First days in the army

It seems like only yesterday that I landed in the country of Israel.

This week was my first week in the army. It started out on Wednesday. The first stop on anyone who joins the army is the Backum in Tel Aviv. The Backum is the place where you get to pick up your Uniform A, a bag with goodies (including gun oil, zip ties, a sewing kit and many other things). You also get green shirts, shorts, underwear and a jacket. This all is put into a big green bag.

In the backum, we also got a new round of shots for the flu and hepatitis A. The whole process took over 5 hours.

From the Backum, I went to my new home. A base in the south called Basis Nahal (since I am in the Nahal brigade.) There we met our Mifaced (commander). He led us to our sleeping quarters (which are huge tents outside in the field.) There, in a big open area between all the tents, we were given the rules, such as we always had to be in uniform, what to do when and how to call our commanders. We were also broken into smaller groups of Tzevet. My tzevet is tzevet 15. We were then given time to find a spot for ourselves and our bags, a cot to sleep on and a sleeping bag. In the Nahal Brigade, there are 1 other Garin Tzabar kids so we all wanted to stay together. For that reason, most of my tent is full with people from Garin Tzabar and my Tzevet. We were then given one hour to do what we like and then we went to bed.

On Day 2, we woke up at 7, which is amazing because we were actually given 7 hours to sleep and usually in basic training, people are only allowed 6. When we woke up, we had to change back into our madim A and we were sent to breakfast which consisted of chocolate milk, and egg and Israeli salad. From there we were taken to a storage area and given our new Uniforms, madim B. The difference between A and B is that B is meant to be worn during all basic training when we are physically active and uniform A is meant to be worn only on official parades or when we get off the base. We were also given a new jacket, bag, long pants, a shovel and robber clothing meant to be worn when it rains and snows (yes, apparently it snows at our base.)

From there we were led to lunch and spent most of the day sitting around, having private interview with the mifaced, social works for the army and the doctor. We were also led into a big auditorium and shown a video about the unit we are now in.

On day 3, (today) we woke up at 4 in the morning and had to do another bar-or or physical fitness test. The test includes running 2k, 76 push-ups and 86sit-ups. The whole purpose of this is to see how fit we are before we go into the army. I did pretty well and only time will tell if I improve or not.

We were then allowed to leave the base at around 11 in the morning. It was really frustrating because we were told that we would be allowed to leave earlier at 8. We were also constantly lead onto a bus and right before we got on, we were told to stand in a Chet (Hebrew letter that looks like a square without one of the sides) and we had to listen to some important official talk to us. At the end of everything, we were allowed to go on buses and sent to the main bus station in Be'er Sheva (the nearest major city to us) and sent on our way to where we were going.

Next week schedule looks like this:

1) Arrive at base no later the 10 am (this is hard for the people up north, but don’t worry, there is a bus that leaves at 5 in the morning to Be'er Sheva)

2) Sunday is another sitting around day doing nothing

3) Monday night starts the gibush to get into elite units in Nahal and it goes for 3 days. It is compiled of sprints, crawling and other things)

4) Gibush for 3 days

5) Get off next Friday and given an extra day off since we had gibush (this means we need to be back on base on Monday, instead of Sunday.

Hope everyone had a great thanksgiving and enjoyed all the turkey.

Finally, some pictures

Picture: Gadna

Left to right:

Simon; Matti; Shmookler; Me

Pictures from the Tank excursive we saw:

http://cayalbodedstory.blogspot.com/2009/10/remeberance.html

Picture: Matysiahu Concert:

http://cayalbodedstory.blogspot.com/2009/10/wow-what-week.html

Pictures: Ehud Banya (Bottom) and Shalom HaNoch (top) in concert

http://cayalbodedstory.blogspot.com/2009/09/working-land.html

Working time

Yesterday, Matti and I were sitting around at breakfast and were really board. We decided that we wanted to work for the kibbutz. So, we went to David, our Garin father and asked him if we would be able to work. He said yes and asked us where we would like. Without thinking twice, we both said the Refet or cow shed. The refet on the kibbutz is huge, with five areas for the cows that are going to be milked (3 times a day). There are also areas for the bulls (male cows and not real bulls) and an area for the baby cows. The final area of the refet is for the maternity cows and cows that are only a year old. Like any cow shed, the place of course smells, but you get used to it in a few hours. The really interesting thing about the refet is that all the sheds are spread out and they way you move them from place to place is through gates and fences, that can be rearranged within seconds to lead to a new place all together. Within, 30 min. we found ourselves in boots and following Hanrich, a kid our age, who works on the kibbutz and is from South Africa, leading us around and showing us what he does in a regular day.

The first thing we did was empty troughs. The way you do that is by taking out all the water, scrapping the sides clean and then refilling it with new water. The next thing we did was heard cows, from their homes to the milking area. This is the most interesting thing I've done in a while. The rules are that you cannot run after the cow or they will run away. You also can’t lead the cows, but must walk from the back. The other rule is that if the cows walk by a trough, they are allowed to drink and we can’t rush them because they are the merchandise. The next thing we did, after having a quick food break in the main office. There are some rules to follow however before you can enter the main office. The main rule is that your boots need to be clean. You can achieve this by taking a hose and spraying your shoes all over. After a quick meal we herded the rest of the cows (there are 5 areas where the cows lived and at this point we already had done 3). Then we went to lunch.

