In the blazing summer of 1981, my fellow soldiers and I were just making the transition into the Nachal Paratrooper Battalion. Suddenly, poor judgement in the heat of a training exercise led to an accident, casualties and the immediate dismissal of our company commander. It left the troops divided, confused and demoralized. Within a day, a new officer was sent over to pick up the pieces and get us back on track. At age 22, he seemed to be too young for the job — almost the same age of some of the soldiers he was overseeing. It was his first posting as a company commander. But within two months, Benny Gantz had turned things around.

Under his leadership, we quickly became a high-spirited, highly motivated, focused team, winning competitions as the army’s most competent paratrooper company. We came from all sorts of backgrounds, but soon we all agreed on one thing: Benny Gantz was destined to become a chief of staff of the Israeli army.

Read More at Times of Israel.