From Zero To One Hundred is an unparalleled book about service in the Israel Defense Forces, intimately capturing the experience of life in an elite combat unit. This candid account documents Guy’s journey from the day of enlistment through a long and arduous training program, and participation in dramatic international missions. The book reveals descriptions of missions that have never before been disclosed and the complex, secret operations of one of the Israel Defense Forces’ four elite units.
The teams of the Airborne Rescue Unit, 669, take part in every imaginable scenario - from the rescue of wounded soldiers under enemy fire to secret missions deep behind enemy lines. Combat rescue soldiers are always on call and never know where they will find themselves from one minute to the next: on the way to rescue youthful hikers caught in a flash flood in the Judean Desert to flying to save the lives of soldiers injured by explosives on Israel’s border; rappelling on a cable from a helicopter to extract a wounded pilot or saving the life of a Syrian child injured during battles across Israel’s border. At any moment, a siren wails and the order “Cats pounce!” calls up a 669 soldier, instantly propelling him from routine into missions that may test the limits of his human endurance and often his existence.
Upon its publication in Hebrew, From Zero to One Hundred entered a pantheon of literature about the IDF, coming to age in Israel and a recounting of the most modern and moral army in the world.
There is scarcely a young Israeli seeking to enlist in an IDF combat unit who has not read From Zero to One Hundred, and tens of thousands of readers who have never served in the military have been captivated by the adventures of Guy and his teammates. The book is studied in seminars about leadership and command and is used in training commanders in diverse frameworks in Israeli security forces and in the IDF.
