Less than a day after receiving the rank of officer and before heading back to the paratroopers he will command, Lioz Shaashua headed to Havat Hashomer military base to direct a phys-ed class. The visit had great significance, not just for Shaashua but for all involved in a project launched 30 years ago by former IDF Chief of Staff Rafael (Raful) Eitan.

The project, dubbed 'Raful Youth', was intended to assist and support soldiers from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds and to reinforce their integration within the IDF.

The army was reluctant to enlist Shaashua, 22 from Bat-Yam, who dropped out of high school after completing the tenth grade and became involved in criminal activity. But he claims the army changed his life as he became the first 'Raful youth' to complete the officers' training course on Thursday. "It's an amazing feeling of satisfaction and personal victory, but it's also more than that," Shaashua told Ynet. "My message is clear - whoever wants to reach the top just needs to know how to get the right tools, and no one will be able to stop him."

Havat Hashomer base is the scene of one of the army's most complicated missions - training and integrating within its ranks newly enlisted soldiers from extremely disadvantaged backgrounds, many of whom are involved with drugs and other criminal activity.

Shaashua, remembering his pre-army days, said he had basically stopped studying in the eighth grade. "I started to get into trouble with the law, I turned to drugs, I ran away from home and lived on the beach," he recounted. "My uncle told me about his service in the Golani Special Forces, and I dreamed of being like him." The IDF, hesitant to enlist Shaashua, referred him to Havat Hashomer to begin basic training. He admits the beginning was not easy, and that he continued to use drugs and often bolted from the base.

'Soul-Savers'

Lieutenant-Colonel Raz Karni, commander of Havat Hashomer base and a veteran of the Second Lebanon War, said the base's pastoral green scenery can be deceiving. "This is the backyard of Israeli society," he said. "An environment with negative energy that doesn't respect values, and an extraordinarily difficult place." But Karni says the hardships only serve to encourage him and the other officers at the base. "This is Zionism," he says. "We're taking care of the most difficult cases: Youths who were abandoned, who became addicted to alcohol or drugs and involved with criminal activity."

"We're talking about the most extreme cases, like the soldier who witnessed his mother's murder at the hands of his father at the age of 13. These youths know nothing but crime, drugs, and alcohol, and suddenly they receive a once-in-a-lifetime chance to start fresh. In my book, we're dealing with real soul-saving," he says.

For Shaashua, the turning point came when he received a medal of excellence during basic training. "I felt appreciated, it totally changed me," he said. "I decided no more drugs, no more crime. I want combat and I have to do everything." Finally he was sent to the Paratroopers Brigade. "I arrived at Battalion 890 and started to connect with people," he recalled. "I told them who I was and where I was from. I wasn't ashamed, just the opposite. It's true that sometimes I felt laughed at and teased, but I wasn't insulted. After you get to know the man behind, you become friends."

Shaashua went on to complete a squad commander course and then decided he wanted to enter an officers' training course. "The activity in the course was so intense I didn't really have time to think about myself," he recounts. "I did have some difficulty in certain subjects, such as speaking before a class, but I made up for it in other areas."

The 'Raful Youth' program made revolutionary achievements over recent years, after the Paratroopers Brigade joined in efforts to create more combat slots for the disadvantaged youths. In 2007 twenty-seven soldiers from the program entered combat training, and the number doubled in 2008. A number of the youths have also joined special forces.

Shaashua commended his officers in the course for supporting him without mentioning his background too much. "But in the end it was my achievement," he states, adding that he was pleased to rejoin Battalion 890 to command troops undergoing basic training. "I couldn't be happier," he concluded.