From boardrooms to front lines: A reservist serving in Gaza finds his way home, one year later

Aaron Bours spoke to The Jerusalem Post about his journey from the US to Israel as a lone soldier, and dual role of high tech executive and IDF reservist.

By MAYA GUR ARIEH NOVEMBER 9, 2024 21:24

RAISED IN Long Island, Bours moved to Israel at 19 and enlisted in the IDF through the Mahal program. Here he is recovering at Sheba Medical Center. (photo credit: Courtesy Aaron Bours)

More than a year after October 7, amid ceremonies and commemorations, questions linger: How are reservists coping? What are their lives like after leaving their families, homes, and jobs to serve on the front lines? How are wounded reservists managing their journeys “back to normal” – if normal exists?

Aaron Bours, 34, exemplifies this journey as a reservist who left everything behind to fight in Gaza. Raised in Long Island, he moved to Israel at 19 and enlisted through the Mahal program. Bours joined the Givati Brigade’s Rotem Battalion in March 2010, serving two years on active duty before joining the reserves. Over the next decade, he balanced an unlikely dual identity as a combat soldier and a hi-tech executive, serving as chief marketing officer of Hyro, a rapidly growing AI healthcare start-up based in Tel Aviv and New York.

On October 7, the balance Bours maintained between his roles shifted dramatically. While attending a conference in Las Vegas on October 6, he, like many Israelis in Israel and abroad, was blindsided by the events of October 7. After landing in Vegas, he received calls from his wife, who had seen footage of Hamas terrorists entering Israel.

“At the back of my mind, I knew this was something really different from anything that we had faced,” he said.

Shortly after, his officer informed him that he was being called up. However, Bours was in a bind, as his flight back to Israel was canceled, and had to wait 72 hours until he finally secured a flight through Miami with the help of an organization that assisted soldiers.

BOURS AND his unit entered Gaza on October 30 – one of the first battalions to do so. (credit: Courtesy Aaron Bours)

Once reunited with his unit, preparations to enter Gaza began. The weight of October 7 loomed heavily over his team, but they were heartened by serving together. “People left their personal selves behind to become part of this collective, this band of brothers...I put everything else aside.”

He reflected on having gotten married just a month and a half earlier and the difficulty of prioritizing his team’s safety and their mission above all else. He also found it challenging to leave his professional life behind at the start-up, where he was one of the first hires and now led a team of 16. He noted that he was one of the few reservists in his office to be drafted: “I’m one of four called up, one of two in combat.”

From high tech to the Gaza front lines

In a stark transition from hi-tech offices and international conferences, Bours described the night they crossed into Gaza on October 30 as one of the first battalions to enter. They moved through what he likened to “Mordor,” a 6-kilometer trek under a sky tinged orange from explosions. He called it the “scariest night of my life,” recalling “the smell of terror, the smell of death.” Their mission was precise yet complex: to uncover the labyrinth of tunnels hidden beneath residential areas and critical infrastructure in northern Gaza.

Bours said that out of the 20 homes they searched, 19 were affiliated with Hamas, containing tunnel shafts and weaponry. “We think of homes as places of innocence, for family, for shelter, for things that are positive. But, unfortunately, Hamas hijacks these homes and turns them into part of their terror playground.... We found RPG heads in a child’s bedroom closet, AK-47s in kitchen cupboards.” The team even discovered a home built as a decoy to conceal a tunnel. During those first 15 days, Bours’s unit uncovered six tunnels.

For Bours, November 14 marked a critical turning point. He accompanied the officer’s squad near an UNRWA school, on the way to a house with a suspected tunnel. While approaching the entrance to the house, he heard shots fired from the nearby school, and both his officer and radio operator were shot. Bours entered a firefight, providing cover for two to three minutes. “They’re like ghosts; you don’t see them, but I can hear where they’re shooting from.”

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Realizing his officer was in bad shape and losing blood, Bours made a split-second decision to extract the wounded. “In my head, I’m trying to be optimistic and positive... I think I can save his life.”

He sprinted 20 meters to reach his officer while still under fire, but as he lifted him and took a few steps, a sniper bullet struck his right leg. At that moment, Bours understood he needed to return to the house or risk his life. As he crawled, he was shot in the other leg by an AK-47 fired by another terrorist in the school. Bullets struck rocks, embedding fragments in his hip and back, leaving him bleeding from four wounds.

Bours reached his paramedic, who feared he might lose his leg or even die but managed to stabilize him. Within three hours, Bours was undergoing surgery at Sheba Medical Center, after a successful operation by IAF Unit 669, which evacuated him within 30 minutes by Humvee and helicopter.

On the operating table, the doctors found a shattered 8-centimeter section of bone in his lower right leg, a type of wound that typically causes artery damage and often leads to amputation. Doctors prepared for this scenario but discovered that key arteries had been spared, saving his leg.

After surgery, Bours was hospitalized and underwent rehabilitation for five months. The tragedy of his experience lies in the loss of his officer, Maj. Omri Yosef David, 27, who had been shot in the head and was killed instantly, and whom Bours thought could be saved. As November 14 approaches again, Bours reflects on how, while time has passed, many of his scars, inside and out, remain.

Recovery at Sheba Medical Center

SHEBA MEDICAL Center became the epicenter for rehabilitating wounded soldiers, and Bours describes his experience as “a combination of a Jewish summer camp mixed with a Colombian hostel.” During his five-month stay, he met over 3,000 people. The environment was invigorating, filled with visitors from across the globe, including high-profile figures like Michael Dell, Floyd Mayweather, Michael Rapaport, Scooter Braun, and Brett Gelman. Bours described the outpouring of support from the global Jewish community as overwhelming at times, often meeting delegations from early in the morning until late at night.

Rehabilitation was also intensive. His recovery program included daily occupational and physical therapy and hydrotherapy, and even access to a virtual reality room. There were moments when, ironically, his recovery and work overlapped; he met the digital team at Sheba, who had Bours test some of their products, including a chatbot for treating people with PTSD. These tools were vital for his recovery, transforming his mobility from wheelchair to crutches, and soon he will be using a cane.

Throughout the war, Sheba became a home for Bours and other wounded soldiers. Unlike hospitals in the US, where visiting hours are limited and take place in a cold and impersonal environment, Sheba allowed soldiers to make the hospital their home. Bours said that his friends, who visited frequently, would set up projectors in his room and make popcorn for movie nights. He credits Sheba’s staff and the “Returning to Life” program, which allowed soldiers to shape their rehabilitation, for aiding his recovery and eventual return home.

Over the past year, along with his physical recovery, Bours engaged in public diplomacy, flying to the US and Canada to speak on college campuses, including Columbia and Princeton. He found it particularly meaningful to counter antisemitism and anti-Zionism, which have become prominent in his former home, the US. 

Today, Bours is back home in Israel, attending rehabilitation sessions three to four times a week. He is trying to make sense of the events of a year ago, finding his way back to life and work beyond the war and his wounding.

“I was in the reserves for about 30 days, but I’ve been at war for the last 390 days,” Bours said. He is no longer just Aaron, the hi-tech executive; he embodies the events of the past year of war. Transitioning back to his former routine – managing a team and handling the demands of a growing start-up – seems daunting.

Despite these hurdles, he remains optimistic – after all, he is a marketer at heart. With support from his company, his wife, and his network, he believes he can successfully transition back into his role. Bours knows it will take time to regain his previous momentum, but even after everything that has happened, he is confident that there is potential to reach even greater heights.