Major General Sami Turgeman

Major General Sami Turgeman - commander of the Ground Forces since September 2009.

Military background: 1982 - Entered the IDF; served mainly in the Armored Corps; tank commander - Fourteenth Brigade; platoon commander - Iron Tracks Brigade; company commander - 460th Brigade. 1992 - Battalion commander - Fifty-second Battalion/401st Brigade. 1994 - Operations officer - Steel Formation. 1996 – Commander of reserves brigade; instructor in company and battalion commanders' courses. 1997-1999 – Head of ground forces' training department. 1999-2001 – Commander - 500th Armored Brigade and Armored Corps Training Brigade.

Senior positions: 2003 – Promoted to brigadier general; commander of Pillar of Fire Reserves Division in the Northern Command. 2004-2005 - Head Officer Armored Corps. 2005-2007 - Head of the Operations Brigade in General Staff Operations Directorate. October 2007-June 2009 – Commander - Thirty-sixth Armored (Ga'ash) Division.

Education: B.A. (political science) from Bar-Ilan University; M.B.A. from Tel Aviv University.

Family status: married + 5.

Miscellaneous: Turgeman was appointed head of the Operations Directorate in the midst of Operation "First Rain" (the destruction of terrorist – especially Hamas - targets in the Gaza Strip). His baptism of fire in this demanding role was spent, ironically, in the general staff underground operations bunker during the initial stages of the action.