The week started off with a day off which was pretty awesome until it ended up getting me screwed. As a lone soldier I am entitled to one day off every month to take care of personal business. I haven't been asking for mine partly out of laziness and my commander approached me about it and told me to take a day off (how cool is that?). I ended up going to Tel Aviv to meet up with some friends, which definitely made the day well worth it. I also baught a pair of new Asics running shoes that cost less than my lunch! (and I didn't have anything noteworthy for lunch). I paid about $12 for the shoes at a discount of about 94%!! It's actually quite easy to get the discount - all you need to do is put your life on the line and join the IDF as a combat soldier. The day was a lot of fun and the only thing i missed on base was the BEGINNING of cleaning.
Since we finished basic training we have to clean, scrub, paint, arrange, and inventory everything. This week really did suck, and I haven't even gotten to the crappy part yet. We gave back all our equipment, inventoried it and then packed kitbags with all the equipment for the new trainees. We cleaned the tanks and did inventory on all the tools. We cleaned the barracks until they were brand new, then did it again and scrubbed the walls. It was like we were preparing for the massiah. This took about 4 days and was horrible.
So what was the worst part of the week and how did I get screwed? Well what was supposed to be the best part of the week ended up being the worst - the masa kumta and everything related to it: the preparation, the actual masa and the ceremony which followed. I had just come back from a meeting and my samach (the disciplinarian) told me to "get ready for the masa that you probably aren't doing." WHAT?!?!?! He said because I didn't sleep on the base last night I might not be able to do the masa. I said I'm going on the masa and went to get ready. I was outside waiting with everyone else and I had managed to get my hands on the stretcher for some extra weight on the hike (extra fun). After a few minutes the samach came up to me and said take off the stretcher becuase I'm not doing the masa. I said I don't care what you tell me, there is no way I'm not doing the masa. An argument ensued with my main point being how this was fucking bullshit that the army gives me a free day off that I didn't ask for and now I can't do the masa because I didn't sleep on the base. His counterpoint was "your not doing the masa". He did point out that he only found out about this 'rule' a few hours ago (which was true) however it didn't make the situation any less rediculous. I then ended up speaking with the company commander and he gave me permission to join the masa partway through, which I still wasn't satisfied with. After that I ended up seeing the doctor who gave me permission to do the masa, then everything was okay, or so I thought. We took a bus out to the middle of nowhere where we were going to start the hike (yes the waiting and preparation phase of the masa lasted about 5 or 6 hours). 10 minutes before we were about to start the masa the samach came back to me and told me to get on the bus because I'm not doing the masa from the start. Another argument ensued with me outlining my previous points as well as that the doctor said there was not a problem. His response was get on the bus and join in the middle or your going back to base and not doing it at all. I ended up having to leave the stretcher for someone else to carry and get on the bus, and I was more than pissed off. I ended up doing 20 of the 25 km hike and was pissed off and in a horrible mood for the hour and a bit I waited until I joined the hike and then the other 4 hours of hiking in silence.
After the hike we had the ceremony where we finally get our berets. I was in such a shitty mood, it was the last place I wanted to be. I was soaking wet from sweat and therefore freezing cold because it was after midnight. I was hungry because we hadn't eaten anything since lunch, and I was just generally pissed off because I couldn't do the entire masa. On top of that the ceremony was going to take a while, we still had to eat and get our hour of free time, so it was going to be a while before I got to bed (we ended up going to bed at 3AM). So the last place I wanted to be was out in the cold, hungry, tired and standing for an hour while I got my beret. So after a bunch of ceremonial procedures I was standing there like a zombie wondering when it was going to be over so I could go change clothes, eat and sleep the commanders finally came around to give us our berets. The commanders come around one by one and take your green beret off your head and switch it with a black one. Then they give you a congratulatory punch in the upper chest. I wasn't really paying too much attention to what was going on, so I didn't take notice that the commanders were giving the congradulatory punches until I received mine - but more on that in a bit. So I'm standing there thinking come on, lets get this over with I want to get the hell out of here and then I hear someone behind me say Alex, turn around. I turned around to face the mashad (his main job is scheduling for the entire pluga, and he is the highest ranking person in the pluga that is not an officer) who ended up giving me HIS beret, not just a beret. Every commander gives his beret to one person, which is completely subjective and up to each specific commander. So after he put his beret on my head out of nowhere he took half a step backwards, wound up and punched me as hard as he could in the chest. I was totally not prepared for it and after the ceremony the guys around me said that I received the hardest punch from any of the commanders. It hurt like hell, but I didn't react to it. Chances are I caused him indirect grief when I put up a fight trying to go on the masa. Or stressed him out when I was doing exercises in the tank with him, or he just get kicks out of punching people, but whatever his reasons I probably deserved the punch. I was in such a shitty mood I wasn't able to appreciate the honor of receiving the beret from one of the top commanders, and the only thing that was on my mind was how cold, wet, hungry, tired and now in pain I was.
