Traffic control and Doctors

This week was mass casualties week. Instead of working with one injury or multiple injuries by ourselves, we learned how to work in teams (2 medics, radio man and a doctor) to treat multiple injuries in the field. The way it works is that first: all the injured people got into a semicircle. The medics would then split up, one staying with the doctor and going to one side, and the other medic would start at the other side. Together they would stop any big wound that would cause the injured to die from blood loss. Then the doctor would tell the radio man who had what injury and who would have to be worked on first. The radio man would then call into the central command and tell them about the injuries and that help was needed to evac the injured.

While the radio man was doing that, the doctor and the medics would start surgery on the injured. The whole process takes maybe 20-30 min and you can have more than one team working at once. The rules that come into play, when there is more than one team are that the first one on the scene is the ones in charge. By the end of the week, we were doing training exercise with four teams. That means 4 doctors, 4 radio men and 8-12 medics on one scene with 10 injuries.

Another thing we did this week was be traffic officers. This week was the 10th anniversary of the Harap. The Harap is the army medical clinic. Each course had to send 4-5 people to go and either be security or traffic control and help people park their cars. It was a very nice ceremony and by being there, I got a chance to meet many high up officials who are in charge of the medical branch in the army. Also, there were demonstrations of all the new medical technique that are going on in the country.

Finally, the last thing we did before we got to leave this week was opening up multiple veins on one person. Up until now, we have only opened up one vain per person. On Thursday however, we got a chance to open up 3 veins on one person.

Some other high lights for the week:

It finally rained here in Israel. It even hailed in some areas :)

Surgery week

This week we continued to learn about the different surgeries we were allowed to help in. The first one we learned was a simple intubation. An intubation is when we insert a long tube down someone’s throat to help them breath. The surgery is not hard and in fact does not even including cutting someone open.

The next surgery we learned about was a Cricoidotomy. This is a more sever intubation, where a small incision is made in the neck, between the thyroid gland and the Cricoid. The surgery is not long, only supposed to last 6-7 min.

The final surgery we learned was how to put in a chest tube. This is done when someone has a Pneumothorax and therefore their lung is either not inflated or something has gotten into the pleura membrane and is squeezing the lung. The Surgery is the most complicated one we have learned so far and is the most successful one of all.

Some other things we did this week:

A training exercise on someone who has had a heat stroke.

A test in pharmacology (where we are test on what drugs to give, what is inside the drug and why do you give that drug)

A class on poisonous animals

Next week will be a more physical week where we start mass casualties.

Midterms and guarding

The past two weeks have been a combination of mid-terms and guarding.

When we first got to the base on Sunday, we started studying for our midterms as well as start a new lesson topic on surgery. In case there is a war, doctors throughout the country are called up to go into the field and set up a field hospital (called in Hebrew Tzevet 10 or team 10.) Because the doctors come from many different specialty fields (skin, heart, lungs, brain, etc.) they might not remember how to do a basic surgery. This is where we come in, as helpful reminders walking them through the process. For example, we are taught how to perform a tracheotomy (however, we are not allowed to perform the surgery alone) in order to help a doctor whom might have forgotten how to do one.

We also spent the week doing triage exercises. Instead of us working in groups of three (where one guy is the medic, one is the injured and one is the checker), we worked in groups of five, where three people were the injured, one was the medic and one was the checker. The exercise was hard because there is so much you need to keep in mind and you usually get confused between what to do to whom when.

This training and learning class took us through Tuesday. Then that night, the commanders told us to go straight to bed and not worry about the midterms the following day because sleep was more important. Of course no one listened and we all stayed up till 12 learning. By the time I was done with my shower and made my bed, it was already 1 in the morning. Then at 1:15 (I looked at my watch because I thought that I had slept for a while) we had an "attack." All the commanders walked into our sleeping area and told us that we had 7 min. to get dressed, with our gear and our guns and follow them to an attack site that just took place. We all got dressed quickly and we eager to start. The commanders then lead us to a well light place and told us welcome to mid-terms. We all took terms trading positions as medic, checker and victim. Of course the commanders were overlooking us and grading us as we went along. The scenarios that took place ranged from a regular victim with a bullet wound, to a soldier on guard duty who was attacked with a white phosphorus grenade, to a guy who is suffering from hypothermia. The training went till 4:15 in the morning. Then the commanders told us to go to sleep till 12, where we finished the mid-term with a written test. Luckily I passed with flying colors.

Then next week and a half was spent doing guard duty. Like all my other guard duty times, the time went by fast but was very uneventful. The shifts were tough (2 hours guarding, 2 hours on the readiness team and 2 hours to our self.) The only exception to this was:

On Saturday night I was coming off a guard shift at 11 at night (the shift started at 9). We then went to the readiness team room to sleep a little before our next shift. While we were there sleeping (not long, only maybe 20-30min) there was an attack on the base. This time however was not a drill.

What happened was that four soldiers had gone out for the weekend (when they were supposed to close for the weekend) and came back to base in civilian clothing. The problem was not that they had left but that they decided to enter through a hole in the fence. The guys on patrol saw the guys and told them to stop. Once they ran, the patrol called us (the readiness team) and we went into action. We sent the next 3 hours closing down the base and putting everyone in a room. We then did a room to room search looking for the soldiers. Of course, we were told that they were four civilians and we didn’t know they were soldiers. At around 4 in the morning, we called the patrol into the room, where everyone was, to see if the intruders were there. It turns out that not only were they in the room, but they had changed back into uniform and acted as if nothing was going on. After the people were caught, instead of going to bed, I went straight to another shift and ended up pulling a 16hour shift with only that 20-30min sleep the night before.

As I’m sure you can tell, this weekend has been nothing but a sleep-in weekend, where I’ve been catching up on sleep the whole time. On top of that, I have been also monitoring my phone in case we get a call up to go help out in Haifa, with the fire. Please keep all the victims in mind this week, as we (Israel) continues to battle the blaze and stop the fire.

