War Week - I survived

After the week I've had I never thought that I would make it to this point; where I'm relaxing on my bed in Ortal. Last week we had 'shavua milhama' (war week), the summarising week of our advanced training and our last week in the shetach during our time on the Paratroopers' training base.

Seven full days in the shetach. One meal of food rations a day. No showers. No phones. A total of 70km of walking during the whole week, while carrying heavy weights on our backs. I'm not going to say that it was hell because it wasn't as bad as that, but it was probably the hardest week so far in the army. Before 'shavua milhama', I was actually really excited, in comparison to a lot of my friends, who were very nervous and aprehensive towards the week because it was a well known fact that it was going to be very hard. However, for me, I went into the week thinking what a great experience it will be, I mean where else would someone get the chance to take part in these sorts of life-changing events and I remember saying to myself that even if it gets hard, then I have so many things to think about and keep me going strong; family, friends, ideology etc. There was a lot of preparation for the week and before we started, we were weighed on scales with everything we would be carrying in order to keep in line with the 40% body weight limit. For the whole week I carried the 'pakal mayim' (water canteen) and all my equipment for the week, a total 42kg, which was around 55% of my body weight. What was the response form the commanders regarding my excessive weight? "Tihye hazak" (be strong)!!! - a common response to most problems in the army.

So that's the set-up, and on last Monday we set out for the week. The week consisted of company-wide combat exercises and lots and lots and lots of walking. Most of the walking was done during the night because we weren't allowed to do much in the extreme heat during the days. Despite all my enthusiasm before leaving for the shetach, naturally, after walking for about five minutes up one of the many hills with the unbearable weight pulling down on my shoulders and back, I was ready to die. It doesn't matter how much you pump yourself up for stuff like this in the army, the minute you start, you seem to forget everything and the physical suffering starts. But like it happens every time, we carry on and it's this continuous stamina, which I feel is the main physical attribute that I have gained from my time in the army so far. It was a long and hard week but we everntually reached Shabbat on Friday, which for the first time, we spent in the shetach. It was definitely one of the most memorable Shabbatot I have had up until now and, for the one of the first times since I made aliyah, I was re-united with my religious self and I ended up davening all the services. I sometimes get disappointed with myself that I am not more religious becuase seeing the soldiers and commanders of the IDF praying toghether in the shetach, halfway through war week, made me realise what an amzing thing Judaism can be. I felt very connected religiously during last Shabbat and it did help that my class, samal, platoon and company commanders were all there praying with me.

Shavua milhama continued for a few days after Shabbat as well and, by the following Monday, we were finished. It was an epic and exhausting experience, but one that I am proud to say I have finished and, in a way, finished strongly. This feeling is not universal, as many people in my company didn't leave for the shetach because of medical problems. Whether the problems were genuine or not, it doesn't matter, the soldiers who participated in the week showed to our commanders who was worth something and who was not. By the way, I am still proud to say how I have still not been ill or injured during my service and I am probably the only one in my whole company who can claim not to have missed any army activities due to medical issues. The week finished with a small ceremony on base, which included a powerful rendition of the hatikva by all those who were thankful to be back on base. By finishing this week, I have completed the necessary training to be considered a fully fledged combat paratrooper in the Israeli army and, scarily, by completing shavua milhama, we are now eligible to fight in a war from this point onwards, but let's not think about that too much.

Tomorrow I go back to the army for my last week of advanced training and my last week on the paratroopers' training base, where I have been for the last seven months. I remember arriving to the base on the first day and being scared and in awe of the place, whereas now, we are the oldest soldiers there and already relatively experienced in terms of training. This week is all about one thing and, for many, the most frightening, exciting and rewarding event of the army service... 'masa kumta' (the beret march). Throughout basic and advanced training we have been doing 'masaot' (hikes), which have been gradually increasing in time and distance, from 4km in the first week, to 60km, which we did two weeks ago. In total, we have done nine masaot and walked a total of 200km, of which 22km were done by carrying people on stretchers. All those masaot, however, were being built up for the final masa of 90km, which we have this Wednesday. After some of the other masaot we received prizes for finishing them, like the gun strap or the shoulder tag, but for this masa we will receive the biggest prize of all, the coveted red paratrooper beret. For seven months now, I have been walking around with the green beret that all soldiers receive when they enlist. This green beret is an embarrassment as it is a sign of being young in the army, however, from this week I can finally show some 'pazam' (hard-earned time in the army) by having the red beret on my shoulder.

