Week 3

Despite the fact that this week was one day shorter, it most certainly didn't feel that way. After Shabbat I went to Jerusalem to visit a friend. As a lone soldier I get one extra day off every 2 months in order to do things like go to the bank and run other errands. It's impossible to do any of these things because I get off base on Friday mornings (when most things are closed for the weekend already) and I have to be back on base Sunday morning, leaving no time to do anything. So I figured that after going to the bank on Sunday morning, I could take the day and relax. Little did I know that I actaully had to go to my specific bank in Rehovot to get what I needed. So there went the rest of my day - travelling.

When I got back to my friend's place I realized I might be going slightly crazy. Jon asked me if I wanted to go for a jog. Despite the fact I did not have shorts OR running shoes I decided to go running in my army pants and boots.

This week on the whole was pretty good. Unfortunately nothing 'interesting' happened this week. Monday was pretty relaxed as we didn't get to base until 1PM. Further we didn't do much of anything until after dinner, where we had to do out group punishments for things like being late, not being in formation properly, talking, not paying attention during classes, etc. The sanctions involve 12-15 second sprints at a time, where you never have enough time to get there and back in time. When we clearly need a break from sprints we get to do pushups. Then we go back to sprinting followed by situps. This continues for about 25 minutes to half an hour.

Throughout the week we had some lessons on first aid and radio communications mixed in with of course more running, pushups and situps.

Our base is an educational base, and the course I'm taking is mostly for new immigrants and volunteers to learn Hebrew. So they try and ease us into the whole army thing. Every week they start introducing more things to us; Last week was sanctions and evening group punishments. This week it was a daily morning flag raising ceremony. Also known as a huge waste of time. The ceremony is supposed to be at 9AM, and its supposed to mark the start of the day. My question is, if 9AM is the 'start of the day', what the heck was I doing for the previous 4 hours!?!?!? By the 'start of the day', we are already fully dressed to perfection, shaven and boots shined, beds made, room and dorms cleaned and inspected, eaten breakfast followed by our 20 minute break. Also throw in there some pushups and situps depending on how on the ball we are as a group. The entire pluga (Company) - about 150 people congregate for a speach by the head of the pluga. So far the speaches have involved how much we suck. One day for being disrespectful, and another for being an hour late.

On Thursday morning I was able to take my first power nap since I started the army. We aren't allowed to sleep during our brief breaks throughout the day. Only during our free hour can we sleep. When we went to the field we were allowed to sleep on the bus ONLY because it was a long busride. While we were waiting for the samelet (sergent) to inspect our rooms we were sitting on the beds. One of the guys in our room who was sick or 'sick' had just taken a shower and was sitting in a towel on his bed just as we got to the room. He sat there for for I guess about half an hour (I had lost track of time) because he was taking his time/unwilling to get dressed, and so the samelet (who is a female) would not be able to come into the room. This way we were all able to sit in the room without anyone barking orders at us. Lucky we all dozed off for a few minutes :-) This is how we were about an hour late for the flag raising ceremony.

Thursdays are by far the best day for several reasons. The most obvious is that the next day is Friday, which means we get to go home. The day is easier because some poeple get to leave a day early because they live in Eilat, and there isn't enough time for them to get home on Friday, so they leave Thursday afternoon. Because of that, the things we do are not the most critical things we do and learn during the week. We are given time to clean our guns before we give them back after lunch. Getting rid of the gun is great - its one less 8 pound thing we have to have strapped to ourselves for about 23 hours and 45 minutes of the day. I spend most of the day holding the gun in one hand and my canteen in the other - the 2 things you can't be without. The ONLY times I dont have the gun strapped around me is the combined 15 minutes or so during the day that I take a shower and am in the bathroom stall, so to be without the gun for half a day is great. Another good thing about Thursday is that we get meat for lunch and dinner. I don't know why, but we usually never get meat for dinner. There is never group punishments on Thursday, so that is a great thing as well, but unfortunately it doesn't mean we won't get punished :-( Lastly, we get to go to bed early!!!! Yesteday we were in bed at 9PM :-D This leads right into the worst part about Fridays - 430AM. In order to be off base by 630AM, we have to wake up at 430, therefore we have to be in bed by 930. The early bedtime is really there to fool us.

Next week its our Machlaka's (Platoon's) turn to do guard duty. This means that we have to stay for the weekend. Because this weekend is Rosh Hashana, we miss out on a long weekend, meaning we have to spend Rosh Hashana on base doing guard duty. From seeing the first group who got to do it last week, it did not look like a lot of fun, and they didn't get much sleep. The group that is doing it this week isn't guarding the base, but they got bussed down south to guard communities around Gaza for the week. Since we are on base for the weekend, it doesn't mean that get off after the weekend, it means we lose out weekend. So I will be on base for 12 days straight starting on Sunday. Hopefully I won't go too crazy.

Since I'm on base until next year and beyond, I hope everyone has a shana tova!