After lunch, Matti, Ben, Tomar, Alon and I decided that we wanted to go see a movie. We ended up going to Haifa to see the movie 2012. The movie is all about the 2012 apocalypse that is supposed to happen. The movie was good, but very Hollywood. The reason why we went to see that movie was because Ben is a big believer in the 2012 apocalypse and believes that the movie was an accurate portrayal of what will happen to us in 2012.

This morning, at 5:30, Matti and I work up to go to work. The day started with me and Heinrich having to capture a cow in order to move her to another home. We tried three times; each time the cow ran by one of us and off to the other side of the stable until finally the two of us and another man named Kenny helped us. The next thing we did was clean more troughs and cow poop from some of the floors. Then it was off to breakfast. When we came back, we (Matti, Heinrich and I) had to help round up two more cows and take them to the maternity area because they were 3 weeks away from giving birth. As we were finishing up the morning, by stacking towels (used to clean the utters from the cows after milking), Moma, our boss, comes in and tells us one of the cows are about to give birth and asked us if we would like to watch. Without a second thought, the three of us ran out and went to see. The whole birth took over 45 min. but in the end, we got to welcome a new baby boy calf into the world. All of us can’t wait to see what tomorrow will bring us.

Gibush

Sorry I haven’t written in a while.

I have been training all week for a gibush or a tryout for tzanchaniem (paratroopers)

That meant that I was running, doing pushups and sit-ups.

Yesterday was the gibush.

We woke up at 5 in the morning to take a bus to Tel Hashomar, the place where we become soldiers. From the main gate, we were lead to a large play area, where we got to see the competition for the gibush. There were over 2o0 people. Many of the people were from Micvah Alon (the army's Ulpan program.) The rest were from either Garin Tzabar (my program) or from outsides areas. The only thing that connected all of us in the gibush was that it was for Oliem Hadasheim or new immigrants. In the play area, we had to fill out paperwork, such as medical information, parent info and rate ourselves on how happy we are, how much determination we have and other factors.

We were then split up into our groups. The groups contained anywhere from 26 to 30 people. We were then taken to an area full of open tents. We had to place our bags down and we were sent to the doctors to get a quick physical. The doctors really only really checked our pulse and took our temp. Then we were broken up to another group of 40 and given a new number. My number was 160. Then we were lead back to the tent area and told to stretch. Finally, the group was lead to the perimeter fence and we had to run 2k for the bar or test (or the first physical fitness test for the gibush). We had to run on sand and dirt for 2k under 10 min. Once we were done, we were all given madim or uniforms and new numbers. We were then told to stand in a circle and wait. During the waiting time, the mifaced or commander pulled aside two people. The rest of us were sent off to dinner of hotdogs and mash potatoes. The reason why the people were pulled aside was because they didn’t run the2k under 10 min and were therefore not thought to be physical enough to pass the gibush. We saw the guys gain at dinner, and after a quick goodbye, we were sent back to the tent area to wait. During this whole time, we also had to drink between 5-6 liters of water.

After a quick wait, we were given another new group and a new number. Mine was 26. This was going to be my group for sprinting in the morning. We were then sent off to bed. The time was 8.

At 3 in the morning, we were all woken up. At night we slept in the tents on military cots. The problem with Garin Tzabar is that we weren’t told what to bring and so none of us (26 who remained) didn’t have sleeping bags. As a result, we all got scaves (a thick wool blanket which has been known to give people scaves.) Anyway, in the morning, we had to fold up the beds and take the mattresses and blankets over to an area. We then had to stand in the waiting area and wait for the mifaced to arrive. Once they did, we were led out into a field, where we were told to sprint up to a tire, around it and back to the starting point. After about 8 of these, the mifaced then told us that the first 5 people would need to stand at the side, while the rest of us would stand in the center and wait. While we were waiting, anther mifaced would write down their number and save it. The point of the day was to come in the top 5 as many times as you can and if you did it a lot of times it means that you are physically fit and would probably make it to the unit. We then had to run around the tire 2, 3 and 6 times. On one of the 1 times and one the 3 times, I came in first.

The next sprint we did was with an alunca or stretcher. The point of this race was that the first four back would take the alunca, lift it up and run again, while the rest of us would only run there and back 2 times with nothing. I got the alunca 1 out of 6 times. The next race we did was crawling on our hands and knees. This was hard, because we never really practiced this and so it was hard to do. After crawling, we had mind games. One was where we were given new numbers and without talking or looking, we had to stand in a formation in our new numerical order. Of course, we failed and so we were punished by doing sprints. The next mind game was where we were given a long pole and an old oil drum. We had to use these objects to get across the "river filled with minds" and if anything touched the water it would exploded. We tried the game three times, each time failing and punished with sprinting. Of course everything was timed. Drinking water, sprinting, the games and everything. If we went over the time, we were given a punishment. If we did something wrong, we were punished.

The final physical thing we did was a masa or a journey that was 3k long. During this masa, we had to run with an alunca, jerry cans and sand bags. Everyone had to hold the alunca at least once and at least one bag. The whole time we rotated so that meant I got the alunca 3 or 4 times and the bag 2.

The next part of the gibush was an interview. The reason for this is because they know that everyone is not physically equal, and so they might be more mentally smart. So we had an interview. My interview went really well, because both of the people asking me question went scuba diving. So when I said I do scuba diving, they both looked at me and smiled and we had a whole conversation on it. It went really well.

After the gibush, me and Matti (the only other kid from my kibbutz) returned home and have been here ever since.

We won’t find out the results for another 10 days but we both feel confident that we passed and are now tzanchanim soldiers.