Masa kumta is said to be the hardest thing you do in your life, we have heard such things like "grown men cry", "it begins and just never ends" and "you walk until you can't feel your feet anymore". We will begin walking 90km on Wednesday afternoon and by the following morning we will finish the masa in Jerusalem at Ammunition Hill, a site of a paratrooper victory in the Six Day War. At the ceremony afterwards, we will get our berets and my host family and garin friends will hopefully be there to see it all. Next week, I'll be able to describe properly both the immense physical and mental challenge of the masa, as well as the pride and relief of receiving the beret. As for now, I need to start resting and gathering my strength for Wednesday as I prepare to walk for 90km (more than two marathons put together) and 18 hours straight!!!

60km - that's more than a marathon!

Surprisingly I am back home this week, after a very momentous couple of days in the army, where I finished both jump school and my 'masa mechin kumta' (last masa before the beret march).

At the start of this week, I jumped and landed safely for the fifth and final time, thus completing the paratrooping course. Once again, the thrill of jumping out of a plane was amazing and I made sure, of course, that I landed with my legs tightly closed together. Doing the last jump seemed a bit irrelevant, since we had done that type of jump already (in the day with the chest bag) and because we were expecting to finish the course the week before. Anyway, it didn't matter to me as I enjoy the paratrooping and was happy to do it again. However, the best bit of going back to the jump school base was to receive the wings for our uniform. Getting the wings is a really big honour and is definitely something to show off when I am on the bus going home every week. It is my first pin that I've received and is easily the nicest looking thing there is to put on your 'aleph' (ceremony/travel) uniform.


The wings on my uniform!!!


In a really intensive couple of days, we jumped and got our wings and immediately went back to base in order to get seven hours sleep before the masa on the next day. The masa this week was the second last one I ever do and the preparational masa for the 'masa kumta' (beret march), where will receive the coveted red tzanchanim beret. The masa took place outside the grounds of the base, which is where we normally do masaot, instead we walked from Sderot (a town very close to Gaza, which has been bombarded by rockets in the last five years) all the way back to the base. This made it much more interesting as it was a different route with things to see on the way, rather than the regular monotonous route that we normally walk through on masaot. It was supposed to be 45km+5 (if you still don't know, the second number represents an extra 5 kilometres done by carrying people on open stretchers), but we soon learnt by the end of the masa that it turned out to be 55km+5. Sixty kilometres, that's 37 miles!!! It took us 11 hours, which is a fantastic time, especially when you remember that the time includes all breaks (one every hour to drink and two big breaks where we ate snacks) and that it's not like a marathon with shorts and trainers, no, it's full uniform, boots, gun, vest and other added weights, like the water canteen.













Wings on some famous people; from Defense Minister Ehud Barak, current Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, Idi Amin (!) and now, Sam Sank!!!


It was a very, very hard masa and it should be, considering it is our penaultimate masa and that it was 60km. For me personally, I managed to get through it quite well. While most people just want to die on during masaot, I am comforted by the fact that I know thousands of young Israeli guys have done it in the past and will continue to do it in the future. Although time on the masa goes ridiculously slowly, knowing the time, in general, always passes also reasssures me. Since there is a break every hour for water, you start to break down the hour, step-by-step, minute-by-minute, constantly looking at your watch and counting the time away. On this masa, I started to question what an hour is; I rememeber thinking that for me it can be the first half and half time of a football game or a ninth of the "Lord of the Rings" films or two "Friends" episodes. The time did pass eventually but it was an extremely hard night/morning and for many, the most physically tough thing in the army so far. The last five kilometres were with open stretchers and with considerably heavy people lying down on them. Due to lack of numbers and some lazy people who didn't want to help out, it ended up being 'aloonkot shorot' (black stretchers), which means that for full five kilometres it was the same people under the stretchers the whole time and I was one of those people.

