One Year, One Beret

I know it's been a while since I've posted here, but everything is happening at once!
Way back three weeks ago, we were in Jerusalem/Latrun for our education week. In Jerusalem, we hiked the path (approximately) Herzl took when he first visited and decided Israel needed to be the Jewish state, not Uganda. We finished the tour at the Kotel, but at the last minute there was not enough time and we didn't go in. A lot of us were very upset about that, but the commanders didn't budge and made us get on the bus. We traveled to Latrun, a battle site and Tank Corps museum and stayed there for the next few days. First, we learned about the general importance of Israel, the culture of Israel, then the IDF, and so on until we got back to base and had a class with just our commanders on our daily routine. It was nice to have classes with our palga and commanders and officer (even the samal taught a class), and we had some good discussions. One night, we took a tour of the museum, which was very hard. There is a memorial wall of all the tank soldiers that have died in combat, and they had added 17 names that morning from the operation this summer. We separated and sat down with our tzevets to talk about our own personal view of the army, and specifically what it means to us to be combat soldiers, lochemim. Even our mefaked spoke openly about his experience, telling us he was picked to play basketball overseas but decided to draft instead, without telling anyone until it had already happened.

We returned to base for Sukkot and guard duty (the chief officer volunteered us), and I got to sit in my first sukkah in Israel! It rained that day, which put me in shock because I didn't know that it rained in the desert during daytime. But that day was also October 8, one year since my Aliyah! My friend threw a (small) party for me and at dinner my table in the sukkah made a toast.






On Sunday, I had a birthday and the army gave me two presents: an ultrasound for my ankle after a month of waiting, and my tzevet went to spend a few days on a base at which we could end up. It was so much fun, we learned a lot hands on and got to meet and work with people already in the gdud. It was a lot of work, but it made all of us really excited to be a part of this technology.












Traveling on public trans with all our gear

When we left, we were on base for less than a day before going home for sukkot bet. When I got home, my kibbutz mom had a surprise for me from her (and my mom). She took me to lunch and since her brother in law is the manager, we had a spa day at this hotel in Haifa! It was nice to relax and spend some quality time with just her, and it was cool it also came from my mom. That was day one of four at home that holiday/weekend, but the most exciting. I went back to base on Sunday, but only packed a few things because Monday I went to the airport to pick up my brother!!! That's right, he finally made Aliyah, too! I only got a few days, but it was so much fun being with him and helping him out as far as Hebrew and culture goes. I came back to base and we had been volunteered for even more shmirot (for the fourth time!) but it wasn't so bad. That was the second to last Shabbat before the end of tironut, and today is the last (yes we are closing the dreaded 21).






First day dinner!

During the week we had our last classes and study sessions. I passed the half year mark of being in the army this week! Yesterday I was in the kitchen, but today we are getting together to study for our final test tomorrow. Part is written, and the other part is simulations, which I love because it's exactly what we'll be doing and in general is really cool if you do it right.


















Being in the kitchen makes us sleepy and weird, but there's milki so it's worth it.

An update on my ankle: it's not clear if there is a name for what is wrong with it, but if I rest it enough this week I can do a few kilometers of the masa kumta (beret march).
That's about it for now, just wanted to throw out an update before I finish tironut for (twice) and for all!! 5 days til that torqouise!!!

Why I Do What I Do

So we've officially started our specialty training! The technology I have been assigned is extremely confidential so these posts might seem vague or spotty, but it'll work out.

At the best (?) time possible, I have an injury in my ankle. It was a sprain that slowly and surely escalated so being in the classrooms helped a bit. Unfortunately, because of that, I missed a masa right before Rosh Hashanah. Everyone earned their dog tag covers, and I worked in the kitchen instead. It was my first Rosh Hashanah in Israel, and the first night I worked in the kitchen, which was actually a 100% Israeli experience (not only closing base first RH in the army but also kitchen duty). I was there with some friends and made friends with the kitchen workers so parts were really fun.

I'll be making up for this. 

