Serving in the Home Front Command for almost two months and counting
Meet the reserve officer who spent more than 50 days dealing with coronavirus while teaching remotely
For more than 50 days, Lt.Col. (ret.) Sharon Michaeli-Ramon has been splitting her days into three parts: reserves in the Home Front Command, teaching and being with her family.
Michaeli-Ramon, who serves as public behavioral commander in the Home Front Command’s Dan District, was called up for reserve duty when the coronavirus outbreak in Israel began in March.
“It’s been 50 days and counting,” Michaeli-Ramon told The Jerusalem Post during a short break in her busy schedule on Thursday.
With thousands of reservists called up, the IDF’s Home Front Command played a central role in handling the crisis. Troops were sent across the country, handing out food to residents living in cities placed under lockdown, evacuating sick individuals to coronavirus quarantine facilities, bringing incoming travelers to coronavirus quarantine hotels, running those hotels and more.
The Home Front Command was critical in serving as the liaison between authorities and various communities hit hard by the virus, including the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) and Arab communities, which have seen a large number of cases.
“The Home Front Command had a lot of responsibilities and we had to deal with an event we never dealt with before. We had to understand a lot of practical things about various communities and provide help to thousands of people we never helped before,” she said. “The Home Front Command is rarely in Arab and religious communities, but we were able to help these communities in all sorts of ways we never have before.”
The handling of the crisis “would have been impossible without the Home Front Command,” Michaeli-Ramon said. “Our troops did all the hands-on work of the government and Health Ministry. It would have looked completely different had we not been there.”
Running on four hours of sleep, Michaeli-Ramon commanded more than six officers and 90 troops – and with two young children at home, she had to keep up her family life as well.
“I woke up every day at 6:30 a.m. and went to sleep at 2:30 a.m.,” she said. “Everything that I was able to push to the evening – meetings, reports, anything that could be done later in the evening or night – was done then.”
While Michaeli-Ramon was at first sent into the field to