Combat Medic course week 4

The weeks have finally become easier in the medic courses. Now, instead sitting in classes for 8 hours a day, we have started to do more "hands on work."

For example, this week, we learned how to open up an IV in the middle of the night. The difference is that in the morning you can see the vein, while at night we need to feel it. Also, during the day we can tell if we’ve entered a vein or not, with the help of a cup at the back of the needle. If we entered a vein, the cup will fill with blood. However at night, we can’t see the cup so instead we open up the cover for it and feel the blood.

The other thing we learned this week was how to give injections. Since we might have to administer medication to a patient, we need to learn how to give injections and where on the body they go.

The class went something like this:

First the commander told us where and how much liquid to give. Then we prepared our injections with Saline fluid. Then we took turns injecting our partners, first in the arms and then in the butts.

Finally, our commander taught us how to give an injection in the leg. As we got into our groups again to practice this, our commander said to stop what we were doing and to make a circle. He then dropped his pants and proceeded to inject himself. Then, with the injection still in him preceded to explain to us that for this injection we were going to do Ma'agal Lachas (pressure circle).

The way it works is that we all stand in a circle and one at a time injects ourselves in the leg. The only way to remove the needle is for the last person to inject himself. Once the last person is done with the injection, the first person can take out the needle. (This is considered the hazing of the medical corps in the army. Instead of doing weird things to pledge to join this frat, everyone must do this circle game.)

Once we were all done injecting ourselves, the commander said: "ok, now leave it in, while I go take care of something."

The pictured look something like this:

20 soldiers, with their pants down and a needle sticking out of their leg, with questionable looks on their face as to how long will we have to leave this in.

Thankfully the commander came back after a few min and we proceeded to take out the needle one at a time. I was the third on in the circle so while I had to stick it in sooner, I also got to take it out sooner.

The other things we did this week were:

1) Had a total of 3 tests on different things

2) Have different training exercises. (The one where we split up into groups of three. When it was my turn to be the medic, I had 45 seconds to insert an IV. I passed with only 10 seconds left :)

3) We continued to learn about different problems people can have depending on the weather

In other news:

I want to congratulate my cousin, Olivia (from the The Curious Jew) on her wedding to her new husband :)

Starting medics course

The past three weeks were the hardest three weeks I have had, mentally speaking, in a long long time. The reason for this is because it has been non-stop learning in the mornings, noon and nights. Most of our day is scheduled as followed:

Wake up at 6:15.

Start our morning cleanup, brake at 7 for breakfast and have the inspection at 8.

Then the class schedule is 8-10, 10:30-12:30, 1-2 (lunch) 2-4, 4:30-6:30, 7-8 (dinner) 8-10. As you can see, each class is around two hours (this can change depending on the class) and usually a 30min break (although if class runs longer then the break is shorter and vies-versa, if we finish what we need to d then we get a longer break.) All the classes are taught in Hebrew and for the first week and a half, I only had Hebrew books. Then I received the English material and had an easier time in the class because I finally understood what was going on.

The first week consisted of learning about the anatomy of the body. We learned all about what systems are in the body, such as respiratory and blood. We also learned about some types of trauma we might find in the field and we also started to learn about pharmacology. We also had out first test on what we had learned so far. The passing rate for the first test is 20% of the class. There are 63 kids in my class so not many people passed.

The next week was a continuation of what we learned the previous week, with a lot more focus on the trauma and the effects of certain medicines, such as acomol and other ibuprofens. We also started learning about bandages and what exactly to do in the field when we come upon an injured person.

We also had 2 tests this week. One on the anatomy of the body and a test on Baratz (medical problems either found on base or can get from other sources but relate to injuries. For example, AIDS, HIV a, b, c Rabbis and others.)

We ended up having to close base last week as well. Our job was to run with the stretchers to an attack on base, in case there was on. Luckily that didn't happen and we had a relaxing weekend off.

Then week 3 came upon us. We finished up learning the steps in the field and started BOOMS. Booms are training exercise done on base. The way it works is that the class splits into groups of three. One person is the injured, one person is the medic and one person is with a book that tells him the scenarios and what the medic should do in each state. An example is that a person is found on the side of the road with a bullet wound to the hand. His pulse is dropping fast and he might have another wound on his leg that we don’t find out about till later on.

The medic would have to come onto the scene and treat the person for what he found. The Booms are a lot of fun and a great training tool because it really does help us prepare for real scenarios we might find in the field.

The other things we had this week was a test on equipment. We had learned in the beginning of the week how to use an oxygen tank, suction machine and an ambo (a device used to help someone breathe who isn't.

Throughout the course we have also learned how open someone’s veins, in order to give them medicine. We have been taking turns opening up people’s veins and we have even gotten to the point where we have started to attach IV drips.

We have also learned about Morphine and its effects on the body.

Next week we will continue to do booms and have our classes in pharmacology as well as batarz and other fun things.

The update

I am sorry I haven’t written in so long. The reason for this is because I have been busy with my parents and the army. The last time I wrote, my parents had just arrived in the country. I had a fun two weeks with them, showing them all I could do and what I have learned. It was a lot of fun seeing them, and time really seemed to fly by.

Then, when I got back to the army, I learned that I would have another chance to see them again real soon. In fact, within three weeks I was back with my family and this time back in the US. It was a lot of fun to be back home and see how much has changed. It was also great to finally sit down with my old friends and enjoy some catching up time.

During the three weeks in the army, I did not achieve much. I am suffering from knee problems and have gone to see multiple doctors on this. Since most of the doctors are Jews, I never get the same opinion twice. Because of this, I still do not know what is wrong with my knee or how to begin to help it.

With the knee usually acting up either randomly or after a long walks or with weight, my commanders decided it would not be a good idea for me to do everything the unit was doing. The reason is because while the army is a great experience, it only lasts three years and not the rest of your life, like your body.

