Israeli Air Force F-16s flying in formation. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Two identical twins who have been inseparable since birth have just qualified as pilots in the Israeli Air Force.

According to Hebrew news site Mako, the twins, identified only as A. and I., are from a central Israeli kibbutz.

After going through kindergarten to high school together, they both applied to the Israeli Air Force’s flight course. A. graduated six months ago and I. got his wings last week.

The twins’ father, Gabi, told Mako that “the first time was a surprise” but “then expectations rose, and when the second [twin] did it, it was even more joyous, more emotional, and more special.”

A. related that he and his brother sat “side by side” during courses and “we tried to encourage each other.”

“It was a stressful atmosphere,” he said of their training, “and this little light made it much more fun.”

“There is a little competition,” A. admitted, “that you want to be the one to succeed and not be the one who doesn’t succeed, but many times it really pushed us forward.”

The twins’ mother, Hadas, said, “After you could finally relax that one passed, immediately you need to go on to the next loop, there is no time to be discouraged.”

Gabi, the boys’ father, said, “It’s also harder the second time” because the worry arises that if the second twin doesn’t pass “how will he feel that his brother did pass? Before every stage the pressure was higher.”

Hadas noted, however, that now she and her husband will have to worry about their sons’ safety.

“Despite all the fun and the ‘high’ we are in now, we also know that the moment after we start a completely different kind of life and it’s very worrying,” she said. “Now even the third [son] is going to enlist, so you can’t get away from it.”

A., on the other hand, lamented that “we can’t fly together because you can’t have two brothers in the same plane. It could have been really funny. Maybe as civilians.”