We went back to the schedule, with classes and tests. What this meant for me was a bit more complicated. Getting the help I need is a bit frustrating and a long process, but I've pushed enough that we've got some sort of system. I take the class, remind them I have no idea what is going on, I take the class again privately (which can take as long as the regular class), and then I take the test with someone helping me read (and sometimes type). Or, I skip straight to the private lesson, and then take the test. Because we hadn't figured all this out at the beginning, there were some lessons I was never caught up on or missed completely. As a result, I had to take the tests regardless (and obviously failed). The second week I ended up learning all the material and acing the tests. Because I don't understand the power points, I take notes in my simplified Hebrew to study from later. What ends up happening, ironically, is that sometimes I help the other people in my tzevet study and learn the material.

Since our palga's tzevets are split up by technology, we are with our tzevet 24/7. As a result, we are getting closer every day, and not just us. We spent a lot of time with the samal (he actually personally taught me 1.5 hours' worth of material because everyone else was busy). He played a horrible trick on us. There is this "chocolate flavored" spread that we eat on breaks called choomy. He took an empty Nutella jar, filled it with choomy and simply brought it into the room and gave us a 7 minute break. We were so upset when we opened the jar because even though they look the same, choomy has a distinct smell...a disappointment, but it got eaten anyway.

Another way we have fun is keeping things light. Something called a "pakal" is something that is necessary (which is why push-ups are often referred to as "pakalim"), but the commanders sometimes like to give random stuff to us and tell us it is a pakal and we have to carry it around everywhere. During RH, someone had to carry a pomegranate and tell everyone it was actually an apple. Our tzevet has a mango that we wrote all our names on and the name of our tzevet. We had to tape string onto it and someone even took it home over the weekend to keep in the fridge. I guess these things teach us to take care of stuff, no matter how dumb or silly it seems. But it is still very weird carrying a green mango around base and taking guard shifts, even. Even so, it lets us be a little silly when all day we are inside learning about serious, complicated stuff.

Speaking of, it will be two weeks before we go back to classes! We are in Jerusalem this week, through sukkot, to learn about Israel and the army. We were already in Jerusalem on Thursday, when we did our tour of Har Herzl and Yad Vashem. It was most people's first time on uniform, but for me and Elisheva it was our first time as combat soldiers, which still gives a higher meaning. Har Herzl was very hard. There were so many fresh graves from the operation (including several lone soldiers with whom I had one or two degrees of separation), and my maflag actually had a friend buried there from a few years ago. We were the first visitors for one grave, a veteran of the operation, who had committed suicide a few days earlier. These are the things that come with being a combat soldier. The distance between us and those that died shrinks. That's what makes it so important. If we don't do our jobs, who will? It is a privilege to have the opportunity to just be considered a soldier of the IDF, not to even mention being a lochemet. And that's the feeling they are trying to teach us this week in Jerusalem. We are going to be learning how to be proud to serve in the IDF and then when we return to base for Shabbat we will learn about pride and importance of our technologies. I hope that after this week more people will feel the same way I do, and the other olim do, and the way my friend Tom feels, and the way one of my mefakdot feels. And it's not a feeling of wanting to be a combat soldier because you've always dreamed of being in Golani, it's a feeling of wanting to do the most and give all of yourself to help protect Israel and her citizens. It's a feeling of preserving our country for the Jews around the world for when they are in a tough spot, or muster up enough courage, or visit Jerusalem for the first time and get that rumble, that ache, that desire to make a life where we, as Jews, belong. And to maintain the land for the Jews who, for many valid reasons, will not make a life here, so they can see and visit and love Israel even without being residents. That's what I'm here for. That's why we do what we do, us "crazy" lone soldiers. Why, even though we come here having no family to protect, we say goodbye to our loved ones and join the army across the world. Because, sometimes at the speed of light, and sometimes slow but steady, we build our own families and make new loved ones.

And for real Nutella from said loved ones 

Hashba'ah (Delayed)

I tried posting this two weeks ago, but it didn't work, so here it comes!

