NOVEMBER 30, 2023 – Sirens blared warnings of incoming rocket fire across Jerusalem just after sunrise Oct. 7 as Navy Cmdr. Kalina Bitter sat on a tour bus bound for Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth in northern Israel. Hamas militants swarmed the nation in a cross-border attack along the Gaza Strip in the southwest, leaving a bloody trail of bodies and havoc, taking hostages along the way.
Bitter was oblivious and eager for adventure – until alerts of incoming missiles lit up her phone. Her Israeli tour guide played calm after years of living amid contained conflict.
“I didn’t know how to take it,” she said. “Some of the people in our group were panicking, but we didn’t really know the extent of what was happening.”
Bitter’s guide forged on with the schedule, ushering the travelers along the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River, where locals seemed to go about their everyday lives. Back at her Jerusalem hotel, guests jostled for safety in the bomb shelter.
“As we drove through the West Bank back toward Jerusalem at the end of the day, things were kind of ominous and weird,” she said. “All week long, there’d been thousands and thousands of people singing and dancing, celebrating the Jewish holiday Sukkot. You couldn’t walk it was so packed. The difference as we neared the hotel was like night and day.”
Bitter’s vacation – a dream come true for the history buff – stopped cold. Word of atrocities from the surprise assault spread, and within hours, her commercial flights home were canceled.
“I was alone,” she said. “I knew I needed to get out as soon as possible because it could get worse.”
She texted assurances of her safety to her dad and sister as headlines across the world declared hundreds dead. Bitter also messaged Navy Capt. Onofrio Margioni, her boss and chief of staff of the Defense Logistics Agency’s Joint Reserve Force, who knew she was traveling in Israel.
“We knew that she was there, just not specifically which city at that point,” said Kristin Kremer, JRF deputy director.
Most hotel guests, many of them local Jews in the Holy City for the weeklong holiday, fled home. Those who couldn’t leave flocked to the bomb shelter as sirens sounded off and on. Airstrikes and rocket attacks persisted, and Bitter booked six different flights – all later canceled by the airlines. Her sister clung to hope, contacting the U.S. State Department and Bitter’s congressman on her behalf.
“Honestly, I was pretty calm,” Bitter said. “Being in the military, you get used to plans changing all the time. We learn to adjust and focus on finding solutions.”
Edgy about the thousands of dollars she’d tied up in canceled airfare, Bitter started plotting a way out by ground. A major in the Israel Defense Forces whom she’d met in the bomb shelter helped her translate Hebrew bus schedules. Then while cautiously wandering in the city, Bitter stepped into an Armenian pottery shop.
“I just started chatting with the guy there and he told me about this taxi driver that he trusted to take his wife to the border every quarter. He actually called the taxi driver, and he came over to meet me.”
Bitter felt comfortable enough to tentatively accept the driver’s offer to take her to a Jordanian border they believed posed few security risks. She sketched a detailed plan listing full names, phone numbers, and addresses of the taxi driver and shop owner, as well as a by-minute itinerary. With a promise to text every half hour of the journey, Bitter emailed her strategy to Margioni and Kremer.
“Over the week there were multiple plans,” Kremer said. “I was skeptical of her taking a taxi to the Jordanian border, and we talked about this at length and whether it was safe. We had another service member in our unit who had a friend in Jordan who was going to meet her at the border and take her to Amman, but with everything going on in the region, I didn’t think the taxi plan was the best.”
Bitter downloaded an app on her phone so Margioni and Kremer could track her location. Still, their worries of shelling and protests lingered, along with the reality that as an American military officer Bitter would have been a prize captive if captured by militants, Margioni said.
The next day, as Bitter hefted her suitcases into the taxi’s trunk, a bystander announced that the border had closed. Bitter said she felt derailed. Should she take a chance? Was a shot at escape worth the danger of being stranded?
The pressure in Bitter’s mind mounted. And then her phone rang. Bryan Stern, an Army and Navy combat veteran who focused on special operations, offered for his team to escort Bitter to the border – or bring her to Tel Aviv where his organization, Project Dynamo, was staging rescue flights for Americans trapped in country.
“So I thought about it for a second,” she said. “My stuff was already in the taxi, but Bryan’s options sounded much better.”
Stern picked Bitter up within 24 hours, and on Oct. 13 she was on a small private jet with seven other passengers bolting to Madrid, where they boarded a flight to Ireland and then Orlando, Florida. She landed in Virginia on Oct. 16, nine days after the attack. At touchdown, the aircrew announced the names of Bitter and her travel companions so they could deplane first.
After six days of meticulous planning and what-ifs, her emotions wavered between relief and awe.
“It was like we were VIPs,” she said. “A welcome crew was there waiting, shaking our hands and greeting us to say they were so glad to see us.”
Emergency experts were also there to do initial health assessments and book follow-on travel.
Bitter’s flight out of Israel was one of five orchestrated by Project Dynamo, a Tampa, Florida-based team that assists Americans in disaster areas and conflict zones where the U.S. government has no presence or access. Since 2021, the team has rescued 6,075 people from around the world, including Ukraine, Haiti and Sudan, according to its website.
“They are American heroes,” Bitter said, adding that a friend’s mom reached out to the group seeking help.
She’s still chasing refunds for some of her canceled airfare although Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ administration funded Project Dynamo’s assistance to those it rescued from Israel.
Safe now and back on the job as a special projects officer for DLA’s Joint Reserve Force, Bitter cautions others to consider the risks before traveling outside America.
“It seems crazy to think about getting trapped somewhere in another country. But it’s important to look at foreign travel guidance,” she said. “And make sure people know where you are while you’re abroad.”
Margioni noted that Bitter texted him her whereabouts even before the attack, and he believes her registering in the State Department’s Smart Traveler Enrollment Program before she left for Israel helped Project Dynamo quickly connect with her.
Despite well wishes and prayers from friends and family after the Oct. 7 attack, she said she felt bad for alarming them and her JRF teammates.
“I felt almost like an imposition. I was just going on vacation; I didn’t mean to cause so much panic,” she said.
And if Project Dynamo hadn’t saved her?
“If Bryan hadn’t called me the moment he did, I probably would’ve gotten in the taxi and left, out into the unknown.”
Story by Beth Reece
Defense Logistics Agency