So, while everyone was out in the field learning new things, I was busy at base doing a mixture of kitchen duty and guard work. I can now say proudly that I can cook French fries and French toast :) It was also during these three weeks that I met with different army leaders and discussed my situation with them. The first one I met with was the MP (officer of all my pluga, around 150 soldiers.) He said that it was a real shame that I was injured because I was one of the better soldiers and have excelled nicely. However he said that since your body comes first, I would no longer be in the unit and a have a combat role in the army. He then asked me what job I would like. I told him I wanted to be a paramedic in the unit, so that I could do what I wanted and still see my friends. He said that was a noble job and would help me achieve this new goal.

Then, a few days later, I met with another head general. He agreed with my MP that the body comes first and that paramedics were a great job. He to promised to help me any way he could and said that it will all turn out ok in the end.

Then last week Wednesday, I went to a base in the south and met with the Magad (head of the entire Special Forces Nahal unit) and he said that due to medical reasons I would not be able to continue with the unit and in a combat role. He said that I would be spending the next few weeks working in the medical clinic on base and that as soon as the next wave of medics were sent to the course, I would be as well. Then when I am done with the course and if there is still a spot open in the paramedics course, I will be sent to that job.

I was so happy to finally be doing something I wanted. I was also sad to be leaving my friends. I’m upset, that I’m leaving my friends. It’s amazing that almost after a year; the bonds we make in the army are so close. This bond that brings two people closer together then friendship or brotherhood ever could. This is what I’m the saddest about leaving.

However, with medic’s course and then paramedic’s course on the horizon, I know everything will turn out ok.

Some other highlights of the week:

Tuesday:

Everyone who was on base and didn’t go out into the field went on a trip to visit families whom have lost their children in the Nahal Unit. We went out to a hotel, which was paid for by Nahal and was hosting the families, and went on a trip to a historical sight. We then went back and talked with the families and ate with them.

Thursday:

I said good bye to all my friends and my commander

Returning back to the army

Its been a long time since I wrote one of these blogs.

Not a lot has changed in that time.

Some highlights:

My parents came to visit me so i had two weeks off from the army. In that time i toured around the country and showed my parents all i have learned

I returned back on Sunday and went striate to the boarder with the west bank. There we guarded in check points and other security areas monitoring the area.

Nothing really new in my life as you can see. Its the army as always. :)

The closing of another chapter

Bomb school has finally come to an end. While the course was a lot of fun and challenging, it is defiantly one of my greatest accomplishments. I have learned a lot over the past two months and I know I will continue to lean more in the future.

Some of the things I learned in the course were how to enter a house using “alternative methods”, how to place a mine field and how to pick one back up without getting hurt.

We also learned about various mines and various booby traps. Some of my favorite tools were the Hilti (a nail gun that I got to shoot with during a training excursive on Wednesday), a metal detector (I can now can confidently say that I can find a quarter in a beach) and other items.

I hope that I will never have to actually use this information, however if the times does come, I am confident that I am well enough trained to accomplish the job safely and quickly.

What is my next step? Kav. Kav is when we go to the boarder and patrol the area. While I am not sure where we are going yet, I know I will have fun because I will be with my friends. I am also counting down the days until my parents come to visit. The count is: 13 days. Hope the time flies by fast.

Starting excersizes with mines

This week we started going to the field and putting into practice what we learned in the class. We learned how to lay down a mine field and pick it up quickly and easily. We also got a chance to see how mines really work. Up until now, we have been using test dummies (that don’t actually explode) and we have talked about them in class. This week however, we went to the vadi netek. The netek is a huge open area where we got to put into practice the things we have been learning. We were each given a fairly large amount of plastic explosives and we were allowed to blow up whatever we wanted (within reason of course.)

I put my share of explosives into a bottle of water and compared it to the effects of explosives outside water. It was so cool to see the difference as well as see the other explosives in real life.

Another cool thing I did was get a new pakal (specialty.) My new pakal is magmak hod or metal detector for the whole group. This means that I am the first person into a minefield with the metal detector. It is my job to find the safest pass through the minefield. It also means that any mines I find, I have to defuse. While the job is extremely dangerous, it is also a lot of fun and a lot of responsibility.

I can’t wait to see what next week brings and what we get to do

Starting bomb school

First off, sorry for the late post. I wanted to write sooner, but never could find the time.

It has defiantly been an intensive and interesting pass few weeks. To start off, we had our masa Alyiah to Beitled (June 13-19). Beitled is an army base used by Gadsar Nahal and Tzanchaniem. This new base of ours is a definite improvement from our regular bases for a few reasons.

1: instead of tents there are rooms with AC

2: this base is only meant for Gadsar or the Special Forces of Nahal and so there are no regular soldiers there.

3: there is more food and better tasting food.

4: there are actually a lot of girls on the base (usually there were no girls at all.)

5: the base is also home for different units (Tzanchaniem and others)

6: The base is big and is therefore called the land of Madas (physical running or working out.)

7: We stated lochami training. Basically it is Krav Maga, stance shooting and short range shooting all in one. The reason for this training is to teach us how to shoot in close quarter areas, such as a house or other small places

8: the base is near Tel Aviv so it is closer to the kibbutz and the center of civilization (means that parents can actually come and visit us when we close base and that there is always good food on the weekends.)

The following week (June 20-25), we left the base and went to Balatz (the base used by handasa Cravi or combat engineers. The base is located in the south, 40 km north of Eilat so the weather there is always hot and dry.

The reason why we went to Balatz was to start learning our specialty course, bomb defuse and setting.

We spent the first week learning about all different types of bombs, cables and detonators. The first thing you learn is the bomb sequence of events. Basically it starts from the igniters, then runes through the wire and goes to the exploding material. The course is a lot of fun. We also spent one of the days in the bomb range (a shooting range but longer and designed to blow up mines.) It was cool to finally put into practice what we have learned. We also spent the week learning about hot entrees. Hot entrees are when we enter a building in the middle of the village. The difference between a hot entree and a regular bomb is that hot entrees are meant to be placed quickly and have a lessen amount of explosives, causing less casualties and causing less structural damage then a regular bomb.