This is how I came home last time:

And this is from the beginning of this weekend:

Yup, we got all dressed up in our aleph uniforms for the swearing in that you would never guess what we actually did the last two weeks. Early last week we did the masa samal and earned our gun straps. After, we thought we were headed back to base but they took our watches and we ended up being blindfolded and taken wayyy out in the desert for sada'ut, or field training. Any shetach that we have done before is nothing compared to what we did those three days. We were constantly on guard, only took (really) a few minutes for every meal, slept less than an hour each night, and even had practice operations. It was one of the hardest but one of the most fun things I've ever experienced, somehow. We had no underwear, toothbrushes, nothing for three days, but became closer as a tzevet because we learned to read hand signals and speak with just our eyes. We wore camouflage paint on our faces and within a couple of hours our brand new gun straps looked like we had them for about a year already. The last night they made us crawl about 50 meters. Now, I'm not very good at most things (slowly getting better), but my weakest area is crawling. And it wasn't just any crawling, we were still with all of our gear (vests, helmets) and anything we were carrying (shovels, canned food, etc.). So I got really frustrated and worried I was never going to make it because I was just not making any progress. But then a couple friends finished and came back to join me. And then some people from my tzevet. And then my mefaked. And then more friends and the rest of my tzevet. By the end, there were at least ten people all in a line crawling with me, and for each "step" I would scream "ECHAD!" and everyone would answer "SHTAYIM!" ("One!" "Two!") and when I finally reached the end I grabbed the glow stick marking the finish line and everyone was shouting and clapping for me. My mefaked pulled me aside and shook my helmet and just said, "Kol hakavod." Which loosely translates to "good job," but literally translates to "all the respect." Either way, I've never been as happy or proud of myself as I was in that moment.

When we finally got back to base, I had the unfortunate realization that it was 9/11. We talked briefly about it, but it was still weird speaking about it with non-Americans and especially not even in English.

Guard duty Shabbat morning, check out my cool gun strap!

Cards against humanity with some English speakers (not just olim)

During and after Shabbat, we practiced for what is called the bochen lochem, which is basically a test to see who is considered a lochem, or fighter. I was extremely worried about the written test because it was material my friends had learned in school or at least heard of before, and I was completely lost. The mefakdim and my friends really helped a lot in teaching me a bit of geography and history, but there were still parts I knew I wouldn't pass, like the bochen maslul, or obstacle course. We did a sort of practice that was a contest between the tzevets, a bochen tzevet early in the week, and even though my tzevet didn't win, we had the most fun and got mentioned for having some of the most rabak (basically enthusiasm, giving it your all). And for one of the shooting tests, my mefaked let me use his gun! He told me to switch with him, and I just said, "can I ask why?" thinking there might be a problem with mine that I didn't know about, but he said, straight-faced, "You deserve it," and then hinted at a smile as I put it on and walked back to the shooting range.

The next day, I worked around base pulling weeds and then worked in the kitchen opening cans of tuna, but Wednesday was the big day of the bochen lochem. I didn't pass, just as I thought, but I'll have more opportunities to try. In any case, it was a lot of fun. I missed the whole afternoon because they needed an extra set of hands in the kitchen, but one of my best friends from a different solelah (battery) was also working there. We're not allowed to talk to each other most of the time, so it was so much fun to hang out for an entire afternoon, even if we were cleaning dishes.

Then, Thursday was the tekes hashba'ah! It was amazing how many of my friends came, my kibbutz dad, my stepmom ended up still being in the country, my best friend from Michve surprised me at the last minute, and even my mom woke up at 3 AM to FaceTime in!! It was nice and quick, no speeches or anything, and then I grabbed my friend Jessie from the special forces to join us for lunch because she is also a lone soldier. It was just a great day, and Jessie and I showed off our bruises, tan lines, and hours of sleep (or lack thereof) to prove how much we are real fighters. 

