WOW. It has been way too long. Sorry for the wide interruption of blogs. I have been waiting for the perfect time to catch you up on everything that has been going on in my life. Welcome back.
It started about six months ago; I was sitting in the changing room covered in olive green. It was the first day of the army, somewhere on a base in a huge building with hundreds of new recruits. I finally got to the last station with a full bag of equipment and a drained look on my face. I had put my crispy formal pants on, tightened the waxy black laces of my boots. I dawned my olive green button down and tucked in my dog tags. I had one more step before I would be done with the process. With the click of my belt I would suddenly be carrying 8,585,000 people on my shoulders. I looked up at my face in the mirror and caught a huge smile that will last far into the future.
It wasn't very long before I would be graduating my three month long Hebrew course. For me, it was spot on with what it was supposed to do. It was an exponentially pleasant way into the IDF, with just the right amount of hebrew class mixed in with a bunch of other activities. Not to mention the select few strong bonds that made it off the base. Some of the best guys I know. I got practice in keeping time, sleeping few hours, learning a lot in a short amount of time. I started becoming a more put together human. Call me crazy, but I enjoyed running on a schedule, and for the most part (although this was the easy segment) it didn't bother me. If I had to get up at 03:00 in the morning to stand on guard duty, it would be a happy time to reflect in silence, try it some times, its worth it! I had an M-16 slung over my shoulder day and night, only to be removed for a shower and to go to sleep. If we forgot our weapon somewhere, even for a second, we would be punished with staying Shabbat on base, and having to spend week after week without break. The Hebrew course itself was put together using such a calculated and clear cut curriculum, although there was a good amount of fun involved, which I believe was the best tactic to learn. I learned a lot about all of the cultures that came to do the same thing that I was doing from all over the world. When I say all over the world I literally mean 20+ countries. From Ireland to Uzbekistan and from all over the US, everyone had the same exact goal. It was easier to connect with people than to ignore them. We were all so similar, but yet all so different. The craziest difference for me was the number of different religions. Christian, Muslim, Druze, Jew. All religions in my 16 man team that will be with me for the remainder of my training, the next seven months.
That brings us to our next point. The next seven months. Its early November 2016 and I am being loaded onto a bus headed to the Nachal training base. It is called בא״ח נח״ל טוב Which translates into Good Nachal Base, im not sure what is good about it but the ones who named it seemed to have a sense of humor. I was finally on the way to becoming a standing force against the evils targeting The land, but it was not without a few jams in the weapon.
No story about serving in the IDF is told without an interaction with bureaucracy, here is my little bit: Right after graduating the hebrew course, we were given out our jobs based on our medical profiles, hebrew level and desires. You all know my dream and path was to become a fighter in the combat forces so after receiving the job of truck driver, I was a little confused. I scratched my big ears for a minute and said something wasn't right. I found out there was a problem with my medical profile that could be resolved but it would be a lengthy and grueling process, that would test my patience and willpower way more than any training I will do. I started the process without knowing if I will make it in or not but all I could do is stay hopeful. During that time the army sent me to five different bases like a basketball around the whole country. A month of fighting the system to become a fighter (ironic huh). Now step into my boots a little deeper; The people that I was with were all trying to get out of combat, they were too frail or couldn't deal with the discipline, or just wanted a job that was a little less bullshit because lets face it, serving in combat is plain and simply taking orders and doing what your commanders tell you to do. Its pretty bullshit, but its necessary to have an effective force. Flip the scale and there is me, trying to climb over all of that and still want to be there. Finally I received the word that I have to go switch my boots to the red combat boots and pack my bags for an undisclosed time.
Fast forward to November where i'm standing in line ready to meet my team of 16 and our Sargent. Im excited, finally I am about to enter the ride that ive been standing in line for for my whole life. My team's name is 3B.
Do you know the saying time flies when you're having fun? Well here time flies when it wants to, and for the most part it really really doesn't want to. The past two months in combat training have flown by, don't get me wrong, but when you have to stand guard in the cold at night when its raining, the seconds just don't move forward. All the stereotypes of the army are starting to creep into my life and its honestly becoming like I am living some sort of other life. As soon as I put on my uniform and shine my boots, I take on a different role. Its a magnificent feeling of: I am ok with everything that will happen ahead and will give it my all in order to give.
So far training has been a rugged experience. The typical day goes something like this: We wake up before the sun comes up at around 4:45, we have seven minutes to get into our uniform and be ready outside in formation. For the next two hours we get ourselves ready for the day and clean our quarters, except its not so simple. We do it in five minute increments, at the end of the allotted time, we have to be back in our formation. They teach us the importance of "Time comes before the mission." So even if we didn't finish what we were doing, even if one pant leg is on and the other isn't, we still have to stand in formation. Even the easiest task of mopping the floor takes forever with these time constraints. The whole day goes like this, no matter what task, it is always done with a stopwatch. The next thing we do is go eat, breakfast is bare with hard boiled eggs, some bread, maybe a cheese spread and if were lucky some warm day old pasta. After breakfast our day is sprinkled with physical training like running or strength training, shooting at the range, learning new tactics and skills in a classroom, team building exercises, and all sorts of meetings and briefings. Hot meals on base are not that bad actually, but that doesn't happen often because most of the time we are eating sandwiches with canned tuna and corn in the field, so even pasta in the morning brings us a smile. The day ends with an hour of free time where we can shower, get ready for the next day, and use our phones. We are only allowed our phones during this one hour a day. At the beginning this was hard but then you realize when you are running full speed in full gear and then have to fall into prone position as hard as you can, you're really happy your phone isn't on you. Lights out is around 22:00 and from that second the lights go out, we have exactly seven hours to sleep. During the night, we also have to do about half an hour each of guard duty around our camp site to make sure nothing is getting stolen and we don't have any visitors. So with everything, we really only get six hours, but that is enough. Day in day out, at the end of the week you look back and see a blurry vision of accomplishments and happiness, and that is what you remember. Not the three minute feeling of dread when you just wake up, but the smiles during the day.
It feels like we have accomplished a lot, but we are yet so far from the finish line to becoming warriors. Another month of this kind of brutal schedule and we will be on to doing more interesting things. This four month segment is meant to break you down and build you back up again with right mind-frame to tackle anything, and by looking around at all my mates, I see just that, its brilliant.
All smiles and good vibes,
Gud Shabos,
2/3/17
Here is a diploma our group 3B got while competing in a week long warrior competition.
Unfortunately, after asking countless times, I am not allowed to take any pictures on the base or during training, at least for now, so you will have to make do with the pictures we take in our free hour at night (all on my Instagram)