This past week (June27- July 2nd) we spent learning on mines. We learned the difference between anti-tank mine and anti personnel mines. We also had a targil one night, where we pretended to enter a village and we had to enter it using one of the hot entrees and blow up some items we found inside the house. My job was to help blow up the items we found in the house and then get out. It was a lot of fun and I finally can say that I have a better understanding of what it is Palchan Nahal does.

On a sadder note, my MM is leaving me. He has decided that he doesn’t want to be a MM of soldiers in training and would rather be a MM for fighters. It was very sad to see him leave, but we all know that he is doing what he wants and we wish him the best of luck in the future.

starting cav

Once you have finished training, the regular soldier goes to cav. Cav is usually guarding the border with Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan or any other boarder that exists.

However, since I am not a regular soldier, instead of going straight to the boarder, we go to courses.

The courses are varied and included many things such as navigation, bomb explosive training, counter terrorists and Jump school.

This week, we started navigation. It started with us learning how to read a map, in a classroom, and then going into the field as a large group and navigating from point to point.
At the end of the week, we were navigating without a map and also with only one other person. We would spend each morning and most of the day learning the path we needed to take and then at night, we would walk it. Along our path, there were points we needed to reach. Once we reached a point, we had to write down the code words we found and bring them back. While we didn’t sleep much during the week, it did feel like a big scavenger hunt and a lot of fun.

Another high light of the week was that we became a tzevet. Up until now, we have been a group, known as group 3. Now that we are done with training, we are considered a tzevet or a group. While there is no difference really, we now wear these hats that have our tzevet name (the name of the tzevet is the name of your mm, 2nd in command. our name is tzevet kimchi.) and are now looked at as a group not to be messed with, and not just some trainees.

Other highlights:

1: We broke distance with everyone and now we are only left with a Samal and the mm. We no longer have a commander above us, so while we now have more responsibility, we also have more freedom

2: we got a pakal coffee (this is considered a big reward in the army)

3: next week we are leaving the training base and are going to the gadsar or the sf base in the north for a week and getting new stuff.

4: we are going to bomb school in two weeks, in Eilat. I cannot wait to start blowing stuff up :)

Returning our things and saying good-bye

As in most stages of life, when things come to an end, you often need to return things and say good-bye. In our situation, we had to return all our gear and say good-bye to some of our commanders and friends.

Since most of our gear belongs to the base, and since we are leaving the base and going somewhere else, we had to return some items, such as snow pants (in case it ever really snowed in Israel), our small tents, our rain gear and a variety of other things. In return however, we got a go army sweater, bungee rope, a flash light and a shakpas or knife proof vest.

The other part of the week is saying good-bye to our commanders. In the next stage of our training, we are only left with a samal and a mm (third and second in command.) The reason for this is because we are no longer considered trainees and we are now thought of as a tzevet or group. For this reason we don't need 24 hour supervision and thus not so many commanders.

In the army, the way you say good-bye to people is play fight them and then we have a heart to heart. In the heart to heart, the commander usually jokes around with us, tells us where he lives, what he thought of us and we all share some funny stories.

Some other highlights of the week were:

1) we also broke distance with the MM and our new Samal. however, since they are still considered to be our commanders, we don't play fight them and there is no heart to heart. Their is just the usual history facts about them.

2) we took part in the nation wide missile drill. We pretended that a missile has hit our base and that we had to guard it. It was a lot of fun because it was actually a real life situation and we finally got to put what we learned into action.

The ending of another chapter in the army

Well it’s been a hard three weeks but one of the most fun and interesting ones I’ve had.

When I first got back to the army, we continued where we left off, by having shavua machlika. a machlika is a level up from kita and contains two kitot (around 21 guys.)

During the week, I was the radio man for the samal or sergeant of the group. It was a lot of hard work, but fun at the same time. We basically continued doing what we did during shavua kita, where we learned how to conquer a mountain. The difference this time was that we actually learned how one group provides cover fire, while the other group continues on. This is a lot of hard work because if you’re not firing, you’re running forward.

My job however, was to be towards the back of the group to provide cover and report our position, ammunition and wounded to the commanders higher up. This means that I didn’t shoot as much as the others, and got to talk a lot of Hebrew. Some other highlights of the week:

1) we broke distance with MM (the second in command.)

2) Since we didn’t need to bring tents, to sleep in, we needed to dig holes and got to sleep in them at night

3) One night, we had a long march and reached a new camp site in the morning. It felt like we walked 30K but it was only 8.

The next week was war week.

War week is basically a week of simulated warfare. We basically act as if we were invaded by a country and we had to fight to recapture Israel. Every soldier hates war week because it is the hardest week in all of training.

Highlights:

1) During war week, you need to carry all your essentials with you on your back. This means that we were carrying food for the week, ammo and other goods. This also means that we were carrying around 40 - 60 kilos a person. Since I am trained to use the maclar (a grenade launcher) I had to carry it on my back. I carried around 60 kilos during the week.

2) I shot the grenade launcher and had a jam and fixed it

3) We had an omes home every day. (Omes home is when the temperature outside is so hot, that we need to stop training and get under a shaded area because if we continue training, we could get heart stroke.) The advantage of this was that we got to sleep a little during the week

4) We did another all night march and got to sleep in the morning.

5) War week is really a continuation of shavua machlica. What we were doing with 21 guys, we were now doing with 150 guys.

6) All our training exercises were watched by the magad or head of the base and the head of training.

The whole week was a lot of fun, but hard as hell and is defiantly a good simulation of what war would be like if we were ever in one.

The finally week that I had was shavua cumta.

It is during this week, that we have our masa cumta and our tekes cumta.

The masa cumta is a long walk (we did 54K, from our base to Masada) that is held at the end of training as a sort of final test that must be completed to finish.

Our masa lasted 13 hours in total and covered a lot of different terrain, from dirt roads, to streets.

Even though the masa was hard at times, it was also fun because we got to talk during the masa, listen to music and eat food (things that are usually considered forbidden during our marches.)