On the way to the tekes, it was our first time off base with our guns (but we still didn't take them home)

Everyone was taking pictures of me while I was simultaneously on FaceTime with my mom

On Friday I went down to Jerusalem and saw my old rabbi from summer camp in Georgia. It was crazy because the last time I saw his daughter she was about 5 or 6 and now is in high school! It was nice to catch up and see his whole family again. I spent most of the weekend with the Muszkats and also visiting the Weissmans, both of whom I hadn't seen in a long time. Now, I am on my way back to base to start our specialty training! Have a good week :)

I made a schnitzel that looks like Israel!

7 AM Celebratory Friday Pizza

The last few weeks have been very busy. I started with a short but long week, with some problems with my gun and being behind everyone. My maflag (the officer in charge of the 611 group in the battery) ended up zeroing my gun for me to save time, so I caught up a little to the group, but not completely. We had our first real masa with the mefakdim, and earned a laminated piece of paper with our tzevet's motto ("Together we win, alone we fail"). We were in the shetach the whole week, so we didn't know anything that was going on in the world. When I got home, I went to visit my friend Emily's family's house after not seeing her for a couple of years! It was awesome to finally meet her brothers and sister, catch up, and speak in Hebrew (which threw her off).

How we sleep on non-public transportation

Gil, be jealous!

We learned some really cool stuff the last couple of weeks, but I'm realizing how hard everything is for me. I'm not in as good shape as everyone else (mostly lacking upper body strength), I'm not a very good shot (although I am improving significantly), and sometimes I get frustrated because on top of everything, the Hebrew is still very difficult. No matter how much I am improving, or how fast, sometimes it makes the simplest things much more complicated. Sometimes I think how much easier the whole experience would be if it was in English. And it would be, but every day I feel more comfortable with Hebrew, so I know that I will eventually get there. For now, it just makes things either really annoying because I am constantly asking for explanations, or really funny when I make mistakes. The other day, we had grapes (anavim) at lunch, and I tried to ask if anyone didn't want theirs, but it came out asking who wanted to give me their avanim (rocks). My friends promptly threw small rocks at me. It sounds horrible, but it's kind of a sign that we're comfortable enough with each other to trust that having rocks thrown at you is an act of love. Also, it wasn't until I realized what they threw at me that I realized my mistake, so they're also teaching me (in their own strange way).

I left for a few days and the weekend last week because my stepbrother got married! It was nice to see some family, and also to hang out. I ended up missing the first couple of days of shmirah, but apparently I didn't miss anything too big, except a masa. When I got back on Sunday, I went almost directly to my first shift (outside of Michve, shmirah is four hours), so it was a kind of calm way to ease into being back on base and reflect the time I had off. Monday night I took part in a make-up masa, but I was the only one who missed it for reasons other than health, so it was just me and the mefaked. My mefaked was in charge of the exercise lesson for the day, so it was another one from my palga, but this mefaked is also very tall. So, without much of a fuss (except for him telling me I wasn't walking fast enough, even though I ran most of the way), the two of us did a "quick" masa and got it over with. When I finished, I had another guard shift, which was extremely difficult because my legs hurt from a masa, plus not sitting for a few hours, plus only being allowed to sit a few times for a few minutes during shmirah. I was so happy to go to sleep that night! The next day, during breakfast, the mefaked that took me on the masa reminded me that even though the masa was difficult, I had passed and earned a kis pakalim (a wallet to hold papers like HaTikva, what to do in a fire, and I also have a picture of my machlaka from Michve). When we went to pack for the shetach, my friend said, "Oh, I forgot! The mefaked wanted me to give this to you." So she tossed it across the room and I caught it, thinking how unceremonious, but just happy I have my first thing proving I am a part of gdud 611 and proud I earned it (even though it stays in my pocket all the time).

selfie-ception

Israeli weddings are hardcore, I wanted to join her by the end!