As a reward for finishing the masa, we were given new gun straps, which say our battalion's name - 101, our company name - 'plugat hakrav' (fighting company) and our 'mahzor' (draft) - Nov' 09. When my platoon commander handed me my strap, he gave me a big punch on the shoulder and told me that he was proud of me! The scene the next morning was like the aftermath of some sort of war, people were limping and some couldn't even walk! Also, our 'masa mechin kumta', 60km, is the same or even longer than all the other combat brigades' beret marches, for example, Givati's masa kumta is "only" 50km. On the matter of masa kumta, my one is coming up in the end of the month and is a terrifying 90km. More on that nearer the time.

This is my company's sign on my new gun strap.


Next week I have 'war week', the summarising week of my whole training up until now, which is said to be the hardest week imaginable. It is seven full days in the shetach; little sleep, little food and a lot of walking with heavy weights on our backs. In fact, we were weighed at one point this week, in order to determine how much we are able to carry. I was shocked to find out I weigh as much as 70kg, which means this week I'm going to be walking for 18 hours a day with 28kg on my back, since we are allowed to carry up to 40% of our own body weight!

Anyway, I have had a relaxing weekend watching the World Cup (I'm annoyed that I will miss most of it) and spending time with my garin friends. This week is literally going to be hell but it is going to be one of those experiences, where, on the next blog, I'm going to be proud to say that I survived it. Enjoy the World Cup everyone, when you're watching it this week, just think of me crawling through thorn bushes while wearing a gas mask!

First out of the plane!

This past week has definitely been my most favourite week in the army so far, having jumped out of an aeroplane four times! It is all a bit surreal and I still have one more jump to do tomorrow, in order to get my wings.

Walking into the plane.

Jumping out of an aeroplane with a parachute is an amazing experience and to do it within the spectrum of the army made it even more exciting. After writing about the 'tsnichot' (paratrooping jumps) in the last blog, I think some people failed to realise that when I jumped this week, it wasn't with someone on my back, instead, as they say in jump school, it was "just me and the parachute". My first jump was on Tuesday and, in all honesty, I loved every minute of it. The whole process takes a really long time, despite being in the air for a little under a minute, the exercise can take up to around five hours; from travelling to the air force base and a hundred million safety checks, to waiting for the aeroplane to arrive and reaching the meeting point once you've landed on the ground. My first jump, like all my jumps this week, went smoothly and is something that I will remember for the rest of my life. Unbelievably, I happened to be the first one to jump out of the plane for the first jump(!). Being first to leave the plane is the most scary and also the most exciting because you wait by the open door of the plane for a full minute before the light goes green and you get the command to "kfots" (jump)...

Jumping out the plane!

That's the last thing you hear before everything goes crazy. I jumped, without hesitation, and then fell for 60m, about three seconds, which is the time it takes for the parachute to open. Those four seconds are quite undescribable; the best way to explain it is that it's like a rope is being tied round your feet and you're pulled through the air horizontally! It's a crazy period of time and it's impossible to think, I was just in shock (especially if you can consider that for those four seconds I was falling through the air without a parachute). Then, the parachute opens and everything became calm and quiet and I started to enjoy the fantastic view. As I neared the ground I got into the landing position and landed safely with my feet firmly together. After landing you have to pack up the parachute and arrive at the meeting point. Although I have summed it up in a very simple way, it was easily the most exhilirating experience I have ever done and, surprisingly, I wasn't scared at all. Unlike some of my friends, who took the 'tsnichot' as physical punishment (since we had to carry a heavy weight; parachute and chest bag - containing gun and vest - for a really long distance after the all the jumps), I think it was definitely worth it and loved every moment of last week.

