Col. Yoav Schneider cut short his studies in Canada after Brigade 401 commander Meir Biederman was critically wounded, stepping into a unit scarred by the death and injury of senior commanders; in his first interview, he speaks about surviving Lebanon, losing friends, rebuilding discipline and returning soon to GazaOn Monday, August 3, Col. Yoav Schneider marked 20 years since what he calls his second birth.He was 21 at the time, a young platoon commander in the IDF’s 74th Armored Battalion, only weeks out of officers’ training.GalleryCol. Yoav Schneider commander of the 401st Brigade (Photo: Herzl Yosef)“Gilad Shalit was kidnapped during our final week of the course,” Schneider recalls. “I finished the course, received a platoon command and we went down to Operation Summer Rains in the Gaza Strip. On July 12, 2006, after a few weeks in the role, the Second Lebanon War broke out.”During the war, 74th Battalion was transferred from Gaza to Lebanon.“We were in the western sector, around Jabal Blat and the village of Marwahin, operating under the Alexandroni Reserve Brigade,” Schneider says. “Seventy-two hours after entering, we took a direct hit from an anti-tank missile.”The missile was fired from Majdal Zoun.“There were four of us in the tank. I was the commander. With me were Andrei Brodner, the gunner; Alon Pintuch, the loader; and Itamar Tzur, the driver. After the hit, I understood that I was very seriously wounded and started extracting myself from the tank. I also tried to get Alon out.“Despite the injury, I managed for about 10 minutes to direct forces toward us, until my vision disappeared completely. From there they evacuated me to some improvised landing zone, a helicopter arrived and took me to Rambam Hospital in Haifa, and I was sedated for two days.”And when you woke up?