Perpetually hot and sweaty

Despite how difficult everything is right now, I'm so happy with my group. It's an amazing group of people, an awesome staff, and a really special experience we're all going through together. We have as much fun as we possibly can, sometimes even making the commanders laugh so hard they have to walk away. And sometimes they make us laugh so hard we cry. The samalim (sergeants) are in charge of the shooting ranges, who comes in and who leaves, and when we have to go in between ranges, they make us bring gifts to the other samal. So far, I've had to bring two plates, a plastic knife, a secret message, and a stick in a plastic bag that I had to say was the Tree of Life, but the best was when someone complained about it. My samal built a giant paper cell phone with an antenna and even drew buttons on it and told the guy to take it to the other samal so he could "call" him. We might be in the army, away from our families (me a little more than the others) and going through really difficult daily challenges, but we are a family and do everything in good humor.

I may not be in college, but I can still eat pizza at 7 AM with my friends at the bus station

In two weeks is my tekes hashba'a, or swearing in ceremony (yes, I already had one at Michve). Unfortunately they only gave me one invitation, so some friends from the kibbutz and Haifa are going to meet up and go together. I'm very excited, anyway! It's going to be very cool and I will get to go home after. Next weekend I'm going to visit my friends in Jerusalem that I haven't seen for a long time! Life in the army is a crazy whirlwind, but I am loving it.

Tironut 2.0

It's been a long two weeks and a new week is starting now. As soon as we got on the buses, those of us trying out for the gibush were separated and told our time started now. Before I got on the bus, I ran into some of my michve friends in infantry units! It's so cool seeing that we are doing the same things and we are all happy. On the bus, these ladies get on and hand out prayer booklets telling us they're going to pray for us. It was funny because there was one lady talking and another taking pictures of soldiers taking the booklets but also really sweet. The gibush didn't actually start until the next day, but we were split up into groups and even moved into rooms separate from the other girls. It was also very strange just to be allowed to talk to boys. We woke up at 3 AM to get started (having to wear these funny hats), and started the physical portion. We ran and crawled for a little over an hour, and then after about a solid 40 minutes of crawling I realized I wasn't having fun anymore, and I was holding the group back when we did group tests. So I tapped out and made some new friends among the other people giving up. We hung out in a tent waiting to go back to base and found a box of rugelach that we dipped into because we had only been allowed a piece of fruit before the tests started so we wouldn't throw up or anything. About half an hour after I gave up, they said the physical portion was done. I asked, "Oh, for the day?" And the testers told us the gibush was only going to be for one day because of the fast day the next day, Tisha B'av. I was a little upset because if I had known it was only one day, I would have made it through just fine, but in the end I knew it wasn't what I wanted and I was just happy for the girls that did make it all the way through. It's still a symbol on base of who did the gibush by who has sand burns on their elbows from the crawling. (Mine's almost healed.) My commander sat me down at breakfast that morning to talk about it, just to see how I was doing and also because every girl in totchanim is curious to know what goes on in the gibushim. I told her I have up because it wasn't fun anymore and that I only went to see if I could do it and what it was like. She thought that was one of the funniest things she had ever heard! And then that was it, I was back with the mechina until we all got assignments. We had a baror, a physical diagnostic aptitude test, like the 3K I had done at Michve. This was also 11 push-ups and 3 kilometers, but we had less time for the 3K. Ironically, I took longer to run it (way more hills at Bislat, another name for my base) but I still passed and was in a higher rank than before (#17 including a few boys who had a lot less time to run it).

Green uniform turned brown from crawling in the sand

On Wednesday, we were split up into our assignments. SIX girls were accepted into the totchanim sayarot (special forces), including an Olah Chadashah I am friends with from Michve!! Then, they called the girls going to MLRS, and finally my name was called. The Masol (who is from Icun) and the commander from Icun came over to our group of girls and said, "Welcome home, 611!" After that, it was a whirlwind. We were assigned new tzevets, new commanders, new rooms, new bet uniforms, even more equipment, and for the first time in my army career I was surrounded by boys. We are doing tironut with MLRS so most of the people there are with them, so there was some confusion for the boys who weren't told their specific assignments.