I did four jumps this week:

1) In the day, without any equipment

2) In the day, with the chest bag

3) In the night, with the chest bag

4) In the night, under the conditions of a real mission.

All in all, as I keep mentioning, it was a great week and I consistently followed the jump instructors' advice of "Keep your legs together and smile". However, some people did not follow this advice and this explains the bad aspect of last week. Closing your legs when you land is the most important thing you can do because if you land on one leg before the other, then all the weight goes on that leg and it can easily break. That is what happened to too many people this week, about ten people broke their legs from all battalions of tzanchanim, including a friend of mine from 101. I understand now why the discipline of jump school is so strong because paratrooping is a dangerous exercise and the reason the instructors drilled into us the correct positions of landing is because if you don't do it right then you can break your leg. Thankfully for me, I was very disciplined in all my jumps, but seeing the people being treated with morphine and having splints in their legs was harrowing and nearly runied the whole experience. I don't want to end on a bad note; I absolutely loved the jumping and am so excited to do my fifth and final one tomorrow, which will be followed by the wings ceremony!

On our way to the ground, notice the chest bags dangling below us.

I don't want my blog to be a political forum or a stage for the Middle Eastern debate, but I feel like I have to talk about what happened this week in Israel. Now I'm not a right wing extremist, I'm quite moderate in fact, but it angers me to hear that the rest of the world, as per usual, views Israel as the bad party on what happened with the Flotilla issue. For me it is quite simple, due to the nature of Hamas' terrorist regime and its control of Gaza, we have no choice but to intercept any ship going to Gaza. The army does this because supplies, like cement, are taken by Hamas to be used to attack Israel, for example, by building tunnels, which is how Gilad Shalit was captured. That's one issue settled, as for victims of the boat, from the videos it is clear to see that those people were intent on harming our young soldiers and, consequently, initiated the violence. Of course, the anti-semitic world only shows one bias side of the story in the media and now the whole world, once again, hates Israel. If people could just see the truth.

The long walk back, carrying both 20kg parachute and 15kg chest bag.

I have a very intense period coming up in the army, including my last two masaot and 'shavua milhama' (war week), which is the summarising week of my whole training. I may be closing now for three weeks in the media, so by the next blog I may only have one more week left of training. I want to finish by saying thank you for all the comments I receive on this blog (from people all over the world). Thank you for reading and please continue to read and leave comments because it motivates me to carry on and try and make this blog as inspiring and interesting as it can be. I have a cool week coming up with one more jump, the wings ceremony and a 50km masa!!!

Jump School

I am in the middle of a really fantastic weekend here in Ortal, as it is my garin's seminar and all my friends have come back from the army to be together on the kibbutz as a sort of reunion. These are the people I made aliyah with and who I spent my first three months in Israel on the kibbutz with; some of them I haven't seen since the last seminar (due to conflicting army exits) so it has been amazing to catch up with all my friends here and spend some time with them.

I'm also in quite a good mood because I've passed an interesting and fun but also physically hard and disciplined week at jump school; and am now looking towards the upcoming week, a week I've been excited for for a very long time, paratrooping week. Yes that's right, this week I will be jumping out of a Hercules aeroplane at a height of 400m (not that high, approximately one minute in the air before landing) on five separate occassions (one without any gear, and four with full combat equipment i.e. gun and vest) with two of the five jumps being done at night! Jump school this week, like I said, was fairly hard since for eight hours a day we would have to practice jumping and falling on the floor from all types of different apparatus, like this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Jk2Ac9Mqh0. Now it may not look hard but I can assure you that I'm still in a bit of pain from all the exercises this week; I have rope burns on my neck, my bum is all bruised and, for boys especially, the jump training can be extremely painful in one particular place! However, the week was a good laugh with all my friends from the army and I feel prepared for Monday when we do the first jump. I am actually not scared at all and the height doesn't bother me, which is surprising since I am quite a chicken in general, instead I am more scared of making a mistake, like not being able to release the 'sak haze' (chest bag, which contains your gun and vest), which would result in a difficult landing.

