Hi,
I have never been to a Rovait company in my 3 years of mandatory military duty service, but after an hour in the new post we have been sent to – I think I understand the idea of a Rovait.
The Rovait company (which comes from the Hebrew word for a rifleman – Rova’i) are the veteran companies in Infantry Corps and Engineering Corps with the rifleman guarding and taking care of the missions of the battalions I did not got there as I was only in training companies (4 months of basic training, 4 months of advanced training, 4 months of guarding, than again as a commander, than again as a Sargent).
Rovait has a very unique atmosphere: the difference between younger soldiers and commanders and vetern ones, special songs, hate towards authority (commander and officers), and general less strict discipline.
There are many stories of how those companies needed to be taken apart, because the soldiers in company broke loss and could not be restricted and do their work. Most of those stories are about Rovait companies (and other types of veteran companies in the Golani Brigade)
As we got to the post, the soldiers split between the rooms according to age (it makes sense as there are about 17 years of age difference), but above all, the discipline got loosen.
Soldiers in Rovait companies usually wish to do as little as possible and just to get released from the army. In the meanwhile, they focuses on how to get their life in the life better.
Although we wait for the action to start, it is still war. If we got to a Rovait mode, there would be a problem when things started to happen.
Take Care
Gad
The gate to our company, trying to make our life better
On top of the the rampart without uniforms