The next day, we went to the bochen maslul, which is basically an obstacle course. I spent almost the whole time trying to get over the wall. It was very frustrating, but I wanted to show them I wouldn't give up. I tried about 30 times, and my scabs from the gibush actually opened up on the wall, so I left my mark, as they say (it's only even because I walked away significantly bruised). That night, we had our free hour and we're standing in formation, waiting to be released for bed. Then, they told us we had to change to bet uniforms. We were sure we were being punished, but for what no one was sure. We are told to split into tzevets. My mefaked told us to grab snacks and come sit in a circle. So we thought, oh that's nice, we're just having like a nice getting to know each other initiation thing. We arrive with bamba and chocolates in hand, when the mefaked asks one girl if she's tired. She says yes, and he tells her to wake up, good morning. We thought nothing of it. When the meeting was over, we ask him when we are actually going to sleep. He says, "I said good morning, right? Welcome to your first lila lavan." We spent the whole night fixing and customizing our equipment so it fits, is identifiable as ours personally, and identifiable as belonging to our palga (like a machlaka). It really did take the whole night, but the worst was the morning. I was so tired I couldn't understand Hebrew. Thankfully, it was Friday and we were looking forward to sleeping, even if it was on base. We still had some physical stuff, classes, but mostly just wrapped up the week. We received our guns, which are slightly different from the ones at Michve so they are shorter and lighter (my tiny self appreciates that).

The pin for 611, it'll be a while before I have this

Shabbat on base is nice. We had basically a shouting contest with the other battalions outside the dining hall Friday night, and saw friends from before the assignments. Dinner itself was crowded and fun. Then Saturday we all slept in until lunch and talked to our families and friends. It's kinda funny to see everyone in civilian clothes, with a gun strapped on, carrying magazines in one hand and a Coke in the other, somehow also balancing a phone call to their ear.

Reppin UT

After Shabbat, we had a surprise practice masa. It was really difficult, with the most gear I've carried, a lot of running (my tall mefaked's walking is my steady jog), and crawling up a hill. But when we reached the end, there was a huge fire spelling out "Gideon 14," which is the name of our battery. It was very cool and we all really feel like we are finally (well, finally for me. Everyone else has only been in the army less than a month) starting proper training and in general on track to having a place here.

Post-masa roommate selfie!

We prepared to go down to the shetach, but my tzevet got orders to stay on base an extra day to help with some stuff around base, but my group finished early so we hung out and napped. The next day we went down and joined everyone in the tents and at the shooting ranges. Honestly, I am not very good at shooting. I still haven't gotten my gun to zero out, so I'll have to try again this week. Outside of that, we just learned how to protect the camp and how to use and care for other equipment.

The week was rough. Sunday was my dad's unveiling, so I got permission to FaceTime in, and wear my aleph uniform. I was so upset I wasn't there, but everyone there reminded me how proud he would have been.

My Hebrew is improving but still gives me trouble. I have to stop and ask questions, and a few times after am order I end up just standing there, trying to get a commander's attention so he or she can tell me what to do. This week I have a meeting with what is called a mashakit aliyah, who helps soldiers who made Aliyah continue Hebrew classes or in general helps us with stuff we don't pick up on, being foreigners.

My mefaked is very cool. He's honest with us, and makes us want to follow his orders. There is still distance, but it is extremely different. I know his name, where he went to school, and when he drafted. In combat, it's important to have distance but can't be held to as high of a standard as they have at michve so we can know they are trustworthy. Sometimes he even translates stuff to English for me, but I prefer what some of the commanders do, which is explain in Hebrew like they did at michve. It's still strange to hear commanders speak English.

All in all, I'm very happy with my placement, and the people I am with, even if I am about three years older than them (I'm even older than all the mefakdim). I had a good weekend, spent some time at the beach and just relaxed. I'm on the bus to the south now, and will be off base next week, but might go somewhere other than the kibbutz to visit friends.