It is all very exciting and I still can't believe that I'm going to be paratrooping this week as part of my IDF service. Firstly, I remember before I made aliyah thinking how cool this thing is that the Israeli paratroopers do as part of their training. Secondly, after joining tzanchanim and company 101, I remember looking at the schedule and thinking how the paratrooping course is so far advanced into training and now that I am at that stage, I realise how time has simply flown and that I am really at the final stage of my combat training, with only 4 more weeks left on the tzanchanim training base! Finally, paratrooping/parachuting, is something that many people look to do in civilian life and is considered one of the many "things to do in life". I feel privileged to have the opportunity to do this exciting activity in an army atmosphere, with all my new Israeli friends and there is definitely some sprinkle of zionism connected. I am simply so excited for this week and the big reward will be on Friday when we receive our 'wings', a silver pin to put on our uniform.

I also want to explain how doing the paratrooping course is not a regular thing a soldier, or even a combat soldier, in the IDF gets to do. The only people who paratroop in the army is us (the tzanchanim - paratroopers), elite units and anyone who might get to do the course as a reward for being an excellent soldier, like an officer who's been in the army for many years. Out of the people who get to do the paratrooping course, it is only tzanchanim who jump five times (compared to two times for everyone else, including the elite units) and we learn to do it in a 'professional' way i.e. if Israel needed to paratroop soldiers in a war situation then we have been trained to paratroop, land and be ready to fight. Nevertheless, the practicality is that paratrooping is not used anymore in modern warfare and tzanchanim continue to train for it as part of our decorated tradition and history; in the 1956 Sinai campaign, tzanchanim soldiers did actully paratroop into Egypt as part of a mission. So as you can tell, it is clearly a great honour to do this special course and to have those coveted wings on your uniform. It also shows to me why tzanchanim is easily the best combat brigade in the IDF, it's also the only one that has a 'gibush' (screening test) in order to get into it. I'm obviously bias and the friendly rivalry between the five combat brigades in the IDF; Tzanchanim, Golani (our enemy), Nachal, Givati and Kfir, is good fun but there's really no competition!!!

This is exactly what I will be doing on Monday - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elfNPpqXKL8 (just not in Iraq!)

Time to wrap up, I will hopefully be out again next weekend and will definitely have a lot of talk about in the next blog. I normally finish a blog by saying "wish me luck" for something I have the upcoming week, but this week I think it has even more meaning. It really is a big deal and I'm sure if you speak to my mum, she will say how she can't believe how her little baby is going to be jumping out of a plane as part of his military training! Anyway, got to go now, let's just hope I don't forget to open the parachute (!), only joking, it opens up automatically!!!

Starting Jump School

Just a short blog this week as I prepare to start a full week of paratrooping training at the IDF's jump school tomorrow. I am actually pretty mad at the army, as I am only able to have a one day weekend today, since I got back to Ortal late afternoon yesterday and have to leave here today (and sleep at friends in the centre of Israel) in order not to be late on Sunday. Despite explaining my circumstances of being a lone soldier and living so far north, I still have to arrive to the jump school base at 9am on Sunday morning. I'm obviously annoyed because weekends off from the army are a precious but short space of free time and anything that makes it even shorter is simply frustrating. At the moment I just feel that I have left so much back home in order to give all that I can to the army; and this is how they repay me? I do realise that this is what the army is all about (not being home, both England and Ortal, for a long time) but I'm just a bit angry right now, especially since I know that I'll be missing most of my Garin's seminar next weekend for the same reasons. The Garin seminar is when everyone comes back for the weekend from the army and we have a reunion, so to miss parts of that is going to be painful.