I later found out that my pluga was the only one that managed to overturn the rule so that I was able to do at least part of the masa. I was still pissed off, but at least the fight I was able to put up accomplished something.
Wednesday was the last day of basic training, and we ended up breaking distance with my commander and samach because they were not continuing on to advanced training with us. We were notified that our pluga was going to be split up into 2 new plugot and that we would be getting our week vacation starting next Thursday, as opposed to having it right away and getting 9 days off instead of 7. That was a real bummer because I would end up being on base for Purim - another holiday, as well as having to miss the gold medal Olympic hockey game. On Thursday we split up into our new pluga and had a meeting with our new commander of the pluga. As he was talking about general introductory things he told us that we were going home for the weekend and going on vacation so we would be getting 9 days off!!! I wanted to jump out of my chair and hug him! This happened at 3PM in the afternoon and we left base at 5PM. It started to pour and I had to take home EVERYTHING I owned - which was four bags worth of clothing. I didn't get to my kibbutz until 1130PM, but it sure beat the hell out of staying on base in the rain. By the way, it rained the entire way home and the bus was leaking because of the rain so my entire right side of my body was soaked for about 4 hours of the drive. It was a pain in the ass because I had no time to plan my vacation and the army tends to do things like that, but I do have most things planned out. I plan on doing a lot of traveling visiting friends and family on my time off. When I get back to the army we are taking a trip up north for a few days to see exactly what life will be like after training and then we head back to base to start our advanced training stage which will last four months.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
Is ready for war (according to the IDF)
After Shabbat ended we went to the field to start firing real ammunition from the tank. This is our big week which culminates with us loading a firing a real 120 mm shell from the tank. On Sunday we did a quick exercise just to feel what its like to fire real ammunition from the MAG and 0.5" machine gun. Firing from the MAG was awesome - you just put the butt of the gun to the side of your helmet and hold the trigger as you start to spray bullets. It was very different and easier to fire the MAG when it was attached to the tank than when we were out in the shooting range where the butt of the gun was pounding against your shoulder and your body absorbs all the energy. We were shooting at targets down below and as you hold down the trigger you see all the dust kick up from the bullets. It was even more fun at night when you fired the tracer bullets which light up when you shoot them to help you see at night.
Aside from the fact tanks are awesome they are a pain in the ass to clean and prepare. Before we do anything on the tank we have to check everything. There is also a midday checkup and an end of day cleanup and post-preparation (yes, I am aware that is an oxymoron, but believe me that it exists). There is also an end of week cleaning of the tank which reminds you that all fun things come at a cost. The enjoyment of cleaning is inversely proportional to how much fun we have during the week. The more fun we have, the dirtier the tanks and weapons get, and therefore the harder it is to clean. So what kind of tools do you equip yourself with to clean tanks and guns? Toothbrushes and screwdrivers. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
I had the test during the day and again at night. In order for everyone to complete it in the same day we woke up at 220AM. By 4AM we were preparing the tank for the day. Once the sun rose I waited and waited for my hour-ish long test. I realized that tests are much more fun when they involve firing ammunition from tanks as opposed to arranging formulas and banging my head against a desk in frustration. A helmet would have come in use then as well. After everyone finished the test we sat around and did nothing until the sun went down so we could do it all over again at night - which made for a really long day. The first 45 minutes was without ammo constantly loading and unloading the 50ish pound shells from inside the tank to jumping up and reaching for the MAG out side the tank. After less than 5 minutes I was already completely soaked with sweat pouring down my face. Aside from the fact that its not easy work and clearly you have to load the shells more quickly than as fast as possible it gets very hot. Firstly we are out in the middle of the desert. Secondly, it was exceptionally hot this week for February - over 30 degrees. I'm also in a tank so it's always hotter inside than outside the tank. On top of the weather conditions you have the uncomfortably hot dress attire: A one piece jumpsuit (in place of the 2 piece uniform), a thick shrapnel proof vest and on top of that my equipment vest that holds the ammo to my M16, helmet and gloves. The last 10 minutes of practicing without ammo was done with a gas mask on, and thus made it more hot, difficult to see and exponentially harder to breathe. The not seeing in the gas mask was not that bad because I am already used to not seeing anything in the dark. At night you set the light so that you can just start to see things. The test was very similar to what we did the day before. We didn't fire real shells but test shells that fire 20mm bullets instead because the IDF has no money. When you fire the bullet from the cannon you hear a click which is very uninteresting and uneventful.
