We now have a new permanent field. Here is a description along with a picture. First the directions: Start from my base, which I had said was in the middle of nowhere. Before I continue I must apologize for misleading everyone when I mentioned my base was in the middle of nowhere. Compared to where the field is my base seems like Times Square in NYC. So from my base get on a bus and drive half an hour further south. Drive 10 minutes through a different base and into the desert behind it, which is a reserved IDF firing zone (like most of the open desert in Israel). Once you get off the bus, walk another 20 minutes until you get to our specified field, which is in the middle of nowhere.
On Friday we went there for my first time to help set stuff up in the morning. When they woke me up to start the 20 minute walk I looked around and I might have said some negative things about our location and the fact that I was to spend 6 days doing guard duty there. What I might have said is worse than what your thinking because I haven't gotten to the worst part yet. So what does the field consist of? tents (one of which is our mess hall) porta-potties, portable showers, a generator, random equipment and the tanks. We spend the week there while practicing with the tanks, but there is always a group of people guarding it 24/7 even when we aren't there. So it is pretty luxurious except in place of food we get battle rations (tuna, loof (kosher spam), etc.). So I'm going to be stuck eating crappy food that I hate while guarding for 6 days. That's still not the bad part. Before I start doing the guard duty on the thursday we are spending the week in the field, so I will be in the field for 11 straight days.
It gets worse (but this one is kind of my own doing, but nonetheless makes things worse). On the Thursday when I was voluntold (combination of volunteered and told - as in I was told (forced) to volunteer) for guard duty they told me that I would be going home 8 hours later on the Friday as if to switch my weekends. I was expecting to be on base for the weekend because that's what the schedule was. I had already mentally prepared myself to be on base. Secondly I had no plans for the weekend (and would have only had 1 hour to make plans before I went to bed and then already on my way home). I didn't want to waste my weekend without making plans. Thirdly I wanted to switch my weekend to a different one in the hopes that I could meet up with friends that are visiting from Canada. So I decided to hold off on my weekend basically meaning that I was going to be in the army for 23 straight days before going home. Given all the crap I just described, the ONLY thing that pissed me off is that I would be spending my first Independence Day in Israel in the middle of nowhere doing guard duty.
After shabbat ended we went into the field. So that 20 minute walk I was talking about - we did it with most of our equipment at 1AM because of logistical problems. That means we were supposed ot be in the field about 3 hours earlier. We got back to working on the tanks and this was the first time we got to do things with the tank in motion. It was awesome to be able to peek my head outside the tank to really be able to see what is going on. The loader is the only crewmember who has to stand all the time and hold onto something for dear life as the tank bounces me around. Think about riding a rollercoaster standing up without safety bars and not seeing or knowing which way your going to get thrown next. I also got to fire my MAG - aside from all the dust and wind in my face while driving 20 km/hr obstructing my view I had all the gunpowder from the bullets also in my face and could barely see a thing or breath.
On Thursday I got taken back to base for a few hours in order ot prepare my things for the next 6 days I would spend doing guard duty back in the field. I got a chance to shower as well as eat a real meal in the mess hall.We were 6 people plus our commander for shabbat but 2 people left us on Sunday. On Thursday and Friday we continued to do the weekly maintenance on the tanks. In addition to all the sweat, sand and dirt I accumulated on myself over the week, once you get to the maintenance part you can add oil, grease, diesel fuel and not showering to the mix. During the days it was hot as hell and impossible to fall asleep. It's too hot to move and I feel like a piece of crap - not in the general sense that I didn't feel well, but in the literal sense as in there are a billion flies constantly hovering around me as if I were a giant smelly turd.
Monday was Remembrance Day in Israel - where we remember the over 22,000 soldiers who have been killed defending Israel in its 62 years of existence. In both the evening and the morning a siren is sounded throughout the country and everything and everyone stops and stands for a moment of silence. A week before was Holocaust Memorial Day and for the moment of silence our company commander pulled up his jeep and turned on the radio so we could hear a few speeches. This time around we did not have that luxury, so the 5 of us stood in silence in the middle of nowhere hearing the same siren that was sounding all across the country. The next day was Independence Day where within a minute the mood of an entire country changes from the saddest day of the year to the happiest. My Independence day was spent probably doing the most Israeli/patriotic thing you can do - guard duty in the middle of the desert. However I would have much rather been spending it not in the army and with more then 4 other people. Clearly the best part of the day was that I was ACTUALLY in Israel! Aside from that the only other good part of the day was that I did NOT eat battle rations. It's a good thing that they brought us food for the holiday, otherwise I would have ended up starving myself for the day because I determined it is not possible to have a happy Independence Day with battle rations.
After 11 days in the field they took us to a different base to continue maintenance on the tanks. I had requested a day off to take care of business and on Wednesday at 6PM I was asked if I had my alef uniform with me (alef uniforms are the ones you wear in public, bet uniforms are work uniforms). I said yes, which meant the next day I was going home!!! One problem was that I didn't really have much else with me. I only took things I needed to the field - one of the things we had to pack was our alef uniform in circumstances such as these. So after 3 weeks in the army, what did I go home with? A clean towel, 2 pairs of clean socks, crocks, running shoes, sun glasses, my toiletry bag, shaver, wallet, camera, BROKEN phone, and the things i need in order to clean my gun. Now I also must define the word clean - if an article of clothing is covered in sand it can still be considered clean if it has not been used. The things I was missing that were at base - laundry, my mp3 player to recharge, clothing for the weekend and shabbat, underwear, and my large backpack itself. Additionally I was missing phone numbers of everyone I know in the country. (Aside: I ended up having to buy a new phone, and I was able to salvage phone numbers from the last time I backed up my phone 8 months ago :-(
So I finally left base and was really excited to get back to the kibbutz until I got on the bus and remembered how far away my kibbutz was. Four buses and over 7 hours later I got back to my kibbutz!!!
Surprisingly after being in the army for 22 straight days including 11 straight days in the field which included my first Independence Day it wasn't that bad. My only problem was that I was really pissed off that I was on base for Independence Day, and of course the 'food' they fed me. So in regards to the title of the blog post - how did I not go crazy? It must be a catch-22 situation because I must be crazy not to have gone crazy!
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