“It’s our country, it’s their country, it’s the Jewish homeland,” said Danny Saks and Shmulik Israel two reservists in the israeli army.

More than 30 DU students and community members came to campus last week to listen to their lecture “Tale of two soldiers,” a personal account of their recent time spent in Lebanon. These two soldiers are also coordinators of Mayanot a birthright program.

Saks was born in South Africa, moved to England as a child, then to Australia and then, four years ago, moved to Israel and serves in a artillery unit as a reservist in the Israeli army.

Israel was born and raised in Haifa, Israel and is in a paratrooper unit as a medic and is also a reservist.

They gave a brief summation of the lead up to the war with a timeline. And then how they got called up to serve as reservists on their cell phones with pre-recorded messages.

“It is all very Mission Impossible,” said Saks who was called up first. He went all the way up north, by the Golan Heights, right at the border. His artillery unit was responsible for deflecting incoming rockets and covering the troops that were going into Lebanon.

Israel, on the other hand was one of the troops that went into Lebanon on missions. He recounted the last time he saw his parents before leaving.

“My father put his hands on my head and started to bless me. He had to start over because he started to cry,” said Israel. While in Lebanon he had no contact with anyone, as cell phones are not allowed because they pose a security threat. When 12 paratroopers were killed his parents had no way of reaching him.

But the real reason the two are on the lecture tour is to promote Mayanot Brightright, is a program that send Jewish young adults between 18-26 years of age to Israel for free for 10-day visit.

The Mayanot program has several different types of trips and is one the most popular. It has trips this coming December and January.

“Our trips spend Shabbat the kotel [Western Wall] and that is consistenly a highlight of the trip,” said Saks. He also said that people say they feel safer in Israel.

“We have a an excellent security record. We have no room to make mistakes,” echoed Israel.

For more information on Mayanot birthright www.mayanotisrael.com