After I completed the test at night in accordance to the IDF I am now prepared for war, and that I have been given the bare minimum amount of training needed to go to war if need be. I still have 4 more months of training before I am ready to really start guarding the borders and be fully trained, but apparently now I am ready, however I beg to differ. But since when do I know what is best? I'm just a trainee.
The last 2 months of learning my job as a loader has come to the pinnacle where we get to fire a real shell from the cannon with all 4 crew members in the tank together. Ironically it was much more awesome to stand on my chair in the tank looking outside through binoculars while the tank 7 meters away from me fired its shell. We were listening in on the radio so we knew what was going on and when the tanks were firing. When the tank next to me fired, there was a loud boom, there was dust everywhere and the ground shook - it was awesome. Then it was my tanks turn. The shell was loaded, and ready to be fired, I was behind my safety bar and just waiting for it to happen. The commander shouted 'fire!' and then all of a sudden - BOOM! The shell was gone, and in a split second the cannon recoiled with a force of 70 tons less than an arms length from my face. Surprisingly I didn't feel the tank shake like when the tanks next to me fired, and the boom wasn't as loud as when I had my head outside the tank, but it was still awesome.
We returned back to base on Wednesday at lunchtime and for the next day and a half cleaned the tanks and barracks. As I was cleaning one of the MAGs I managed to somehow misplace one of the pins. One of the things you have to be aware of is not to lose parts of the gun, because then they don't work. For the M16 there is something called the Shabbat pin, which means if you lose it they make you stay shabbat as a punishment. On the MAG there is the pin chodesh (month) basically meaning your stuck on base for a month if you lose it. The good news is that I didn't lose that pin. The bad news is that the pin I lost doesn't have a name because nobody ever loses it because nobody ever takes that pin out. As we were cleaning up and putting the MAG back together I realized it didn't work, and the commander came over and looked at and took out one of the pieces and asked where is the pin that is supposed to hold this. I realized at that moment that I was completely screwed and there was no way in hell I was going to find this pin that I didn't even know I lost because it wasn't something I was supposed to take apart. He started yelling at me asking me why I took it apart because I wasn't supposed to. I told him I swear I didn't take it apart and I have no idea how I lost it. He said find 2 friends and find that pin - your not leaving here until you do. Thankfully my friend found the pin within 5 minutes in a tank of diesel (which was my first guess of where it might have been because that is what you clean the gun in). I gave him a big hug because I don't know what would have happened to me if I didn't find that pin. Within 5 minutes after I found the pin the same commander called everyone over to explain that someone had already lost a pin, and then the best thing that could have happened happened. He then held up the exact same pin that I had lost and said that somebody else had ALSO lost the pin. I had a big smile on my face because then he knew that I wasn't the only fool that managed to lose it and that it couldn't have been my fault.
Next week is the last week of basic training where we have our final masa (25 km) where on completion we get to rid ourselves of our green trainee beret and finally get our black beret which identifies us as shiryonairim! After that we start our advanced training phase of training, which hopefully starts with a full week off from the army! Either I have a week off starting on the 25th or the week after. I still have no idea, so I'm not able to make any plans yet, which is a real pain in the ass.
Aside from the fact tanks are awesome they are a pain in the ass to clean and prepare. Before we do anything on the tank we have to check everything. There is also a midday checkup and an end of day cleanup and post-preparation (yes, I am aware that is an oxymoron, but believe me that it exists). There is also an end of week cleaning of the tank which reminds you that all fun things come at a cost. The enjoyment of cleaning is inversely proportional to how much fun we have during the week. The more fun we have, the dirtier the tanks and weapons get, and therefore the harder it is to clean. So what kind of tools do you equip yourself with to clean tanks and guns? Toothbrushes and screwdrivers. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
I had the test during the day and again at night. In order for everyone to complete it in the same day we woke up at 220AM. By 4AM we were preparing the tank for the day. Once the sun rose I waited and waited for my hour-ish long test. I realized that tests are much more fun when they involve firing ammunition from tanks as opposed to arranging formulas and banging my head against a desk in frustration. A helmet would have come in use then as well. After everyone finished the test we sat around and did nothing until the sun went down so we could do it all over again at night - which made for a really long day. The first 45 minutes was without ammo constantly loading and unloading the 50ish pound shells from inside the tank to jumping up and reaching for the MAG out side the tank. After less than 5 minutes I was already completely soaked with sweat pouring down my face. Aside from the fact that its not easy work and clearly you have to load the shells more quickly than as fast as possible it gets very hot. Firstly we are out in the middle of the desert. Secondly, it was exceptionally hot this week for February - over 30 degrees. I'm also in a tank so it's always hotter inside than outside the tank. On top of the weather conditions you have the uncomfortably hot dress attire: A one piece jumpsuit (in place of the 2 piece uniform), a thick shrapnel proof vest and on top of that my equipment vest that holds the ammo to my M16, helmet and gloves. The last 10 minutes of practicing without ammo was done with a gas mask on, and thus made it more hot, difficult to see and exponentially harder to breathe. The not seeing in the gas mask was not that bad because I am already used to not seeing anything in the dark. At night you set the light so that you can just start to see things. The test was very similar to what we did the day before. We didn't fire real shells but test shells that fire 20mm bullets instead because the IDF has no money. When you fire the bullet from the cannon you hear a click which is very uninteresting and uneventful.
