One of the hardest things about basic training is the fact that you feel like your doing nothing. Everyday you wake up and you know that although you are getting closer to the day that you will be helping the land of Israel by guarding the borders or keeping the people safe, you are still in basic training. You wake up and know that you are going to be doing something you do not want to do, something that builds “nishmat” (i.e. discipline). It’s true, it sucks, because you think you have the discipline and the will it takes to serve, but in reality you don’t. And the hardest part is accepting that fact. As long as you have a good attitude and a smile on your face everything goes well.
This past week we finally “did” something. I don’t mean to complain because that is not what I’m doing at all. It is just that I had one of the most enjoyable weeks thus far. We “played” enemy in the north. Now, that sounds strange, but it was really fun
The week began with an awesome Shabbat. Daniel and I took the three and a half our trek to hertzaliya petuach where we spent the weekend with Jonathan who is spending the semester in Israel on an abroad program from the university of Pennsylvania. We woke up early Sunday morning and made our way to Tel Aviv where we met our group. From there we set off to the north for a week in a new shetach with different terrain, the terrain of the galil in the north of Israel.
We finally arrived to a base in the north, which is usually served as a loading base for different artillery units in the reserves. For this exercise, it happened to be the “home base” where everyone started. When we arrived, all of our gear was there, including our vests and bags. We were given different uniforms to play the role of enemy. The funny thing was that we were wearing old US Army uniforms, which I was obviously made fun of for wearing. We laughed off the irony of it all and put on these silly “costumes.” We got ready to board the buses to head for our locations.
Every kitah was stationed in a different place in the north. My kitah was stationed on a hillside next to a small yeshuv. The first night we got there was one of the coolest nights. We got to the place we were supposed to be and set up camp. Because we were stationed next to a row of houses we had to be very quiet and made sure no one could hear us. It made me feel like I was in a danger zone, hiding out from the enemy (which was what I was doing “pretend”).
The week went on and we built a camp on the hillside of the mountain. We hid different “rockets” (pieces of metal that looked like rockets). We also built different amdot (bunkers) that we learned how to build in one of our weeks in the shetach. One of the really interesting things that happened was the fact that we were meant to sue all of our skills that we have acquired over the past months and use them. Our goal was to hide out on this hill side and protect our selves from the soldiers coming to take over the mountain side that we took over. We made notes of all of the military cars that passed. Early one morning we were told that a squadron of tanks was out to find us. Half of the group stayed behind to watch over our camp while the other half, including me, went out to the yeshuv and tried to find them. With all of our gear on and a fake anti tank weapon, we made our way around the yeshuv. It was early in the morning when everyone was going to school or leaving to work, so we were all being looked at. It got me thinking that Israel is the only place in the world that something like this could go on. We found the squadron and successfully completed our mission. I thought it was really cool because it was the first exercise that I took part in and got first hand knowledge of what it really means to be in the army.
The week went on and we learned about the different terrain that we were stationed in. We spent part of the days hiding in bushes as we had to wait for people to find us. I never thought I would be sitting inside of a thorn bush for two hours hiding out from a unit of soldiers, but I honestly have to say that it was really fun.
Overall I had an awesome week. I learned a lot of what the army is all about and how everything is operating. I really enjoyed the fact that I was in a new terrain and was finally given the opportunity to actually do something for the army.
As the time goes by, my basic training will be almost complete and I will begin advance training. We have two more weeks until that time comes, so hopefully until then I will be able to gain all that I can and be able to learn what I need to help the state of Israel the best I can.
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