At the end of the march we had a ceremony at the top of Masada. It was really funny because a lot of American tourists were on the mountain. Within a few minutes of us reaching the top, cameras were already taken out and photos were being taken of us. Asher (another American soldier, in my machlaca) and I quickly went over to the American groups and introduced ourselves. It was a very meaningful experience for them to see Americans, leaving their homes and coming to serve in the army over here.

Once we were done with our march, we went back to base to sleep and we were given the rest of the week off (except for Thursday, when we had our tekes.)

Thursday was our tekes. The tekes took place at the nahal museum in pardes Hannah. The tekes was very nice and only took an hour. It is during the tekes that we turn in our training cumtot and get our neon green, nahal brigade, cumtot. It is a very important step for us because now we are part of a bigger group and no longer considered just trainees.

Kicking it up a notch

Lately, training has been slow. We have spent most of advanced training either learning about the country, guard duty or learning about new weapons. The last two weeks however have really kicked it up a notch...or 10.

When I first got back to the army, (April 19-24) it was still going slowly. The reason was because it was Yom Hazikaron (Israeli Remembrance Day for the soldiers) and Yom Haatzmaut (Israel’s birthday.) On Yom Hazikaron, we spent the day talking about fallen soldiers. We watched two video clips on Roi Clien and another soldier who sacrificed their lives for the country they loved.

On Yom HaAtzmaut, we spent the day celebrating, by having a bbq and having a talent show. While everyone said they would have rather been at home for the holiday, they said the army did a pretty good job of entertaining us.

Then the knob got turned and things become harder and more fun. The next few days were spent out in the field learning Lasha"v or house clearing. We learned how to enter a house and clear it of bad guys. The highlight of the week was defiantly playing paint-ball against the commanders. At the end of the week, the commanders go into the house and pretend to be terrorist. We (as the soldiers) work in teams to clear them out. It’s a lot of fun, as well as a great learning exercise.

Then we went back to the base for a little R&R before the next week.

Week two was spent back in the field learning to work as a kita (11 man team.) We learned how to work together to conquer a mountain or move in an open field. It was hard work, but a very important week in the army. It is during this week that our commanders get tested to see if they can lead their group into war and how effective they are. The week went by fast and there were a bunch of highlights that I will probably never forget for the rest of my life:

Highlight list:

1) We are no longer allowed to call our commander "commander". Instead we must now call them by their first name. My commanders’ name is Yani and from now on I have to call him Yani or I get punished (funny how things change so fast.)

2) I was placed on the radio for the week and as such I got to work right next to Yani and had to repeat all his orders over the mic and to the group. Because I was so well and “a siren" during the drills, I received Chayal Mitzdayen again and got off on Thursday. Also, the MP (1st in command) said that while I need to improve on my Hebrew, I was a great radio man and that my commander should be happy to have me.

3) When we were waiting to get tested at the end of the week by the MP, as a helicopter flew over head and hit a bird. As a result, the helicopter had to land and our kita was tasked with guarding the helicopter. As we did a 360 defensive circle, the pilots called us up one at a time to look into the helicopter and see inside.

4) We won the right to bring a pakal musica (speakers and iPods) and food on our masa cumta. The masa cumta is a 54k march, where at the end we receive our green berets. It is the culmination of our training and will take place in two weeks (can't wait.) The reason why this is a highlight is because up to now we have never been allowed to eat or talk on the masas that we did and soon well be able to.

5) We had to do a training exercise in front of the Ma'am (Commander for the entire advanced training base.) He said we did so well that we should be really happy with ourselves.

6) We did a training exercise, where we pretended to go into Syria and blow up a car. After we planted the explosives, we all got to yell: "Al a Palchan" (why to go Palchan, my unit.) Up till now, we were never allowed to say Palchan or anything relating to our unit so it was nice to finally say something.

There are still many more highlights, but the most important one is:

7) My cousin: http://curiousjew.blogspot.com/ has gotten engaged. Congrats.

Warning to my loyal fans (the fame has gone to my head.) I have a 21 coming up next week. This means that I will be closing the base for 21 days and will not be near a computer for the next three weeks. I am sure that I will have a long blog to write when I get back. In the off chance that I do get a computer before then, expect a quick blog to be written about what I did. In the meantime I wish everyone a happy Log Ba'Omer and happy Shavuot.

An emotional roller coaster of a week.

Last week (April 4-9) we spent a week working on all of our shifsoriems (ties) and having a misdar. A misdar is a check made by either the MM (second in command) or the MP (first in command). The highlight of the week was on Thursday when we went on a 36k march through the field. While the march as a whole wasn't hard, the last leg of the march (the final 6 k, when we open up the stretch), was the hardest part.

We also go to meet our medics for the first time. While we were at basic training, our medics went to the medical training course to learn to me combat medics. These guys are really cool and they fit right in with us.

The next week (April 12-15) was also a relaxing week. Half the group, went to Beslach (a base used for advanced training or officers course.) Once we reached the base, we were split up into our learning groups. The options were either: GPS, Radio, Makach (a 50.cal machine gun), Machlar (an automatic grenade launcher), Mortar, Driver for an Amour personnel charier, or MishMish (someone who works half the day in the kitchen, and then half the day guarding our stuff). I was picked for the Machlar,which is this really big grenade launcher. The gun alone weighs 34.3 kg and that's not including the stand, ammo or a variety of other parts that need to be carried along with the gun. The crew that has to use this gun is made up of 4 people, each of which has a special job. The breakdown is like this:

#1 - shooter

#2 - commander of gun - says where to shoot and what's the range and so on

#3 and #4 - help to carry things and then help to set up.

When it comes time to shoot, #3 and #4 are sent to the bottom of the hill to protect the back, while #1 and #2 stay at the top of the hill with the gun and shoot.

Even though the gun weighs a lot, shooting it will be something i never forget. The gun makes such a big boom, that you scare yourself the first time you hear it.

