In my last semester of my senior year of high school, during my trip with Alexander Muss High School in Israel, I had the distinct privilege of participating in a week-long simulation of "tironut," or basic training, of the Israeli Defense Forces. At the time, I had already made the decision to go to university and earn my degree before enlisting, and the experience was accordingly mostly unrelated, in my mind, to any real military service. Myself and my friends from Donna Klein and another Jewish school from Arizona had a fun week of many jokes. It was a relatively easy glimpse into the world of early army life. However, at its completion, I was thankful that the next time I would have to run around forming lines and Hebrew letters all day, I would be wearing a real uniform, with the guys in my actual unit, in a "slightly" more serious manner. Garin Tzabar eventually responded to this with, "Ha!!!" In only our second week as a Garin, the boys and girls from Kibbutz Malkiya would be going back to S'de Boker for… sigh with me… Gadna, the week-long simulation of "tirunot," or basic training, of the Israeli Defense Forces.
I should disclose that I knew this was a Garin Tzabar tradition ever since beginning to research my options in serving in the IDF, but pretended it would be canceled by the time I had my turn. Nope. However, despite my sandy memories of punishment push-ups and rusty long M16s, I did feel a tinge of excitement pulling through the gates of the base for my Gadna homecoming. Very quickly, it was also explained to us that this week would be very different for the Garin Tzabarniks. The soldiers at Gadna had planned and worked to make sure that this was going to be a much more challenging, much more accurate depiction of the army than would usually occur. This was, naturally, greeted with a skeptical roll of both of my eyes (funny image), but, as karma would have it, I can now confirm that this was not your run-of-the-mill, 11th-grade Israel tour Gadna. Obligatory elaboration to follow.
Firstly, the week carried a much more meaningful theme to it - of course, that we would soon be doing this for real. It meant that when our commander would sit us down for the recitation of a, poem, let's say, the piece and its meaning hit us much harder than it ordinarily would have. Coincidental reference? I think not. On the first day, our "mefakedet" (commander) read us two very moving selections about the life of a soldier. One, entitled "L'hiot Chayal" ("To be a Soldier") was particularly impacting, and I, being me, decided to ask for a copy shortly afterward. She (as-of-that-point unfriendly commander) gave a curt yes and sent me back in line. A long day of introductory army discipline later, I was told that I was selected for personal discipline with her for various offenses throughout the day and to meet her in our for of free time. Cue example number two of the increased difficulty of Gadna Reincarnated. After successfully (retrospectively stupidly) acquitting myself of all of the wrongdoings she attributed to me, I was still given my consequence, the extremely possible (sarcasm) 100m in 15 seconds roundtrip sprint. Ah, yes, and the best part… I had to count down… out loud… in Hebrew… while I ran. Half-an-hour of failed attempts later, all sprinted out, hands on my knees, groveling at her boots, I gave her a simple choice. Either she sprints and I count or vice versa, but I refuse to do both. Surprised with my victory (can you guess which she chose?), I soon realized that hearing her at the other end of the long road was as impossible. What's a guy to do? I have to believe that she counted minutes instead of seconds, as I eventually satisfied her demand. When I could breathe enough to face the dilemma of whether or not to drink my water or pour it over my head, she looked me in the eye and told me that I wasn't called to the "onesh" (punishment) because of an unfilled water bottle or an untucked shirt, but rather because she wanted to show me that I could do anything I wanted to, even if it seemed too much, before handing me the copy of the poem I had asked for and instructing me to protect it and keep it in my army ID when I receive it. Noted, mefakedet!
Having a laugh!
Some highlights of the week included: a night in the "field," where we set up camp in the desert and slept with the scorpions of Southern Israel; learning some foundational camouflage and ambush techniques; watching "Glory Boy" Jochai impress everyone with anything physical (including a battalion-wide 'capture-the-flag' kind of competition up a hill); and, most of all, bonding with the Garin members from Malkiya who were in my group. As an explanation to this last point, 20 people from our kibbutz were placed in their own team, while nine of us were paired with Garin Tzabarniks from a different kibbutz. It definitely made for a unique aspect of the week and we got the best of both worlds, growing close to one another and getting to know good people from another Garin. Ultimately, the experience, the conversations we had in our group and (yes, I'll admit it) our beloved mefakedet, gave me a whole new appreciation for what we are doing here and made me far more excited for the journey that we are rapidly moving through. Sorry for judging you and bye-bye for good, Gadna! This time I mean it.
- Darren
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