Just another beautiful day at the beach

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Har Peepee

On our way back to base (let’s call it S) on Sunday, we visited a couple of Totchanim bases to learn about battalions in which we could be placed for our service. It was cool to meet Totchanim soldiers in their active service, especially female combat soldiers doing the same things as all the boys, which is what all of us want and why we chose this service track. Speaking of whom, the boys were drafted on Monday. There are so many of them! At the start of our tironut, us girls will make up only 8% of the draft, which is a little intimidating. They told us a bunch of people will fall from tironut, so by the end we’ll see what the stats are like by then. Anyway, we had a bunch of introductory lectures about on-base healthcare and general stuff like that this week with the boys, and it was funny to see all of them. All of us Michve girls are allowed to sit next to each other during lectures and classes so we can translate for each other, so we sit and speak English, and then boys would try to talk to us upon hearing the foreign language, and we would immediately switch to flawless Hebrew to tell them, “We’re not allowed to speak to you,” and then switch back to English. We’re with mostly Israelis, and one girl who is French-British and made aliyah several years ago, but almost everyone at least understands English. We end up having a lot of conversations where us foreigners will speak Hebrew and the Israelis will practice their English on us, which is really funny to listen to!

I finally have a picture of my new aleph uniform! Still really big on me

The next day, we went down to the shetach (the field) for a night, which ended up being really fun. We practiced some field techniques, like building the meeting tent, digging sleeping holes, and eating manak (m’nat krav—combat meals (tuna, mostly)). Last time I was in the shetach, we were on a base with bathrooms. This time, it was just desert, so we got our first taste of what we ended up calling “Har Peepee,” (har meaning mountain or hill, and peepee meaning, well, you get it). We practiced running and hitting the ground from grenades (rocks, of which we were not lacking), and picking up people with “injuries,” so we all came back with bruises on our knees. When we came back, and it was dark, we went on a practice masa around the base, which was kind of hard because there was more running than the masaot we did at Michve, but we didn’t have guns so that obviously made it easier from the start. When we got back, we did the traditional pushups with our commanders, shouting our loyalties for our tzevet (ironically this was done non-ironically because we almost never separate into our tzevets). Then, smiling despite being sweaty, disgusting (not having showered for almost 48 hours), and exhausted, our commander asks us who wants to go home on the weekend. We all raise our hands, and one girl shouts out, “KEN MEFAKEDET!” (yes, commander!), which causes all of us to laugh even harder. When we manage to suppress giggles, the commander tells us to wear our aleph uniforms in the morning, and then releases us to our free hour (there was a lot of whooping and jumping at that point).

New bet uniform, even bigger than the aleph (but super comfortable), bucket hat included
This was right after the masa, hence why I am so red and sweaty

Thursday, dressed up in aleph and ready to head out, we go to a lecture about and then sign up for the tryouts for special forces. This is the first time ever some of the special forces in Totchanim are opening to girls, so it is a huge deal. Most of the girls want to go to the tryouts, myself included. But I am going to be honest with them in my interview that I am not particularly interested in their battalions, that I am just there to see if I can pass a gibush (tryout, but translates to “challenge”), which I have heard is an experience by itself. In fact, I am trying to go to the battalion that is slightly less physical and some computer work, but in my opinion one of the most important jobs in the IDF. It is called Icun (ee-coon), and they are the ones who notify Home Front Command to do a Code Red siren and in what area. If I end up truly loving this job, I will not push to become a medic. A big part of my reason to serve was to help save lives, and I feel that this job is even more life-saving than any medic alone can be, as every Israeli knows in our current situation.