The course only lasted 4 days. The first two days were spent in class, the third day was spent shooting and the last day was spent cleaning up and having a celebration for the end of the course. The class included the four of us (Nachlawim) as well as soldiers from the Golani Brigade and the Gadsar Bedouin brigade. At the celebration, Chayal Mitzdayen was chose. A Chayal Mitzdayen is a soldier who works really hard during the week and is someone who helps out when needed and is willing to give of himself. Its basically like the good student award. Every group got one (from the GPS, Mortars, Makach, Machlar, MishMish, drivers and Radio courses), so in total there were 7. I was one of the lucky 7 and as a result, i got to leave the army early on Thursday (while everyone else got to leave on Friday.)

Of course Murphy's law has to come in sometime during the week and this week it hit us hard.

While half the group was away at Beslach training, the other half of the group was at our advanced base guarding.
The medics however, went to our basic training base. The reason was so that they can learn a little about what we learned in the basic training course. While they were there, on of the medics committed suicide. Its often funny how it takes a tragedy to bring people together, but that is life. As a result of this, now more then ever, the group feels like a family, supporting one another through our time of pain and suffering.

Here's hoping that next week goes by smoothly and without any other incident.

Coming home and getting back to buisness

As most of you know, i went home for my Regila or week off from the army. The trip was great and adventurous because not only did i got to see my family and friends, but i was also in the middle of a hurricane and without power for 6 days (the majority of my trip.)

When i got back, it was back to reality and back to the army.

My first week back was a week at Mikva Alon. Mikva Alon is the army Ulpan base. This is where new Oliem go to learn Hebrew, if the army feels that your Hebrew is not good enough. The program combines Ulpan and basic training for the soldiers there.

We, on the other hand, were there to learn more about our selves and why we are fighting. The week was broken down into:

Day 1: we went to Lochame Gitaon. This is a kibbutz that was founded at the start from country. The specialty of this kibbutz is that it was made up of ghetto upraises and so they created a museum that portrays the Warsaw uprising and the uprising of other ghettos. The museum is very interesting because instead of showing camps and death, the museum features more of the uprising side and the brave soldiers who lead them.

Day 2: problems in the country; new immigrants vs. Israeli born people, Jews. vs. Arabs and so on.

Day 3: We talked about problems with the army, the democratic system and the laws of the army. We also talked about Code of Conduct in the army. We were given different situations and asked if what the soldiers did was right or wrong. An example would be that we were in a city and we are suddenly hit with a rock. When we turn around to see who threw it and it turns out to be a child 7 years old. After we tell him to stop, we keep going and we feel another rock hit us. We turn around to see the same kid holding a bigger rock, that if it hits us, we will be hurt. What do we do? Do we shoot in the air, causing a scene and an international case, or run away and act like a coward and make it seem like we will do nothing.

Day 4: we talked about our enemies: Syria, Lebanon and Iran

Day 5: we went to the Acco Prison to see some of the history of the country.

The week was really fun and interesting because we got to learn a lot about our selves and how the army and country works. It was also nice to finally eat good food in the army and to sleep in a building on bunk beds.

Then we went back to base and relaxed before our next week, which was guard week.

Guard week was the same as usual, with guarding at weird hours and not really doing anything fun.

Then came Passover. Passover was a lot of fun and a great experience to be on base for it. There was a lot of food to eat (finally) and it was great spending the holidays with my "family." While we all wished that we were home, we all knew that we would be spending the next 24 hours with great people and great friends. The week went by fast and now are reaping the rewards of the holiday by resting for four days.

Remember the younger years and finally finishing

Remember when you were a little child and your parents would make you do chores and you would get rewarded at the end of the week with some money? Life doesn't change when you grow up I found out.

My group, along with another group, was put back onto guard duty. We would switch off days. (Monday and Wednesday we guarded the base and on Tuesday and Thursday the other group guarded the base.)

On guard days, nothing really changed. Guarding has becoming a sort of self-reflecting time because for three hours we watch and get to be alone. Most of my reflecting turned into what I am going to do when I get home. What will I eat, who I will see and so on.

On days that we weren't guarding, we spent the time working either in the kitchen (cleaning, cooking) the other jobs we did were working for the Ra'sar (the person who is in charge of the entire base.) We spent the time putting up tents, taking the old tents down, cleaning the base, washing different parts of the base and basic "house-cleaning."

Then on the weekend, my group got to go down to En-Gedi for some guard duty. Unfortunately for me I couldn't go because I was still on the injured list. So, while the guys got to go off and have some fun at the beach, I had to stay back on base. The good part was that all of a sudden, it got really gray outside and it started hailing. Big hail. The commanders had us repair all the tents and then gave us 10 min to let us have a snow ball fight. It was funny to see the Israelis play with hail because to them, hail is a rare occurrence here in Israel. It was also fun to see a group of 50+ soldiers playing in the snow.

The weekend was also Purim. Holidays on Base are a great experience. For example, on the first night of Purim, a rabbi came to base and he read the Migila for us. After that we spent the time singing and dancing. The next night, a group of Haradiem came by, dressed up and again sang and danced with us and read the Migila. The down side to being on base for the holidays was that both parties wanted us to drink. (During Purim, one of the commandments is to drink until we can’t tell the difference between good and evil. The problem was that since we are soldiers, we aren't allowed to drink and therefore we weren't able to complete all the commandments. However it was still a lot of fun to sing and dance with 30 other soldiers.

Then it was back to reality and a new week.

Last week we worked on taking over a mountain in groups of four people. One of the people was the leader, the second guy was either the grenadier or a sniper, the third guy was either the MAGist (me), Negavist or sniper and the last one was either a grenadier or regular soldier. The way it works is the leader calls out what to do and we work our way up the mountain until we reach the enemy and fight in close quarters. The training only lasted from Monday to Wednesday. On Thursday we had our Bochan 05. A Bochan is a test, which can either be physical or written test. This test was both practical and written. This Bochan was a test on everything we learned since the start of basic training. It included weapons, chemical warfare, first aid and also radio. The written test consisted of questions relating to the weapons, radio, and chemical warfare and also about Israeli history. Since the test was all in Hebrew, all the Americans got a Mashakit Alyiah. The Mashakit helped us write and understand the questions. After the written part, we went to the practical test. There we demonstrated how to load, take apart and shot the weapons and also how to apply first aid and talk on the radio. The test went well and no one failed.

