BootCamp (Or at least something like it)

So it's been a while since the last time I wrote and in that time a lot has happened. For starters, I've moved to my new home in Kibbutz Iftach in Northern Israel. I now have a home in Israel. I want to tell you all about life on the Kibbutz and my new home but that will have to wait. There are more important things to deal with...

First off, I'm a published journalist. Check out the following link: http://www.thejewishadvocate.com/this_weeks_issue/opinions/?content_id=5468



Second of all...


Two weeks ago (Sunday Aug. 24 to Thursday Aug. 28) was spent at an Army base 20 minutes outside of Haifa called Jo'ara. The 5 different garin groups from this year were there for a week long army training simulation to give us a "taste" of the army. Together the 5 garin groups numbered 160 people. We were split up by sex and then by kibbutz and placed into units which each were assigned a commander. The simulation was supposed to be as real as possible and so all we knew about our commander was that she was an attractive young Israeli woman. Only as we were leaving the base did she tell us her name (Liraz) and her age (18).

Everything was supposed to be identical to what we are going to see in the army. This ranged from discipline, food, uniform, sleeping conditions, physical activities, lessons and your relationship with your commander.

This mock simulation boot camp is called Gadna. It is run by the Israeli Army and for the most part every 11th grader in Israel goes through this simulation 2 years before they experience the real thing. The army base knew that they were getting 160 Americans between the ages of 17 - 24 and uped things a little bit and decided to show these spoiled Americans what the Israeli army was all about...


So here is how the week broke down:


**Sunday - Arrive at the base, receive uniforms, get dressed, do exercise drills and have a welcome ceremony.


**Monday - Field Day. Head off the base into the forest and hilly terrains around the base for field training.


**Tuesday - Lessons and Classes revolving around the gun, gun ethics and a lecture from a paratrooper commander who fought in the last war with Lebanon.



**Wednesday - Physical Activity and Lessons revolving around army history, weapons, and Israeli Wars of the past.


**Thursday - Woken up in the middle of the night for a trek and then the shooting range.

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Highlights of the week:

* The uniforms we had to wear were sooo hot. Long sleeve green shirt and long pants in 90 degree Israel sun is brutal. In addition we had to wear a hat the whole time (unless told otherwise like in the dining hall) and had to have a full water bottle attached to our belts at all time (really great to have when you need to run everywhere).

* You always need to line up. Your commander gives you times and you have to meet those times or face consequences (running or push ups of course). Each time you line up it is either in 2 lines in front of the commander or in the shape of the Hebrew letter; "Chet". A Chet is in the shape of a horse-shoe except that it is not curved. So it is 3 straight lines connected. I is hard to explain but if you google the hebrew letter "chet" you will quickly find the shape I am sure.

* On the field day, we had lunch and dinner in the field. It consisted of a few cans of vegetables and this disgusting meat in the shape of who knows what and this small knife to open the cans. When you throw food like that in front of 19 guys it gets pretty ugly pretty quickly. It was not a great experience and everyone walks away hungry.

* The end of the field day was pretty fun. It was pitch black dark and we were in this hilly-field and one commander had a night glow stick lit up and she stood at the top of this hill. Some of the other commanders scattered along the hill and we had to climb, crawl and run up the hill and attempt to reach the commander with the glow stick without being spotted. We had learned all these techniques for camouflage, climbing and crawling throughout the day and used those in this drill. It was pretty fun. I had a strategy in mind for getting there first but it didn't work and I would up way to far to the left and didn't get over in time. On the bright side, I wasn't spotted.

*On Wednesday night we were supposed to go on a trek marking the end of the week. We were told that the trek was cancelled and to go to bed. At 4 AM the next day the commanders came running to our sleeping quarters yelling to get up and dressed and ready. The trek wasn't cancelled, it was going to happen then. At first it was super slow and annoying since we were half sleeping but by the time we got back to the base at 6:30 AM after the trek it was nice and the sun was rising and it was a nice end to the week.

* At the end of each day you have one hour before bed time in which you can wear civilian clothes, shower, brush teeth and do whatever you want before it's lights out. At the end of this time you need to line up and be sent off to bed. If you are late then your group runs and does push ups (really great after you just showered).

* The shooting range was interesting. It wasn't what I thought it would be. Really having that big M-16 on your shoulder and laying on the ground shooting with huge ear phones on (the sound is ridiculous) is very weird. It all happened so fast I don't even remember aiming the gun or anything. It just happened. I am sure there will be many more shooting ranges to come from what I understand...

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There are a few important themes which ran throughout the week. Each theme is below along with my thoughts about them:

Discipline:
Discipline is so important in the Israeli Army and maybe even more so than in the American Army. In Israel everyone has to go to the army. It is not an option but rather an obligation. It is a sort of tax that every youth must pay. No matter whether you are male or female, rich or poor, black or white, gay or straight or any other thing you can think of, you are going to serve your country. What this means is that the Israeli Army is a melting pot for Israeli society. People come in from such different backgrounds and are given the same goal; do what you can do to defend your nation. This doesn't always have to be combat. It can be as a teacher, advisor, spokesperson, cook, driver, doctor, nurse or any other millions of jobs the army has to offer.

My Take: It was hard having an 18 year old girl tell me what to do. There is no other way to say that. I am almost 24, I've been on my own for a long time now, I pride myself on independence and this girl who was in High School last year, who still goes home to mommy and daddy on the weekends was telling me when I could go to the bathroom, what time to go to bed and correcting my posture. As hard as it was though, it was manageable. In all honesty this was something I feared the most going into the week and the commander did a great job in showing that she knew what she was talking about, that she was in control and that she was in charge. I really have to give her props for that and props for the training she had received. From her point of view I am sure it wasn't easy to command a unit of 19 American guys some of which were as much as 6 years older than her.