On our way home

As far as differences between Michve and S (current base) go, they just go on and on. First being that there is less distance with the commanders. We know all of the staff’s names, we have seen our commanding officer hang from a rope while giving a lesson, they care less about letting us see them laugh, and I personally have done racing sprints with the head sergeant (the only male in our group—I won, but I don’t think he was at full speed). Another huge difference is the rules. At S, they check to make sure everyone eats, showers, and sleeps. At first this was frustrating for me because I often skipped a shower here and there at Michve, but I’ve come to enjoy it. It forces me to socialize with the girls rather than talk on the phone for my whole free hour. At Michve, we weren’t allowed to touch other people, not even girls in our tzevet, unless told or in an extenuating circumstance, while at S that rule only applies to boys, obviously. It is a different way of making friends when you are allowed to hug, kiss, punch (lovingly!), or even just to swing your arm over their shoulder. Which makes for stronger friendships faster, and different relationships in general (most girls at Michve only wanted to punch each other if they were angry, we are combat soldiers so it is only to our advantage to be able to take or receive a hit in a friendly setting for when it’s not so friendly). We are the girls that compare bruises in the showers as if they are prizes! (I don’t bruise easily, so I lost, no matter how hard I hit the ground for them. I was on the same level as the girls that didn’t work as hard.) It is a lot of fun being with such a great group of girls, and I’m really sad to know we’ll be separated next week when we go to our respective battalions, even if we are in the same battalion, we could be in different tzevets. What happens next week will determine our entire training, and thusly our entire service. (No pressure, right?) It’s been an awesome experience with these girls and knowing that we’ve been through an intense couple of weeks already, and seen some incredible stuff (the night sky in the middle of the desert trumps pretty much everything I’ve witnessed so far (you can see the Milky Way!)…even the sunrise/sunset were like a real-time postcard, and probably more beautiful than even seeing Masada at sunrise). Despite all this, I think we’re ready to start our training. It’s hard knowing that everybody knows somebody in Gaza right now (some soldiers are going on seven weeks away from home), and we consider a couple days without a shower “roughing it,” and complaining that our training will be 11 days on base and 3 at home (11/3).

Yeah, it's a hard life

See y'all in two weeks!

Mechinat Lochamot (Female Fighters' Preparation)

Last week, as I mentioned, I went to the Bakum. I ended up going on Wednesday (when I found out I got into Totchanim) and then again Thursday (when I switched my uniform and boots), but being sent home at the end of the day. I got an extra vaccination (required for combat soldiers) and met some of the commanders. After, I went home and enjoyed my weekend on the kibbutz, at the pool and sleeping.
Sunday, I made my way down to my new base in the south. There is not much to tell except there is a lot of sand and we are just girls right now. The first few weeks of us being there is like a prep for the female combat soldiers so we're more on par with the boys when they arrive for training. It's very weird being around Israelis and at 20 I am the oldest soldier right now!



Since we are on the training base for Totchanim, of course there are practice ranges. We are slowly getting used to hearing BOOMs periodically. Last week was just fun because we hung out, learned about Totchanim, and prepped our gear (I have a vest and helmet that are just my size!). We are also doing a lot of exercise. We run every day, in addition to at least one other activity. It's army tradition to do push-ups before each meal, but we convinced our commanders to let us practice rope-climbing instead. It's actually a lot of fun to just hang off the ropes! We also practiced an obstacle course, and I didn't do very well for most of it, but I did jump over a wall. My friends and I are going to be doing a lot of push-ups together because it's mainly the arm-strength exercises we have trouble with.
We are being monitored because their selection process has already started. We can be told that we aren't fit for Totchanim or even combat if they decide. A bunch of girls have already quit, and I think it's a shame, but the army is what you make it. If they believe they won't have a good time there, there's no way they will succeed. Most of these girls are going to make it all the way to the end, and I hope I'll be finishing with them!
I was completely convinced we were closing Shabbat, but we went home for the weekend on Thursday! I wasn't feeling well so I slept most of the weekend and hung out with my family and their new dog, except for Thursday night when my friends got married. There were a lot of empty tables because they didn't know how many people would be able to come due to the reserve draft.
It's really cool watching all of my friends in Tzanchanim (paratroopers), Nachal, Golani, Kfir, (ground soldiers) and so on, doing their training and knowing that I will be doing the same things in a couple of weeks (and have already started some of it). Totchanim is the most like those units, except they are closed to girls. I am so happy with my choice and with my unit, I cannot wait to start my real training!



Dancing bubble wrap popping party

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