This is also the final step in our basic training. From here we go to advance training for two months and then to special training.

The commanders then let Asher and I leave to go home and start our packing!!

Hope everyone had a great Purim :)

A rollercoaster of a week

The title basically sums up my emotional and physical status for the past two weeks.

Last week (February 7th - 13th) we went back to the shooting range to relearn the basics of shooting. It was nice to return to our basics because there's a lot of things you forget when you are busy learning other things. The week went by fast and a few things have changed for the better (namely the weather has gotten warmer and so being outside isn't so bad.)

Friday: believe it or not, already four months have passed since i started the army and seven months since i have left the states. At the end of basic training (two weeks) the army grants you a week off, as a present. I decided that i have been away for too long and that i think its time i come home for a visit. I have been asking my commander for a month now to let me go home for the time off, as well as another week (according to Hayal Boded rights I have 30 days when i can be home.) Finally Asher and I (another Garin Tzabarnic who is in my group) have receive the news we have been waiting for and are coming home. Of course after receiving the news we both started crying and as such got made fun of by our Israeli counterparts (i love Israeli Humor.)

On Friday we also finished up shooting and started our new task of guard duty. This time we were guarding the main base, which is a lot nicer and bigger so it is more fun to guard. At night we were sent to our guard posts and started our shifts.

Gal and I (an Israeli from my group) were sent to guard the bunker. The bunker is a large storage area for ammunition. In fact from one end to another is aprox. 40 min walk. The purpose of the bunker, is that if there were to be a war tomorrow, we could all run to the bunker, grab ammo, fuel or anything else and go strait to the battle front.

Anyway, while we were guarding we received a surprise visit from one of the MM's (2nd in command.) The reasons for the visit was to make sure that we were on our A game and nothing got by us. The visit also wasn't a normal visit because instead of coming up to us and checking our ammo clip and water, he "hid" in a dark corner for us to pass him. Once we did, we followed us for a while and then without warning, he grabbed Gal and screamed Soldier. (again it was dark and we didn't see him.) Gal quickly grabbed him and shouted what are you crazy?!?!?! My response to this was to take my gun, raise it to the head of the MM and put my thumb on the safety switch. Gal then quickly says; "Shit MM." and I proceed to lower my gun. The MM then said while we did end up reacting in the right way, we should have heard and saw him from the beginning and since we didn't, we could have been killed or captured by Arabs or Bedouins, who live in the area.

After the little incident, we returned back to our sleeping area and enjoyed the rest of Shabbat. Of course there were more guarding shifts to do.

At the end of Shabbat, we were sent out again to guard (this was going to be my 4th time guarding.)

While standing in my guard tower, i suddenly felt pain in my knee. After my guard shift i went to the medic and showed him a very swollen knee (the size of a baseball) and he said: "I don't know whether to send you to the hospital now or in the morning." i told him that since this was not life threatening, i could wait till the morning to go.

On a side note: While Asher and Eton (another Israeli from my group) were guarding the bunker, a group of Bedouins came within 500 feet of them. They quickly got on the radio and within 20 seconds, the MP (1st in command), Magad (head of the training base), the ready team and a lot more soldiers were there and the Bedouins were quickly escorted off the area.

As for me:

Sunday morning i went to the doctor, where it was discovered that i had bacteria in my knee and since there was major swelling, i was supposed to take the week easy. As such, i spend the week in the tents doing nothing. Most of my day was spent either sleeping in the tent or reading a book. The rest of my group however went down to the shooting range again to do advance shooting. From what I hear it was a great week.

Then the rollercoaster ride finally hit the last drop.

Even though Asher and I had permission to go to go back home, we were missing a big item before travel. That item was our Israeli passport. Even though our American passports are still good, we are not allowed to enter the country (Israel) because we are now holders of Israeli citizenship. As a result we got a Yom Sidduriem (a day that you are off from the army to take care of bank work, passports or any other official business. ) WE left the base on Wednesday and by Thursday afternoon, we completed our passport paper work. I can now proudly say that i am coming home some time soon!!!

P.S.

I know it seems like I don't update the blog on a regular basis. I apologize for that. However, I only get access to a computer once every two weeks. (mainly on the weekends) and that is when i write my update. Hope everyone understands and enjoys reading this blog as much as i love writing it.

Guard week and learning to take over a mountain

Last week my group was put on guard duty at the base. That means that my group had learn and then spend time guarding strategic areas around the base, such as the front door and guard towers. Each guard shift lasted for three hours (10-1,1-4,4-7,7-10...etc) The shifts lasted all day and night and only a few people were on at a time.

If we weren't guarding during the day, we were spending time learning about grenades and Abach (atomic, biological and chemical warfare.)

At night, if we weren't guarding, we were on Kita Conenut (ready team.) That means that we slept with our boots on and with our uniforms. If anything went wrong, such as an attack on the base, we would have to run out and grab our equipment (either a stretcher, radio or water bag (the water bag is used to carry water which can be thrown on a person who is having a heat stroke.))

As i said before, during the day we spent time learning about grenades and chemical warfare. We learned that there are 5 types of grenades and we also got a chance to see the chemical warfare suits and got to put them on. We also learned what to do in the event of a chemical break out and how to respond (not hinting at anything but you never know what may happen in the NEAR future...)

At the end of the week, we all got a chance to throw a grenade and are now grenade and chemical warfare ready.

On the weekend, i got a chance to go back home to my kibbutz for a garin tzabar seminar. It was great seeing everyone again. Everyone couldn't stop talking about their army service and what they have done.

On Sunday i went back to base and spent the week learning how to respond to an attack, while out on petrol and by your self or with a group of four people. The first thing you do is jump behind cover, then yell that you've been attack. You then state how far away if your enemy, how many and what direction they are in. You then continue to work with your group up the mountain or on the path until you reach the enemy. While the physical tasks are easy, the Hebrew that you need to say is hard to learn. But after a few times i got it down and i can now say the orders easily and clearly for everyone.

