Kfir is the youngest of the IDF’s six infantry brigades, yet throughout the war its fighters proved veteran-level skill and determination. Amid nonstop operations, the brigade found brief time—after another Gaza rotation—to belatedly mark its 20th anniversary and ask a simple question: what makes a real “Kfirnik”?

Major A., assault company commander, Nachshon Battalion
Joining Kfir straight out of officer training, Major A. first commanded in the Etzion sector. Five years later, now leading the battalion’s spearhead company, he closed a circle—returning with his soldiers to the same area after months of combat. He recalls a defining incident from Operation Guardian of the Walls, when a soldier overpowered an attacker with bare hands despite being sprayed with pepper gas. “That moment shaped me,” he says. During the war, he watched daily progress—from Gaza maneuvers to building the “yellow line”—and says Kfir’s legacy from Protective Edge became tangible under fire.\