After I completed the test at night in accordance to the IDF I am now prepared for war, and that I have been given the bare minimum amount of training needed to go to war if need be. I still have 4 more months of training before I am ready to really start guarding the borders and be fully trained, but apparently now I am ready, however I beg to differ. But since when do I know what is best? I'm just a trainee.
The last 2 months of learning my job as a loader has come to the pinnacle where we get to fire a real shell from the cannon with all 4 crew members in the tank together. Ironically it was much more awesome to stand on my chair in the tank looking outside through binoculars while the tank 7 meters away from me fired its shell. We were listening in on the radio so we knew what was going on and when the tanks were firing. When the tank next to me fired, there was a loud boom, there was dust everywhere and the ground shook - it was awesome. Then it was my tanks turn. The shell was loaded, and ready to be fired, I was behind my safety bar and just waiting for it to happen. The commander shouted 'fire!' and then all of a sudden - BOOM! The shell was gone, and in a split second the cannon recoiled with a force of 70 tons less than an arms length from my face. Surprisingly I didn't feel the tank shake like when the tanks next to me fired, and the boom wasn't as loud as when I had my head outside the tank, but it was still awesome.
We returned back to base on Wednesday at lunchtime and for the next day and a half cleaned the tanks and barracks. As I was cleaning one of the MAGs I managed to somehow misplace one of the pins. One of the things you have to be aware of is not to lose parts of the gun, because then they don't work. For the M16 there is something called the Shabbat pin, which means if you lose it they make you stay shabbat as a punishment. On the MAG there is the pin chodesh (month) basically meaning your stuck on base for a month if you lose it. The good news is that I didn't lose that pin. The bad news is that the pin I lost doesn't have a name because nobody ever loses it because nobody ever takes that pin out. As we were cleaning up and putting the MAG back together I realized it didn't work, and the commander came over and looked at and took out one of the pieces and asked where is the pin that is supposed to hold this. I realized at that moment that I was completely screwed and there was no way in hell I was going to find this pin that I didn't even know I lost because it wasn't something I was supposed to take apart. He started yelling at me asking me why I took it apart because I wasn't supposed to. I told him I swear I didn't take it apart and I have no idea how I lost it. He said find 2 friends and find that pin - your not leaving here until you do. Thankfully my friend found the pin within 5 minutes in a tank of diesel (which was my first guess of where it might have been because that is what you clean the gun in). I gave him a big hug because I don't know what would have happened to me if I didn't find that pin. Within 5 minutes after I found the pin the same commander called everyone over to explain that someone had already lost a pin, and then the best thing that could have happened happened. He then held up the exact same pin that I had lost and said that somebody else had ALSO lost the pin. I had a big smile on my face because then he knew that I wasn't the only fool that managed to lose it and that it couldn't have been my fault.
Next week is the last week of basic training where we have our final masa (25 km) where on completion we get to rid ourselves of our green trainee beret and finally get our black beret which identifies us as shiryonairim! After that we start our advanced training phase of training, which hopefully starts with a full week off from the army! Either I have a week off starting on the 25th or the week after. I still have no idea, so I'm not able to make any plans yet, which is a real pain in the ass.
Masa Bunker: AKA most boring masa ever
After a few fairly slow weeks of missing out on exercises in the tank this week was full of practicing in the tank. It all culminated in one exercise that combined everything we have done. We still haven't done anything with ammunition yet, but we have our final test next week which involves ammo. The exercise involved loading shells, jumping up on the chair to fire from the loader's MAG, which is outside the tank, fixing gun jams, and switching the MAG outside the tank to the one inside. This lasted about half an hour - constantly jumping back and forth from inside loading shells to jumping on the chair and once more to grab the MAG which is just out of reach. To add to the craziness the commander was swinging and jerking the turret around so it was pretty difficult to stand, yet alone load 50 pound shells and jump from one place to another.