The other interesting thing i did during the week was take an Arabic course and driving course.

The Arabic course was interesting because we learned how to say different phrases that we will need to use out in the field.

The driving course however was the definite high light of the week. We spent the morning learning all about anti-lock breaking system, drunk driving, driving while sleep deprived and other various things. in the afternoon, we went out in cars and drove for a while, on a course and got a first-hand experience at anti-lock braking. The course included driving at full speed and then slamming on the brake, slaloms (driving in and out of cones) and then driving on the shoulder and slamming on the brake.

I hope next week will be as fun as this week was.

War week and Swearing in

These past two weeks have been one of the hardest weeks in all of my army service so far. (in fact most soldiers say that war week (or field week) is the hardest week in all of basic training.)

On Sunday (January 10)

WE spent the day cleaning up the base and getting ready for field week. Basically, we spent the day making shifsoriem (or ties) that connected all of our gear to us. for example, we had to make a special shifsor to connect our water bottles to our vests. WE also made a shifsor for our shovels and our tents to us.

On Monday - Thursday

We left the base early in the morning and went on a 6k march to our "camp site". Once there, we set up camp and quickly got down to business. The whole purpose of field week is to learn new maneuvers (such as marching placements (where to be in a march based on our weapons, how far out we should be from one another, new hand sighs), how to live in a field and what we should expect if we are called out to war.) Most of the days were spent practicing marching in formations and reviewing sights.

Some of the interesting things that happened to me on my "outing":

At night, we would either dig holes to sleep in or set up our tent. Of course there is no such thing as a great nights sleep in the army and this was more then true for me during this week because every night we would have a hakpasa or attack. Since the commanders took away our watches before we left, we never knew how long we slept for. One night, the commanders put fake bullets that make a sound when shot and started shooting up in the air screaming in Arabic. The immediate response was all of us getting out of bed and running to our coverage position. By this i mean we were assigned areas to cover if we were attack. Mine was the south side, along with some other people. Immediately after, the commanders said that our position has been taken over and we need to pack everything up and move to a new area. Of course, no attack goes without injury, so we pretended that some of us were injured. We always carry around a stretcher and quickly put the injured people on the stretcher and moved to our new camp site a few kilometers away.

Crawling up the side of a mountain. from the very bottom to the very top. This took us a little over 2 hours since everyone had to do it.

Eating meals also took on a new meaning. Since we were in the field, no one could eat a meal without protection over the site. This meant that only 10 people were able to eat at a time (out of 21) because 10 people needed to guard the site in a full 360 degree circle. Also, there is no just walking up to get a meal. Our commanders would always have us lined up and crawl 30 meters to our food and then make us guard. Also we were only given 20 min to do all this. Basically it came down to us reaching the food with 10 min left. By the time we opened up all the cans there was only 8 min left to eat and then switching between guarding and eating left us all with only 2 min to eat.

On the last day we had a test where every kita (or small group of soldiers) had to show what they learned throughout the week. Basically the test included building tents, running with the stretcher, injured people on our back, camouflage and of course crawling.

Then to finish everything up, we had a march called masa samal or sergeants march. this means that instead of our commanders leading us, the samal or our third in command leads the march. Basically it means walking at a faster pace, running up and down mountains and more of an intensive march. The march lasted 8k (or close to two hours with a break in the middle). When it ended, we found ourselves back at base, near the shooting range.

Wednesday - Thursday:

WE spent the rest of the night pitching our tents for one more night and then spent the next day shooting.

Friday - Saturday:

Shabbat - we spent most of the day sleeping and relaxing and getting ready for a great weekend.

Sunday - Monday:

Sunday and Monday were relaxing days so to speak. we spent the days shooting again in the range at different positions, from standing to sitting to kneeling.

Tuesday:

On Tuesday, i spent the day out of the base. On the sergeants march, i badly twisted my ankle. As a result, i had spent the past few days (Thursday - Monday) on Betiem or on the injured list. This means that i never had to run anywhere and had to walk from place to place. On Monday i was sent to the doctor to make sure that my ankle want broken. She had decided that i should go to a real hospital and get my ankle x-rayed to make sure.

For this reason i got to go to Harrap or the army hospital located in Be'er Sheva. Most of the day was spent finding the x-ray room and the pharmacy. The hospital is so big and covers so many needs that it take forever to find the rooms i needed. Since i was also out of the base, i got a chance to eat some real food. its was finally a really great break from the army that i needed. The sad part was that I want able to join my group for the 11k march that we do to earn our Nahal tags. It just means that I will have to do it some time in the future with all the other soldiers on Beitiem.

Wednesday:

Wednesday we spent the day practicing for our swearing in ceremony. We learned how to stand, how to move to our spots. how to receive our guns from our MM (2nd in command) and what to say.

Thursday:

We got up very early and dressed in our A uniforms. We then quickly cleaned up the base and went to Jerusalem. Once we reached the old city, we spent the day touring around. Our first stop was a mountain that you can see and look out into all of Jerusalem. It was a great view and a great way to start off the day. The next stop was Har Hertzle or the military cemetery. There we walked around and go to hear of some of the brave soldiers who lost their lives. One of the graves that we passed by was that of Michael Levine's. The soldier who came from Philly and died in the second Lebanon war. From there we went to the Kotel, or the wall, where we practiced the ceremony a few more times. An hour before the ceremony, all the Chayaliem Bodediem were called for a special ceremony where we got gifts and heard a great speech from different high officials and Tzvika levi (the father of all Lone soldiers in Israel)

From there we had the teckes. It was a very nice ceremony and it means a lot to a lot of people.

from there i went to Mamila street to have a great diner with family and then i went home.

While the week was hard, it was a lot of fun and there is such a great feeling among us that we've done something imposable and passed and now we can take on anything.

Next week, according to our schedule, is going to be grenade and chemical weapons week. Cant wait.