Chief Warrant Officer Yitzhak Taito.

“Notwithstanding all the years that have passed, I am moved every time, as though this was the first course graduation”

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His name has preceded him for years.  There is no IDF officer who has not heard of him, or Officer’s Training School cadet who does not remember the experience from meeting him.  Chief Warrant Officer Yitzhak Taito, the legendary Master Sergeant of the Officer Training School (Training Base 1), marks this week, 40 years of service in his position and almost 50 years in the IDF.  “I view my work as a mission,” he said.  “I love my work and my soldiers.  Thousands of cadets have come to me at the end of the course to thank me or say that they have leant from me.  This is worth much more than money, in my opinion.”

This Wednesday (Sept. 3), Officer’s Training School will mark 40 years since its reestablishment in southern Israel.  For 40 years, Chief Warrant Officer Taito, among others, managed the graduation ceremonies of the Officer’s Course at Officer’s Training School.  “Notwithstanding all the years that have passed,” he explains, “I am moved every time, as though this was the first course graduation.”  Moments before the beginning of the next 40 years, this legend took a moment from his never-ending work, to look back upon the major events that have affected Officer’s Training School.

The First Graduation Ceremony at Training Base 1

“Before the Training Base 1 of today, that is located near Mitzpeh Ramon, Training Base 1 was in Sirkin.”  Chief Warrant Officer Taito recalls how he served as a master sergeant in the infantry.  “The responsibility was given to the training base commander, who was then Col. Israel Granit, to close the base in Sirkin and open the new base in the south.”  In May 1968, the 29th of Iyyar 5728 (“This is a day that I will never forget,” he said with a smile), the base in Sirkin was closed and the new base opened.  David Ben-Gorion declared the IDF's southward, in hope of developing the Negev and in order to alleviate from the IDF the high land costs in Sirkin.  “All the IDF bases then were inherited from the British,” explained Taito.  “It was decided to copy the layout of the British military bases in the south.  The Training Base 1 that we know today is the first base built by the IDF.”

In 1968, the base was a lot smaller than it is today.  “The inauguration ceremony was lead by Chief Warrant Officer Shlomo Yisraeli, who was the master segregate of discipline of the base in Sirkin,” Taito recalled.  “I remember David Ben-Gorion sitting on the front row at Training Base 1 as the honorary guest at the inauguration ceremony.”


The Yom Kippur War

The years was 1973, it was Yom Kippur.  Most Israelis were in synagogue praying or at home passing the long hours of the fast.  In the afternoon Syria and Egypt suddenly and in coordination with one another launched a war against Israel.  All of Israel was overcome with panic.  The IDF summoned up all the forces that were in its grasp.  Reserve soldiers put on their uniforms and set out towards the front in order to join the line of defense, and like them, but new to battle, the cadets of Training Base 1 set out to the front.  “The IDF had no manpower to spare,” explained Taito.  “We, at Training Base 1, prepare officers for battle, amongst other things.  Despite the fact that the cadets were in the middle of the course they too were integrated into battle.”

“After grueling days of fighting, the cease fire finally arrived,” Taito recounted.  “That day, I was in charge of organizing at the roll-call field, a check of all the soldiers’ equipment.  Later that evening, we gathered everyone before the base commander, then Col. Haim Benyamin, who gave us all a report of the war.  Afterwards, at around 9:00pm, using small projectors, but without parents as guests and without a band, we held the ceremonial distribution of officer’s pins and awarded ranks to the new troop of officers.  A number of the cadets who had completed the course and participated in the war received the news by phone because they couldn’t make it to the base.  The following day, the cadets were dispersed and few days later a new course came.  The preparation between courses was rushed, but we stood up to the test.  Training Base 1 went with everyone else to war and was the first to return to training after the war.”

A Journey to Poland

“The trip to Poland was the project of the past Training Base 1 commander, Col. (Res.) Elazar Stern,” said Taito.  “He pushed the project forward like a bulldozer.  He was the one who proposed that I join the trip and I agreed.”  The delegation that Taito joined was comprised of officers, Training Base 1 cadets, Pilot’s Course cadets, and Training Base 12 cadets.  “Everyone returns from this journey with his own emotional baggage,” he explained.  “The images of the burnt shacks and of the railroad tracks are etched in my memory.”

This was not Taito’s first time participating in a delegation to Poland, but this was the first time he had gone with his cadets.  “I felt that this trip to Poland was very important for the cadets and for me,” Taito added.  “Tomorrow they will be officers and they will be the ones instilling values in their soldiers.  Despite the haunting memories, this journey opened our eyes in a way that will make sure we never reach that sort of a situation ever again.  Because of this we must have a strong army and a humane one.  This journey is one that will prevent an officer who stands every day at a crossing or anywhere else from forgetting what he is standing for.”