With the friend who I stayed at for Shavuot.

The reason for all these late leavings and early arrivals is because I have officially started jump school, where there is a tight schedule and extremely high discipline. I've already done some training and have learnt how to fall, roll and enter the plane! It's so crazy to think that this week I'm learning how to jump and then the week after...I'll be jumping out of a plane five times!!! The course is actually quite hard physically, especially since you are falling on the floor for eight hours straight a day. It's a big deal for us, since we are paratroopers, and at the end of all the 'tsnichot' (paratroops/jumps) we will be given the pin to put on our uniform, which is the famous wings and a parachute. It's all very exciting stuff and I'll be able to talk about it more next weekend after I've finished the week of training. You can see some of the stuff I'll been doing this week... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzxTYe5LO_M.

For Shavuot I stayed at one of my friend's house from the army and we had a really great couple of days. His family made me feel very welcome, I met all his friends and we went out a couple of times. Shavuot showed me that I've definitely made true friends from the army, firstly, the guy whose house I stayed at, I am now really close to, and also, another guy, who volunteered to stay on base for Shavuot instead of me, after my name was pulled out of a hat. It's a long story, but basically my other very good friend insisted on replacing me as one of the soldiers needed to stay on base, in order so I could enjoy the Shavuot at the first friend's house after we had planned it for a long time. Both these guys are strong friends and it's good to know that I've integrated with all these Israeli guys, despite having some initial worries about making friends with Israelis before I joined the army.

With the friend who stayed on base instead of me.

Next week I have a full week's training at the jump school and will hopefully be back for the weekend (at some point), in order to spend time with the people from the garin, some of whom I haven't seen in over three months. Although I started the blog in a pessimistic tone, I'm not depressed at all, it's just a temporary annoyance of not having enough free time on the weekends and I know that it is only because of the paratrooping course, which lasts two weeks and is completely worth the short weekends in the end. I still am desparately missing my parents but in a way that I'm looking forward to seeing them (when I hopefully come back to London in the summer) and, since I speak to them every day, never feel that I am far away from them. Hope everyone had a nice and filling Shavuot, I ate a ridiculous amount of cheesecake at my friend's house! Wish me luck with all the jump training this week.

Only two masaot to go now!!!

Once again I am back on my kibbutz for the weekend, after an unusual two week period in the army. I was hardly on base; instead stayed and slept in the shetach for the majority of the time. However, it was a fun couple of weeks, with some interesting and memorable moments.

Two weeks ago I was sent to course 'Banayim', where I learnt how to build certain looking points in the 'shetach' (open area) and also learnt camoflauge at a more advanced level. Some of the stuff I learnt was secretive and we had to have a security clearance before we started the course!

Me and a good friend in a 'milo'im' (reservist) truck.

I returned to my 'plooga' (company) from the course just in time for my latest masa, 35+5km, which lasted for a full seven hours! I struggled a lot during parts of the masa as the pace was ridiculously fast and it stayed like that for the whole masa. I finished strongly though and even managed to do my part of being under the stretchers, while having the water canteen on my back! It was one of the toughest physical challenges to date in the army and is the third last masa, with only the 'preparational beret march' and 'beret march' to go. We closed for the weekend on base and most of us just slept the whole time; as part of the recovery from the torturous masa. Last week, I was involved in a gigantic, nationwide 'milo'im' (reservist) excersize, with my plooga being used as the enemy for the reserve IDF soldiers. Basically, it meant that all week, the rest of my friends and I were lazing around and waiting for the call to say if there were any soldiers on the way. When that call came, we would hide in a good position, surprise the soldiers and 'shoot at them'. It was good fun and an easy week.

