Going AWOL

Sunday I had a doc appointment to actually get my medical profile raised so I can do infantry. I have been waiting a month and a half for this appointment. Long story short - the doc said no and I'm screwed. This means I can't try out for paratroopers, be in Nahal or any other infantry unit. So with only a week left before the paratrooper tryout I had to find a way to see another doc to raise my profile. Monday I was supposed to have the day off to take care of business but I came back to the base instead to see what else I could do to get my profile raised. Long story short I'm SOL - shit out of luck. So my last option was to take matters into my own hands. So right before bedtime I decided I was going to go to the army enlistment office in Tel Aviv the next day to try and see a doctor. FYI - like most things, you need an appointment and can't just go there. So when I woke up on Tuesday I told my mefakedet where I was going. After a brief discussion where she said 'no', and 'you know this is a sanction' I said goodbye, walked off the base and went AWOL (absent without leave). So 3 hours later I'm off the train in Tel Aviv and I don't exactly know which bus to take and where exactly to go once I get off the bus.

Aside: now is probably an acceptable time to call me crazy. If you thought I was crazy before this blog post you can probably upgrade me (or downgrade - depending on your perspective) to f-ing crazy.

So I asked one soldier for directions. He said to follow him because he was going to the same place. We started talking and he happened to be an officer on my base. I explained my situation to him and he asked me for the doctors note and he would help me find the place. Well, I didn't have papers because I didn't have an appointment or permission to leave base. So he called my officers and found out my scoop and gave me an ultimatum. He said he would do everything he could to help me see a doc on the condition that I return to the base with him at the end of the day or best of luck to me on my own.

So here was my thought process: If I go with him, my hands are tied and all I can do is hope that he is able (and truly willing) to help me. On the other hand, I didn't have a concrete plan on getting back to base - the last bus was at 730PM and I didn't know if I would make it in time considering I had to take 2 busses and a train in order to catch that bus. I also realized I needed someone to help me at some point throughout my troubles so why turn down the help now, at the beginning of the day? Thirdly choosing to go with him would probably help my case once I got back to base.

Fast forward 5 hours - I finally spoke to someone. She was the Mamag of my base (2nd or 3rd from the top) who also just happened to be at this other base. She made some phonecalls and said she would try and get me another appointment, but in short I'm screwed.

Once I got back to base, I was reminded again by my commander that I have a sanction. The next day I was told to go wait for my court trial (which is on the base) and after 5 minutes they said to join my tzevet for now and I would be called back later. Amazingly I never got called back, and nobody even mentioned anything to me about it. Lets just say I am very surprised to be home for the weekend.

So to summarize in short - I'm screwed. I can't try out for paratroopers, and can't be in Nahal. So it looks like I'm going to be making myself comfortable inside a Merkeva 4 TANK!Only 2 and a half more weeks left of this course before I have my second chance at the first day in the army.

Sunday through Tuesday was full of frustration like you wouldn't believe - not knowing what to do and trying my hardest to figure something out before the end of the week so I could somehow try out for paratroopers. Explaining my situation to countless people plenty of times and everyone responding the same to the question 'so basically I'm screwed, right?' without a word and a blank stare. If your going to have a shitty start to the week like me, it would only be fitting that it would also be raining cats and dogs - which is exactly what happened. This week is going to be much better (its virtually impossible for it not to be better), but it's going to be short and awesome (short = awesome) because I get the day off tomorrow to go to the bank, and we are going on a 2 day trip to Jerusalem, so the week ends Thursday late afternoon!