. Or who need convincing that we must finish with this.
You should know that until that happens we will continue. We will continue to carry the burden on our shoulders and to carry within us all of the questions and the memories and the difficulty and the pain. And the humanity. And the pride. And the determination.
Just so you know.
YONI HIELMAN is the father of three, a husband, and the CEO of TAMID Group.
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