The Warriors Race takes place on Friday in Israel—for the second year in a row—to raise awareness of combat trauma and post-trauma victims.
The May 3 race is organized by the Upper Galilee Premilitary Academy branch in Kibbutz Amir, in cooperation with the Upper Galilee Regional Council, the Mevo’ot Hermon Regional Council and the “Leave No One Behind” organization of post-trauma victims, and with the assistance of the Harel Insurance company and the Strauss Group.
The race, which kicks off from Kibbutz Kfar HaNassi, has three routes: 2-kilometer, 4-kilometer and 8-kilometer The pre-military students initiated the race last year, following a conversation they heard.
Itay Steckler, a trainee at the academy, himself an evacuee from the Gaza border area and leading the activity together with fellow students, said:
“I live in Moshav Dekel near the Gaza Strip. As someone who was evacuated from his home on October 7 and experienced the loss of friends on the ‘Black Sabbath,’ I see the utmost importance in people’s awareness of post-trauma. I want people to know the issue, know how to get treatment and not let their trauma become post-traumatic trauma. I can say that the treatment I chose to receive after the 7th saves me today and helps me cope.”
Mitar Zoeretz, a trainee at the preparatory academy, said: “I grew up with a military father, and I always knew it—father is in uniform and comes home once every two weeks.
“I also knew that father had nervous problems and tantrums, the kind that come on suddenly. I knew his mood could change very quickly. But I didn’t know that my father was post-traumatic, I didn’t know how much the difficult experiences he had in Lebanon had scarred his soul. But now I know how difficult and unbearable the struggle is—and how many people need to see their invisible wound—the one I didn’t know how to see.”