We had our second to last masa which was 20km. I managed to get to carry the 20 liter jerrycan of water on my back to make the masa more challenging and therefore more fun. The masa was just under 4 hours long and it would have been fun if it were not sooooooooo boring.I am the crazy person who enjoys the masaot even though you are not allowed to talk or pretty much do anything but walk. In general the terrain isn't very interesting - just walking in the fairly flat desert. To think that the Jews wandered the desert for 40 years makes 20 km seem like nothing. I don't know which part of the punishment is worse - wandering the desert for 40 years or wandering the desert with nagging Jewish mothers. And to think that if you had someone nagging you the entire way you would pick up your pace - so there is no knowing how long the Jews would have been wandering the desert for. The way the masa works is that we start walking, and once we get halfway we turn around and walk back - its not that complicated. That was not the case for this masa. This time we walked in circles. We did laps around the bunker. The bunker is part of the base where ammunition is stored. There is always someone on guard duty in the bunker. We walked 2km laps on the paved road. The masa was so long and boring that I thought of 2 different ways to try and convey just how boring it was:
Firstly the masa felt more like guard duty than a masa. The only difference from what I did from actually guarding the bunker was that I had a 20 liter jerrycan on my back. I have already detailed just how boring guard duty can be here. When you guard the bunker its 2 people walking together for 2 hours doing laps around the bunker. You are allowed to talk and walk at your own leisurely pace. We walked in silence for twice as long at a fairly quick constant pace. If I was to be the person on guard duty I would have been fairly pissed off to see an entire company of almost 100 soldiers in essence guarding the bunker and doing the job for me.
I also felt like I was participating in the human version of a NASCAR race. To drive in circles turning left for hundreds of kilometers seems very stupid to me - even though it is a race. The masa wasn't a race and I finished in the same spot I started. Essentially I was the race car turning left for hours on end.
Here is my thought process during the masa:
Lap 1 - This is odd, why are we walking a lap around the bunker?
Lap 2 - What the heck? Why are we doing this again?!
End of lap 2 - wow that was boring. Now we can continue onwards now that the lap is finally over.
Lap 3 - Shit, I don't believe it - we are doing this again - another 25 minutes and we will finally leave the bunker.
Lap 4 - You have got to be kidding me. This is where I gave up hope that we would leave the bunker since we had just started kilometers 7 and 8 of 20
Lap 5 until the next day around mid afternoon - ow, my everything aches. In a way it helped that everything hurt so it kept my mind off of the boredom.
We had our second to last masa which was 20km. I managed to get to carry the 20 liter jerrycan of water on my back to make the masa more challenging and therefore more fun. The masa was just under 4 hours long and it would have been fun if it were not sooooooooo boring.I am the crazy person who enjoys the masaot even though you are not allowed to talk or pretty much do anything but walk. In general the terrain isn't very interesting - just walking in the fairly flat desert. To think that the Jews wandered the desert for 40 years makes 20 km seem like nothing. I don't know which part of the punishment is worse - wandering the desert for 40 years or wandering the desert with nagging Jewish mothers. And to think that if you had someone nagging you the entire way you would pick up your pace - so there is no knowing how long the Jews would have been wandering the desert for. The way the masa works is that we start walking, and once we get halfway we turn around and walk back - its not that complicated. That was not the case for this masa. This time we walked in circles. We did laps around the bunker. The bunker is part of the base where ammunition is stored. There is always someone on guard duty in the bunker. We walked 2km laps on the paved road. The masa was so long and boring that I thought of 2 different ways to try and convey just how boring it was:
Firstly the masa felt more like guard duty than a masa. The only difference from what I did from actually guarding the bunker was that I had a 20 liter jerrycan on my back. I have already detailed just how boring guard duty can be here. When you guard the bunker its 2 people walking together for 2 hours doing laps around the bunker. You are allowed to talk and walk at your own leisurely pace. We walked in silence for twice as long at a fairly quick constant pace. If I was to be the person on guard duty I would have been fairly pissed off to see an entire company of almost 100 soldiers in essence guarding the bunker and doing the job for me.
I also felt like I was participating in the human version of a NASCAR race. To drive in circles turning left for hundreds of kilometers seems very stupid to me - even though it is a race. The masa wasn't a race and I finished in the same spot I started. Essentially I was the race car turning left for hours on end.
Here is my thought process during the masa:
Lap 1 - This is odd, why are we walking a lap around the bunker?
Lap 2 - What the heck? Why are we doing this again?!
