“I Remained Half a Person”: The Phenomenology of Twin Loss Among Combat Soldiers in the Iron Swords War

Abstract

This study examines the phenomenological experience of 20 twin-combatants who lost their twin brother or sister in the “Iron Swords” War (October 2023 onwards) under conditions of ongoing trauma. Through the prism of “Disenfranchised Grief” and Reflexive Thematic Analysis, the research analyzes the tension between the somatic-identity experience and the warrior ethos and moral covenant. Three central themes were identified: “The Body as the Arena of Trauma,” which includes somatic synchronization; “The Collapse of the We,” dealing with the loss of dyadic identity; and a distinct axis of “The Broken Covenant,” examining the complexities of survivor guilt and Moral Injury. The findings indicate that losing a twin in combat constitutes a “double trauma”-of the sibling and of the self. The study reveals how the military structure and warrior ethos create a silencing of the uniqueness of the loss, thereby pushing the survivor into a state of “Frozen Grief” expressed in unique physical symptoms (“twin phantom pain”). A transition toward a “Twin-Centered Therapy” model is proposed, alongside recommendations for systemic policy in the Personnel Directorate (Aka), including “bureaucratic separation” of twin identities as an integral part of the individuation and rehabilitation process of the separate identity.