It’s a crucible for mental resilience, teamwork, leadership, and adaptability.
By Hezy Laing
For soldiers in the IDF, few experiences are as grueling—or as transformative—as Field Week.
Known in Hebrew as Shavua Shetach (שבוע שטח), this intense wilderness training exercise is a rite of passage for combat troops, designed to simulate the chaos, deprivation, and unpredictability of real battlefield conditions.
Field Week typically takes place in remote areas like the Negev Desert, the Golan Heights, or the Galilee hills, where soldiers are stripped of comfort and plunged into a world of dust, sweat, and survival.
It’s part of Tironut, the IDF’s basic training, and is especially rigorous for infantry units and elite forces.
During this week, soldiers sleep outdoors with no tents or bedding—just rocks, sand, and the occasional scorpion.
They eat combat rations and learn to ration limited food and water.
Live-fire drills, ambush simulations, and long-distance navigation exercises are conducted under extreme fatigue, often with just a few hours of sleep across multiple days.
Missions change without warning, terrain shifts constantly, and psychological stress builds as soldiers carry full gear and operate in unpredictable conditions.
But Field Week isn’t just about physical endurance.
It’s a crucible for mental resilience, teamwork, leadership, and adaptability.
Soldiers learn to push through exhaustion, fear, and discomfort. Units must rely on each other to complete missions and stay safe.
Commanders are tested in real-time decision-making under pressure, and everyone is forced to improvise and problem-solve in the face of uncertainty.
It’s not uncommon for soldiers to refer to Field Week as “the week of suffering,” but also “the week of awakening.”
Many say it’s the moment they truly understand what it means to be a fighter—not just in body, but in spirit.
Despite its intensity, Field Week has its share of humor and bonding.
Hygiene becomes a distant memory, with camouflage cream, sweat, and dust becoming part of the uniform.
Soldiers invent creative ways to cook rations or build makeshift shelters.
Nicknames, inside jokes, and shared misery forge friendships that last a lifetime.
For special forces like Sayeret Matkal, Shayetet 13, or Duvdevan, wilderness training is even more extreme.
These units undergo multi-week survival exercises, including solo navigation missions with no support, camouflaged movement through enemy-simulated territory, and psychological endurance tests under isolation and stress.
Field Week is more than a military exercise.
It’s a transformational experience that strips away comfort and ego, leaving behind grit, humility, and a deep sense of purpose.
For many IDF soldiers, it’s the moment they stop being recruits and start becoming warriors.