End of lap 2 - wow that was boring. Now we can continue onwards now that the lap is finally over.
Lap 3 - Shit, I don't believe it - we are doing this again - another 25 minutes and we will finally leave the bunker.
Lap 4 - You have got to be kidding me. This is where I gave up hope that we would leave the bunker since we had just started kilometers 7 and 8 of 20
Lap 5 until the next day around mid afternoon - ow, my everything aches. In a way it helped that everything hurt so it kept my mind off of the boredom.
Friday, February 5, 2010
I DROVE A TANK!!!!
After shabbat ended it was back to scrubbing pots and pans for 6 hrs until 1230AM. When I woke up Sunday morning I had found out that just about everyone had already been sent to work in the kitchen (so it worked out best that I was there saturday night). Until late afternoon I was part of the guard duty crew which meant when I wasn't guarding I was relaxing and doing whatever I wanted.
Later in the week we went into the field for 2 nights in order to do the driving course - one time druing the day and again at night. Before I talk about the driving which was by far the most awesome thing I have done in my life, the second best part was sleeping. If we didn't go driving this week the best part of the 2 weeks by far would have been the rediculous amount of sleep we got. The first night in the field the drivers were doing guard duty and were supposed to wake us up after our required 6 hours of sleep at 230AM. Well they didn't and our commander woke us up 2 hours later at 430AM. The next night after we finished driving they literally had nothing for us to do so we got 7 hrs and 20 minutes of sleep. The next night was Thursday and we are required to get 7 hours of sleep before we go home. I can't remember the last time I got that much sleep in 3 consecutive nights. It's not so much that these 2 weeks were fairly boring that banking a few extra hours of sleep ranks #2 behind the coolest thing I've ever done in my life, but extra sleep is pretty much unheard of and we never get an extra second of the required 6 hours of "need". If your thinking that this isn't really exciting or noteworthy you just have to take my word for it. And I know that all my army friends are very jealous. I think I might even be able to stay awake all of friday without having to take a nap on my kibbutz considering I woke up at 320AM and slept an extra hour or so on the 6 hour bus rides back to the kibbutz.
On to the driving!!! The course involved 3 obstacles - two 3-5 meter hills we had to overcome and maneuvers we had to do on a large hill - simulating going up and down to a firing post. Driving a tank is kind of similar to driving a car with the following differences:
1. You have to give full gas. ALWAYS
2. It's a 65 ton vehicle, so you need 2 feet on the brakes. Sometimes its not enough to push with your feet but you also need to grab the wheel in order to push harder on the brakes.
3. There are 3 tiny windows which gives you about 100 degrees of sight. That's assuming there isn't wind blowing dust in the windows, your on an incline and staring at the sky, decline and your staring at the ground or in reverse where you can't see at all. When you can't see the commander gives directions because he has his head outside the tank.
4. When you have to do a hard turn your not supposed to hold the wheel at its maximum position, but hold it for a second and then easing off the turn in a pumping motion and you do it quickly and repeatedly.
So I was cruising at about 20km/hr and switching gears at one point to hit 45km/hr. The first obstacle I had to overcome was a 3 meter hill where you don't see anything but the sky, so you don't know when your at the top until you feel the tank start tipping forward and you start to see the ground, so thats when you take your feet off the gas. It was kind of scary at first, but the second hill went much smoother and because I knew what to expect it was more fun.
The most exhilarating part was going up and down from the firing post. The hill was about 40 degree inclineso the ENTIRE time your staring at the sky. The idea is to the do maneuver as fast as possible in order to maximize your time at the firing post. Everyone that had already done it reminded me that no matter what give full gas. ALWAYS. You start by driving up the hill with full gas until the commander says stop. The next command is "driver, backwards fast!" at which you release your feet from the brakes and start to feel the effects of gravity on a 65 ton vehicle and then you put the pedal to the metal and give full gas. "Driver, right hard!" and you and you start to pump the wheel repeatedly t0 the right as your flying backwards down a hill at 35km/hr. As I started to turn diagonally down the hill you start to see the sand again, but it didn't matter because it was just as useless as staring at the sky. "Driver, left hard!" and I switched from pumping the wheel from the right to pumping to the left to the point where you feel like your going to break the wheel and now looking again at the sky. "Driver stop, forward fast!" I slammed on the brakes with all my weight and threw the tank into drive and full gas again to the top of the hill. I did 2 other similar maneuvers and that was by far the coolest part of driving. Flying backward with complete control of a massive tank and not seeing a damn thing was scary the first time, but awesome once I got the hang of it and did it the way it was supposed to be done.
