goren was born in kibbutz merhavia to shoshanna and abraham, both of whom were teachers. at the age of 14 he joined the youth air battalion where he underwent a gliding course and represented the israeli delegation to the united states. in 1961 he enlisted in the pilot training course where he was trained as a fighter pilot. his first engagement was during a bombing raid in syria in april 1967. in the six-day war, goren served as a vautour pilot in the 110 squadron. during the war he flew 15 combat sorties, amongst them the assault on the egyptian airfield beni suef, the first bombing of the h-3 iraqi air base as part of operation focus, and air support mission during the battle of abu-ageila.