Lt. Eitan Fund, a hero of last summer's Operation Protective Edge who was awarded the Medal of Distinguished Service, is slated to be promoted to company commander as part of the Tomer project, which helps ultra-Orthodox recruits integrate into service in the Givati Brigade. Fund received the army's highest honor for his actions on August 1, 2014, a day dubbed the "Black Friday" of the operation against Hamas. Fund went into one of the Hamas tunnels in pursuit of the body of Lt. Hadar Goldin, which terrorists had seized. Fund, who at the time was serving as a deputy company commander, led his troops into the tunnel to find their comrade. The soldiers only found items belonging to Goldin, which helped authorities declare him dead, allowing his family to mourn him. Fund is currently enrolled in the Israel Defense Forces' company commander's course. When he completes it, he is slated to be appointed commander of a company participating in the Tomer project, the new haredi battalion recently established by the Givati Brigade. The Tomer project is targeted toward enlistees considered more religiously stringent than the haredi recruits who serve in the Nahal Brigade's haredi battalion, Netzah Yehuda, which is part of the Kfir Brigade. The Givati Brigade picked Fund for the position so that a soldier seen as a hero could help inculcate a sense of battle legacy in the new troops. It is still undetermined whether Tomer will become a full haredi battalion or whether the companies assigned to the battalion when they enlist will be divided among the Givati Brigade's existing battalions. At this point, the haredim who enlist in the Tomer project will undergo a year of training and operational work and a year of service in the brigade. The third year of military service for Tomer recruits will be devoted to core studies and preparation for integration into civilian life. Three rounds of new conscripts have already joined up to serve in the Tomer company, of which Fund will be the fourth commander.