At night we did the exact same thing, but this time with nightvision, which was very cool. It also cut your vision range to about 60 degrees - and the sky and sand was the same colour - green. I didn't see the 2 hills I went over until I felt the tank tip forward, so that was unexpected and kind of scary.
I never thought in my lifetime that I would get to drive a tank and there aren't that many people that can say the same. Unless I become a commander this was hopefully the first and last time I drive. I say hopefully because I would only drive again if G-d forbid something happens to the driver. This was an awesome experience and I'm fairly confident that there isn't enough money in this world to pay for the experience I had. There is a chance that other things and exercizes I will do in the tanks will top driving it, but I have a feeling that driving a tank will definitely rival other awesome experiences I will have throughout my service. Definitely a one of a kind experience.
Another 3 weeks of basic training: on base for 2 weeks then a weekend off before our masa kumta! (masa where we get our black berets) - not the green ones that identify us as trainees.
Later in the week we went into the field for 2 nights in order to do the driving course - one time druing the day and again at night. Before I talk about the driving which was by far the most awesome thing I have done in my life, the second best part was sleeping. If we didn't go driving this week the best part of the 2 weeks by far would have been the rediculous amount of sleep we got. The first night in the field the drivers were doing guard duty and were supposed to wake us up after our required 6 hours of sleep at 230AM. Well they didn't and our commander woke us up 2 hours later at 430AM. The next night after we finished driving they literally had nothing for us to do so we got 7 hrs and 20 minutes of sleep. The next night was Thursday and we are required to get 7 hours of sleep before we go home. I can't remember the last time I got that much sleep in 3 consecutive nights. It's not so much that these 2 weeks were fairly boring that banking a few extra hours of sleep ranks #2 behind the coolest thing I've ever done in my life, but extra sleep is pretty much unheard of and we never get an extra second of the required 6 hours of "need". If your thinking that this isn't really exciting or noteworthy you just have to take my word for it. And I know that all my army friends are very jealous. I think I might even be able to stay awake all of friday without having to take a nap on my kibbutz considering I woke up at 320AM and slept an extra hour or so on the 6 hour bus rides back to the kibbutz.
On to the driving!!! The course involved 3 obstacles - two 3-5 meter hills we had to overcome and maneuvers we had to do on a large hill - simulating going up and down to a firing post. Driving a tank is kind of similar to driving a car with the following differences:
1. You have to give full gas. ALWAYS
2. It's a 65 ton vehicle, so you need 2 feet on the brakes. Sometimes its not enough to push with your feet but you also need to grab the wheel in order to push harder on the brakes.
3. There are 3 tiny windows which gives you about 100 degrees of sight. That's assuming there isn't wind blowing dust in the windows, your on an incline and staring at the sky, decline and your staring at the ground or in reverse where you can't see at all. When you can't see the commander gives directions because he has his head outside the tank.
4. When you have to do a hard turn your not supposed to hold the wheel at its maximum position, but hold it for a second and then easing off the turn in a pumping motion and you do it quickly and repeatedly.
So I was cruising at about 20km/hr and switching gears at one point to hit 45km/hr. The first obstacle I had to overcome was a 3 meter hill where you don't see anything but the sky, so you don't know when your at the top until you feel the tank start tipping forward and you start to see the ground, so thats when you take your feet off the gas. It was kind of scary at first, but the second hill went much smoother and because I knew what to expect it was more fun.
The most exhilarating part was going up and down from the firing post. The hill was about 40 degree inclineso the ENTIRE time your staring at the sky. The idea is to the do maneuver as fast as possible in order to maximize your time at the firing post. Everyone that had already done it reminded me that no matter what give full gas. ALWAYS. You start by driving up the hill with full gas until the commander says stop. The next command is "driver, backwards fast!" at which you release your feet from the brakes and start to feel the effects of gravity on a 65 ton vehicle and then you put the pedal to the metal and give full gas. "Driver, right hard!" and you and you start to pump the wheel repeatedly t0 the right as your flying backwards down a hill at 35km/hr. As I started to turn diagonally down the hill you start to see the sand again, but it didn't matter because it was just as useless as staring at the sky. "Driver, left hard!" and I switched from pumping the wheel from the right to pumping to the left to the point where you feel like your going to break the wheel and now looking again at the sky. "Driver stop, forward fast!" I slammed on the brakes with all my weight and threw the tank into drive and full gas again to the top of the hill. I did 2 other similar maneuvers and that was by far the coolest part of driving. Flying backward with complete control of a massive tank and not seeing a damn thing was scary the first time, but awesome once I got the hang of it and did it the way it was supposed to be done.
