At Mechva Alon, we were taught that the Israeli army isn’t all about fighting and working out. There is a lot more to the army. Mechva Alon is a base composed of Education and Youth Corps, whose purpose is to integrate unique populations into the IDF. For instance, it is a place for people that were either Arab, Druze, etc, soldiers in the Israeli army that didn’t know Hebrew. At Mechva Alon, these soldiers are taught Hebrew and the values of the Hebrew. Our group interviewed a few commanders and the commander I interviewed was Ziv Orpaz. Ziv works with the Arab soldiers who are trying to learn Hebrew. Ziv loves education and after high school she did a gap year educational program in Tel Aviv. She didn’t like how education was being taught. She wanted to improve this and help others and educate others. She really wanted to help these new soldiers learn Hebrew. At this base, sometimes soldiers treat the commanders horribly because the commanders are women. The soldiers don’t show any respect for the women. Some soldiers even fight with each other and the ones that beat each other are sent to jail. The system Mechva Alon uses to help the soldiers become better is by slowly teaching them patience and acceptance, and by helping them learn Hebrew. My experience at Mechva Alon was great and taught me many new things about the IDF.