As I promised, I am about to fill you guys in on what happened over the month of March and end of February. Unfortunately, I can't remember everything that I did in chronological order so I will just write about some of the events that stick out in my head as memorable.
Out with the old, in with the new:
We started basic training with two commanders, Amir and Lior. About 2/3 rd of the way in to basic training, Amir was sent off to officer's course. In the army, there is a tradition called shvirat distance, literally breaking the distance, where the guys get to beat up the commander who caused them so much grief and get to call him by his first name. Amir was a really chill commander who rarely disciplined us and whom I really enjoyed being under. Lior was a different story. This guy would make us do sprints, push-ups, you name it. He was constantly on our backs and yelling at us and the worst thing was his unpredictability. One moment he would be joking and the next moment we would be running sprints. A lot of the guys hated his guts...I just thought he was an ass. Anyways, he was unexpectedly called back to his unit and I have to hand it to him, he truly got us when he broke distance. He told us that we had 5 minutes to change into krav maga gear (white undershirt, sneakers, army pants, water bottle) and to collect wooden poles and a spare t-shirt for him. Not knowing what to expect, we were taken to a basketball court where we were yelled at and did sprints back and forth for 15 minutes straight. We then placed the spare t-shirts over our heads so we couldn't see and were told to line up. We were instructed that this session was going to be an "absorbing session" where we absorb punches to the gut from the wooden poles to "strengthen us up". We had no idea that this whole thing was fake, and that he whispered in guys' ears to yell when he hit the pole on the ground. We thought our friends were being beat up, but in reality this was just his last way of screwing with us before leaving. When he told us that he was breaking distance, we really beat him up...I mean kicking and punching as months of frustration were let out. After speaking with the guy, I realized that he really had good intentions all along and that he was a great guy. Its very easy to lose sight of the fact that our commanders are really just 20 year old kids who laugh at the same jokes we do and are no more serious than we are.
Our two new commanders are really chill and so I am hoping that the pressure to maintain strict discipline will drop a lot.
Machine gunner:
In the average Israeli combat company, many soldiers receive specialized roles based on what the commanders think they are suited for. The best shooters get trained as sharpshooters and receive guns with advanced scopes. There are guys who get trained on grenade launchers, anti-tank missiles, platoon leaders and heavy and light machine gunners. As I am a big guy, I got trained for a full week on the heavy machine gun. There is no other way to describe the feeling of shooting that monster except that of power. Its truly an humbling feeling to know that you control this weapon of such destructive power. The thing weighs over 20 pounds without any ammunition and it is bulky as hell. It sucks to carry this bad boy around but shooting it makes it worthwhile. I am officially the backup machine gunner but there were two weeks when they decided that I would be the official one, including a week where we did a 28 km march. I carried nearly 30 kilo of weight due to that gun and its ammunition. I think that the harder things get physically, the more I rise to the challenge because although those two weeks left me drained physically, looking back and saying, wow I survived and excelled, gives you a great feeling.
Switching bases:
We moved bases from our old one to our advanced training one. Its pretty unbelievable, but the new base is worse than the old one, yay! Still in tents that leak with every rain, we have unreliable electricity and less outlets. Which means that they are always taken by the time you arrive to charge your own- fun! The base is smaller, though, which means less walking to and from places and the food is much higher quality. This is a huge point in its favor since to be honest, most weeks we are in the field and sleep on the base only two nights a week.
Socially: The army has been interesting socially. It still is hard for me due to the language and cultural gaps, but I am making friends and I really love the guys in my group except for a bunch, 4 or 5 or so rotten apples. This core can really drag down the rest of the company (29 guys in total). It took me a while to cope with this reality until my father gave me a great piece of advice. He said that there is no way for you to be friends with 28 guys. Find two or three guys that you will become super close with and ignore the bad apples. I have started applying this advice and found that I am enjoying the company more than ever and am much more relaxed than I was before.
Relaxation of discipline:
At a certain point, our commanders lowered the discipline. This means they give us more time to do things, we are allowed to address them by their names, and in general they treat us with more respect. As a 23 year old, this was a nice return to sanity. Of course, the company took this treatment as an excuse to lower our standards in meeting missions and tasks, which angered the commanders and as a result we have been getting punished and talked down to. Eventually, the situation got really bad, to the point where we got an talk by the brigade commander who didn't like what he was seeing. We'll see if the company gets back up to standard, I hope it will.
Marching on:
As I have already alluded to, we have been slowly advancing in length and difficulty the marches we do. We just did a 28 km march with 30% body weight. Our next march is 30+4 with 30% weight (the +4 is the number of km you do carrying a soldier on the stretcher), so wish me luck especially as I tend to get blisters from the marches that can be quite debilitating.
I am sorry for the delay in posts! Hope everyone enjoys.
Nate