At night we did the exact same thing, but this time with nightvision, which was very cool. It also cut your vision range to about 60 degrees - and the sky and sand was the same colour - green. I didn't see the 2 hills I went over until I felt the tank tip forward, so that was unexpected and kind of scary.
I never thought in my lifetime that I would get to drive a tank and there aren't that many people that can say the same. Unless I become a commander this was hopefully the first and last time I drive. I say hopefully because I would only drive again if G-d forbid something happens to the driver. This was an awesome experience and I'm fairly confident that there isn't enough money in this world to pay for the experience I had. There is a chance that other things and exercizes I will do in the tanks will top driving it, but I have a feeling that driving a tank will definitely rival other awesome experiences I will have throughout my service. Definitely a one of a kind experience.
Another 3 weeks of basic training: on base for 2 weeks then a weekend off before our masa kumta! (masa where we get our black berets) - not the green ones that identify us as trainees.
Kitchen duty
This week somehow managed to fly by - it's a shame I don't know how it happened so that I can do whatever I did to make it happen again. We spent a lot of time in the classroom learning a lot - flares, mortars, the NBC (nuclear biological and chemical) system, and a lot more. I also loaded my first fake practice shell into the cannon which was pretty cool and not easy.
This week I also had my first shift of kitchen duty. How I managed to avoid this job for 2 months I have no idea, but very grateful. Additionally I only had a partial shift (from 10AM-11PM), whereas a full shift starts at 430AM. So my first task was to help unload a trailer of food - this was good practice for the loaders because there was a LOT of food in bulk so it was heavy. There was so much food it leads you to think that they might be feeding an army of people! Afterwards we took over from the people who were scrubbing pots and pans from lunch. When we walked in the ktichen it looked like the guys before us had done everything except clean. You could barely move in the kitchen because there were pots and pans all over the floor stacked up high. Everything was dirty except for a few piles of clean pots in the corner. By the way they had to point out the clean pile because you couldn't identify it on your own. After finishing with the pans from lunch we got to do it all over again with the pans from dinner. The worst part was that the food from dinner was exceptionally crappy - and what made it even worse was that it stuck to the pan and was a major pain in the ass to clean. I usually eat most things but I don't even know how to describe what it was - (I think it was a dry and gross egg and vegetables concoction). It came in 2 parts - the part that ended up on the plate wiggled when you poked it and the part that stuck to the pan really did not want to end up in the garbage and was hanging on to the pan for dear life, and made it very difficult to clean.
We had another masa - 15km (12 + 3km with the stretcher). The first half was very boring but once we got to the halfway point we started to pick up the pace and people started struggling so it made it more interesting and there were more things for me to do to help people keep pace. And obviously carrying the stretcher is more fun, but also more painful because in you rest the stretcher on your shoulder which happens to be directly on a button, so all the force from the stretcher is concentrated to one point. Needless to say my legs and shoulders were sore the next day, but right after the masa I was ready to do it again!
This week I also had my first shift of kitchen duty. How I managed to avoid this job for 2 months I have no idea, but very grateful. Additionally I only had a partial shift (from 10AM-11PM), whereas a full shift starts at 430AM. So my first task was to help unload a trailer of food - this was good practice for the loaders because there was a LOT of food in bulk so it was heavy. There was so much food it leads you to think that they might be feeding an army of people! Afterwards we took over from the people who were scrubbing pots and pans from lunch. When we walked in the ktichen it looked like the guys before us had done everything except clean. You could barely move in the kitchen because there were pots and pans all over the floor stacked up high. Everything was dirty except for a few piles of clean pots in the corner. By the way they had to point out the clean pile because you couldn't identify it on your own. After finishing with the pans from lunch we got to do it all over again with the pans from dinner. The worst part was that the food from dinner was exceptionally crappy - and what made it even worse was that it stuck to the pan and was a major pain in the ass to clean. I usually eat most things but I don't even know how to describe what it was - (I think it was a dry and gross egg and vegetables concoction). It came in 2 parts - the part that ended up on the plate wiggled when you poked it and the part that stuck to the pan really did not want to end up in the garbage and was hanging on to the pan for dear life, and made it very difficult to clean.
We had another masa - 15km (12 + 3km with the stretcher). The first half was very boring but once we got to the halfway point we started to pick up the pace and people started struggling so it made it more interesting and there were more things for me to do to help people keep pace. And obviously carrying the stretcher is more fun, but also more painful because in you rest the stretcher on your shoulder which happens to be directly on a button, so all the force from the stretcher is concentrated to one point. Needless to say my legs and shoulders were sore the next day, but right after the masa I was ready to do it again!
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