My
'mahlaka' (platoon) in the shetach. We are all holding Hizbollah flags; as part of the role as the 'enemy'

Although being a lone soldier is a hard life, I am so lucky to have a supporting network of friends and host families around me. My garin; all of whom are lone soldiers having made aliyah, are currently serving in the army in a variety of different places and often come back to Ortal on their free weekends, are my main base of support. From my garin I have made some strong friendships and that partly causes me to keep returning to Ortal each week for the weekend. On top of that, there is the organiser of the garin and the guy who generally looks after all our needs and problems. He is a top guy, one of the best, and is always there for me. Then there is my wonderful host family, the Nirons, who are always here to do my washing or feed me or send me packages in the army. I have also got lots of different contacts around the country; family friends and distant relatives, all of whom consistently invite me round for Shabbat. Recently, I also have my friends from the army, who I am getting closer and closer to as the weeks go on.

My company on a trip; with some Israeli school kids. I'm in the middle, you can make out my bald head!!!

Something that has annoyed me this week is the feeling that I am missing out on some moments where I should be with my family. Missing out on these moments, which are relevant just to me, is one of the setbacks about being in the army and shows how clueless you are to what's going on in the rest of the world, like the time when I came back from the army and my mum asked me about the Haiti thing, and I answered "what Haiti thing?". This week, the end of the football season and, specifically, Spurs' success of getting into the Champions League, is normally something which I was always excited for. However, this year, I missed out on all the excitement and anticipation; while missing out on Spurs' (well-deserved) final position, something we loyal fans have been waiting for, for a long time, was definitely a moment I would have like to have shared with my papa, whom I had a season ticket with for 12 years. Additionally, the final season finale to the television series Lost is something that I won't be able to truly share with my mum; and after we religiously followed and watched the show together for the last 6 years, makes me frustrated not to be back in London. However looking at the bigger picture, I can see that these are some of the sacrificies of being in the army, that they are not life-or-death matters (although in my opinion they are) and that I am still able to share aspect of the experience, albeit through the phone or Skype.

This week in the army we are getting let out for Shavuot (deservadly, since my company closed Hannukah, Purim and most of Pesach). I will be spending the festival at one of my friends from the army, which is a big deal for me as it's the first time I'm going to stay at one of my new Israeli friends. We go back to the army on Thursday to the Jumping base, in order to initiate 'course tznicha' (jump course) by having medical checks and signing forms. So that's it, after all the waiting, next week I'm signing on to paratrooping course. I leave next weekend as well, so I'll be able to explain all about that, so excited...

Sayid

My time in the army is really starting to fly by now; I am now almost halfway through advanced training and have been on the Paratroopers' base for three quarters of the time I will eventually be here. I can hardly believe that I've been a soldier now for a total of five months, having made aliyah nearly nine months ago (!). I feel like I've done and been through so much already as part of the training to be a combat soldier, yet the next two months (the final stage to being a fully fledged IDF fighter) is where it really gets hard. Major upcoming events that scare the living daylights out of me include: the paratrooping course (where I will jump a total of five times), 'shavua milhama' - a week in the shetach made to feel like a real war - and the dreaded 'masa kumta', the 78km hike, which we'll do in order to receive the coveted red tzanchanim beret. It's an intensive period that I have in front of me but I'm taking it one step at a time.

This last fortnight was rather relaxing, with most of my time being spent off base. It started off with Yom Hazikaron (memorial day for fallen soldiers and other people who fell in Israel's name, like victims of suicide bombings) and Yom Ha'atzma'ut (Israel's 62nd Independance Day), a unique time where one minute separates the saddest and happiest days of the year. I was in Jerusalem for both those days with my 'plooga' (which I've since found out translates as company not battalion!) and there I personally guarded at Zion gate, one of the more historically significant of the eight gates of the Old City, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zion_Gate. I was guarding there with a 'magavnik' (border policeman), the border police in general don't have a great reputation in Israeli or international eyes, but I happened to get on really well with this particular guy, who, was in fact, an Israeli-Arab called Sayid, voluntarily doing military service, just like me! It was definitely one of those uniquely Israeli moments where a Jewish-British immigrant paratrooper and a Muslim border policeman were joined together to guard one of the entrances to the Old City of Jerusalem on Yom Hazikaron!!!

