His son fell on October 7 – now the father enlists to complete the service he didn't finish

Itai Barak, father of Staff Sgt. Tomer Barak who fell on October 7 at the Paga outpost, decided to enlist for extended reserve duty in a combat unit near the place where his son fell, to 'close the debt' of completing the service. He was assigned to the Nahal Oz outpost, three and a half kilometers from Paga, and asked for the hardest role. Barak, a former operations VP, is already active in the field: he arranged for soldiers to watch World Cup games, secured donations of non-alcoholic beer and a popcorn machine, and is undergoing a course for the role of the sector's resilience coordinator.

Itai Barak, 50, father of Staff Sgt. Tomer Barak who fell on October 7 at the Paga outpost, decided to enlist for extended reserve duty in a combat unit, near the place where his son fell, to 'close the debt' of completing the service. Barak, a former operations VP, sent a request in an IDF WhatsApp group and was assigned to the Nahal Oz outpost, located just three and a half kilometers from Paga. He asked for the hardest role and is already active in the field: he arranged for soldiers to watch World Cup games, secured donations of non-alcoholic beer and a popcorn machine, and is undergoing a course for the role of the sector's resilience coordinator. Tomer Barak, born in 2003, was a mortar team commander in the 13th Battalion of Golani. He fell in the battle at the Paga outpost, where seven fighters stood against an attack by about 150 terrorists. 14 of the battalion's fighters fell in the battle. The family founded an association called 'Tomer's Dream' to commemorate him, which organizes processing days for reserve fighters. Barak says the decision to enlist crystallized against the backdrop of public debates around the enlistment of Haredim and the slogan 'We will die and not enlist'.