Ceremonies:
Ceremonies were very strict. Each morning the flag would be raised and there was a little mini-ceremony for this. The whole platoon would have to line up in a "chet" and face the commander leading the ceremony. The chet would be made up of three rows in which you had to stand exactly behind the person in front of you as straight as possible. Various officers and commanders walk between the three lines and if you move, or are not standing right or spoke or your clothes were not tucked in or a pocket open that wasn't supposed to be open, you'd be pulled back behind the line and forced to do 20 push-ups. They would make this ceremony last as long as possible each day just to see how well we could hold up and to get as many of us to do as many push ups as possible. I kind of realized how this nonsense ceremony was going to be on day one and made careful sure to not give them a reason to call me out. I managed to squeeze by the ceremony part of the week with only doing 40 push ups.

My Take: I understand the importance of the flag raising each morning. Each morning they'd stress what a privilege it was to be able to wear the uniform in front of the flag and remind you what you are fighting to defend, but all in all it was a bunch of nonsense and just a chance to test our discipline. I wasn't the biggest fan especially since the sun in Israel gets very strong very early in the morning and these uniforms were very very hot!

Gun/Weaponry:

Although it's not the highlight of the week, a big part of Gadna is carrying a weapon and going to the shooting range the last day to fire live ammunition. The gun used in Gadna is the long M-16 which is an American made gun first used in the Vietnam War and introduced to Israel in 1973. During the week we learned all the parts of the gun and were constantly tested on them. In addition we also practiced shooting the gun and what the shooting range experience was going to be like.

My Take: Carrying around this big gun is no picnic and it's not fun. At first you think you're cool and that this is going to be your new facebook profile picture (note see facebook...just kidding!! that isn't an M16 I'm holding in that picture) but after a while you realize how annoying it really is. They also make you constantly keep all five fingers from your right hand on the gun handle at all times. If they find your hand off the handle, you are dropping for push ups. Running with this gun is not fun either. When I got home from the boot camp week on Thursday I quickly realized that my shoulder was really sore from running with the gun strap pressing into my muscle.

Ethics:
Ethics and the Israeli army go hand in hand. One of the lessons on the weapon was called the "purity of the gun". It was basically a conversation or discussion on what the terms mean and how the fit together if at all. The point is that the gun is not pure. The gun is this evil invention that we are forced to use but even if we are forced to use it sometimes we need to know the right situation and considerations that need to go into it. We need to understand that pressing that trigger comes with consequences and you most always be ethical and moral, even when others including the enemies you are going to face, are not.

My Take: A lot of bad things are always said about the Israeli Army on CNN or BBC about civilians being injured and things of that nature. Many of the scenarios you hear of whether hypothetical or from Israeli history show that there are situations where you can't defend yourself because doing so would cause harm to innocent civilians and it would be un-ethical. This is something we have to deal with. I like the fact that there is so much discussion around the gun and its use. It really isn't a toy and taking a life, even of a terrorist, is something that cannot be taken lightly. I hope I never have to face that dilemma or scenario. We are a product of our time, of our country and of our scenario, and although we may not want to be sitting there in a uniform or with a gun on our shoulder, the things we are asked to do by the army are moral and are being done with a purpose. If we ever hear an order that we feel is immoral or unethical then it is our duty to disobey that order. Even if our enemies do not show us respect, we will show them respect and if they do not obied by the rules, we will even if that puts us at a greater danger. In short, no one wants war and we all want peace but we have to be prepared for the opposite at all times.

I am going into an army that believes in ethics and morals. It is an army that is built to defend its nation and homeland. I promise you all that if there is ever an instance in which I feel that the latter is not true, I WILL break the order. You know me and how I am and my word is my word. I will not do anything wrong.

Physical Abilities:
From the daily morning exercises and sports to climbing around in the field and crawling on rocks and dirt, there was a fair amount of physical aspect involved in this experience. I came back from the week sore, tired, cut up and sick and tired of push ups. Even holding my hands behind my back in attention was painful by the end. The most painful part was the bottoms of my feet. Since we wore our own shoes and not army boots, the bottoms of my feet really hurt from all the activities and from standing around. Every morning I'd take 3 advils to start my day.

My Take: It wasn't the most grueling physical stuff you will ever do in your life but it is physical. It is no surprise to anyone (including myself) that I don't exactly enjoy all these physical things and working out and all that but for the week, I did it. I learned that before the official draft date in 6 weeks or so I really need to work on getting in better shape. The way things are now I can do all that is asked of me and keep up but it will come at a steep price and the more I can do before, the better off I will be in boot camp. I mean if I can force my self to train now, I won't have to do so under the awful conditions in the army. It seems like a great idea, I just need to implement it and well, saying and doing are 2 completely different things.

--Stay tuned for the next blog in which I'll finally tell you all about my new life in my new home here at Kibbutz Iftach. I'm gathering some photos and even made this map which highlights all the places I've talked about in this blog and previous blogs so you have a better idea of where I've been. Keep the comments and updates coming please! They are not only interesting but also helpful in times when I begin missing my old life. When I say my old life I mean America, Boston, Tufts, and everything associated with that (friends, acquaintances and places). I don't know what else to call it so I'll continue calling it my old life unless some has something better to call it (suggestions welcome!).

Most importantly, I will give you my address at the Kibbutz so you can all rush to send me care packages, letters, pictures and other goodies from the U.S. so I can think about you even more!