Showing off our fridge for the week - jam-
packed with food.

My day was made even crazier when I randomly saw two friends from London just passing through the gate. I could see that they were just as surprised to see me in the middle of Jerusalem, especially since I was there in full army uniform, vest and gun. It was good to catch up on some old gossip from London and has made me excited to see all my old friends when I go back home as part of my speical holiday as a lone soldier, which I hope to take in the summer, after I've finished all my training.

From last Thursday, lasting a whole week, I was on 'Avtashim' where I was situated at a small settlement in the West Bank, and guarded the religious 'yishuv' (town) there. Whereas before, when we were placed in Hebron for a weekend , we were just supporting older soldiers (who were there as their permamaent station of guarding), this time we were the main body presence and the front line of defence for the settlement. Of course, it was really quiet and there weren't any incidents, but it felt very much like I was, at first hand, defending the Jews of Israel from the surrounding Palestinian neighbourhoods. I say there weren't any incidents but a couple of interesting episodes spring to mind from this week. For instance, on Shabbat, we had to warn off some left-wing 'humanitarians' who were trying to claim the Jewish-owned land or, how every morning I needed to check the IDs of the Palestinian workers, who were building more houses for the settlement, how ironic! This week I was definitely at the forefront of world politics as the settlement was, effectively, beyond the 'green line', which is the main obstacle and talking point behind the Israeli-Palestinian debate.

The three of us sitting down for dinner.

Apart from the meaningful and ideological feelings that I felt, it was also a very fun week. Two other soldiers from my class and I (no commanders!!!) were situated there and we lived, cooked and guarded together for a full week. I suddenly started to feel like my friends in university; living with other guys, preparing our own meals together and upkeeping a small place of our own, the only difference is that when my friends go off to a lecture, I, on the other hand, was leaving for a four hour patrol of the yishuv. It was maybe the first time that I have lived fully idependantly, because even here in Ortal, where I share my own apartment with two good friends, I do rely on my host family and the kibbutz dining room. The small religious settlement also made us feel very welcome and we were invited by one of the families to Friday night dinner. It was a lovely atmosphere but I will mostly remember the evening for how, even after introducing myself as Sam, the father insisted on calling me 'Shmuel' (my Hebrew name) the whole night, which, of course, got some good laughs from my friends! So, it was an extremely fun and meaningful experience; and is similiar to what my army service will be like after I've finished training and am sent to guard at different places round the country.

I've said it once before in the blog, but recently I've really noticed how Israelis really care and look after soldiers. There are countless examples of how citizens go out of their way to help a soldier, in particular, a lone soldier. Recently I was at Ammunition Hill (a famous battle site from the Six Day War) for Yom Ha'atzma'ut and, in the nearby park, there was a wonderful atmosphere with hordes of people coming to celebrate Independance Day with barbeques and picnics, which is what happens in parks all over the country. As soon as I entered the park I was bombarded with plates of meat, ice creams and cold drinks. It's just a small example of the typical Israeli mentality and the love for its soldiers, which explains why the Gilad Shalit issue is the most important thing on everyone's mind.

Breakfasts this week - cornflakes from the only bowl in the kitchen and half-dressed, ready for guard duty.

Yesterday, via my parents on the phone and the voting form through the post, I voted for the first time in the upcoming British elections. It's strange to think how my first act as a voting British citizen has come from my time as a Israeli soldier! Anyway back to the army tomorrow where I am going to a course where I will learn how to build looking-points and camoflauge in the shetach. If I sound vague about this it's not because it's something secretive but simply because I don't know what this course is, they just told me on Friday that I'm going! So it should be an interesting week ahead of me, which I hope will result in a 'hamshoosh' (Thursday weekend), as part of finishing the course. Fingers crossed.