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The World Is Debating Sanctions Against Israel. I Am Watching Young Warriors Rebuild Their Lives
(Fox News) Iris Reff Ronen - There are more than 90,000 IDF disabled veterans. Since Oct. 7, the number of wounded warriors has grown faster than at any point since 1948, and they are younger than any generation before them. Most were called up as reservists and were wounded while serving in the reserves - they had a business to run, a thesis to finish, a baby at home. A 24-year-old who loses a leg is facing sixty years of prosthetics, revisions and physical therapy, alongside a marriage, a mortgage and a career he fully intends to have. We do not say a veteran suffers from PTSD. He is coping with it, living with it, and the gap between those verbs is the gap between a man defined by an injury and a man managing one. We never say returning to normal life, because that phrase quietly informs a 24-year-old that his real life ended. We say rebuilding their lives, because that is precisely what is happening. Careful language is about handing a person back their dignity. At Beit Halochem, the nationwide network of rehabilitation centers in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, Beersheba and Ashdod, the swimming pool is full by seven in the morning. The rehabilitation journey does not end there. Psychological support and treatment, delivered without a two-year wait. Vocational training and scholarships, because a man who cannot return to his trade needs a new one. Programs for spouses and their children, who carry this too. Sport at a serious level, which is why so many of Israel's Paralympic athletes come out of these gyms. And a room full of people who have been exactly where you are and who will not let you vanish into your apartment. The writer is CEO of Warriors of Israel, the American partner of the Zahal Disabled Veterans Organization, supporting Israel's wounded warriors and their families.