Firstly, I apologize that I have been lacking in writing these last two weeks. It has been very hectic and I have not found the time to write. Now though, I have a little time and I want to give everyone a little update.
If you have been following the blog or been talking to me you know that my goal in the army is 669 (an elite rescue and evacuation unit). One of the first steps is getting to this unit is going to a day called Yom Sayerot. It is a 24 hour try-out for all of the IDF’s elite units. So getting to Yom Sayerot usually comes with an invitation from the army, but in my case because I had decided so late to do combat, getting this invitation was proving extremely difficult.
Thursday afternoon, the week before Yom Sayerot, playing on the rocks at the beach I got my foot caught in a rock hole and twisted my knee. Friday morning woke up and I could barely walk. Sat, Sun, Mon, Tue, spent nursing my hurt knee. Complete rest. Tuesday night I was sitting with all my boys around the table talking about my other options because even if I would have the chance to go to Yom Sayerot on Thursday there was no way that I was going to sprinting up and down sand dunes 30 times and carrying a stretcher full of 80kg of weight, or for that matter trotting up and down the dunes with a 30kg sand bag on my back. At this point I was looking at plan B. Depressed was not even the word to describe my feelings. I was heartbroken. It was like my dream had been snatched from my utter grasp. Now another thing to add is that at this point I still had no idea whether I would even get the opportunity to go because the army still had not decided whether or not I was going to get an invitation. My rakaz (director) was working tirelessly with the army, on the phone literally the entire day with them trying to set things straight. For his immense effort I will be forever thankful.
I went to bed that night thinking I would just go to Gibush Tzanchanim like a lot of the other guys in our group and try to make it to Sayeret Duvdevan or Maglan (One is a counter terror unit that operates in the territories while the other is a deep reconnaissance and ambush unit that operates deep in enemy territory).
Wednesday Morning (the morning before Yom Sayerot is planned to start). The entire Garin except for me heads to the Golan Heights for a trip including: a wine tasting and pick nick, meeting with a famous war hero who with his division of 40 tanks overcame a Lebanese division of 500 or so tanks in a the valley of tears עמק הבכא, and following that a live tank demonstration with two Israeli Tank divisions. They also had the opportunity to go an army job fair where people from all different units in the army had set up booths to hand out information and talk to people about their units. All this time I was home, going to a doctor's appointment to get an idea at what I was looking at with my knee.
8:30 am my phone has been ringing off the hook for about an hour, but not having heard it, Avner (my rakaz) has to send in additional support. Elaine came to the door, yelling my name, suddenly waking me up and telling me that I need to answer the last three calls I got and that Avner, Ziv, and the army was trying to call me. Five minutes later after returning all my other calls I get a call from someone in the army. She says, Do you have asthma? No. Do you have glasses? No. "Weird" she says, we were sure you told us that. "Nope", I said 'I’m healthy as a horse", "Okay" she said now I need to check your Hebrew level, we need to make sure you will understand if we offer you an invitation. Two minutes later she said to me, "Congratulations, you will have Yom Sayerot TOMORROW."
I went into my doctor’s appointment thinking two things: one, he was going to tell me I needed another week or two rest, and second, holy sh&% I can't believe what just happened. I got into the doctor’s office, 45 minutes late of course, because even in Israel doctors are not on time. I sat down across from this doctor who could not have been over 35, but who had come very highly recommended. He told me to lie down on the bed, I did. After two or three minutes of twisting my knee around and pushing it in and out and asking questions about pain and tenderness in certain places he sat me down again. (I was there with our Garin mother, Elaine, thank god. So I was not devoid of moral support) He said to me: “look, there is no serious injury in your knee.” “You did some sort of strain, and it has not healed completely yet.” I said to him, “Okay, well this is my dilemma-- I got an invitation this morning to Yom Sayerot tomorrow and it’s my dream to be in 669 which I can only reach from there. Will I be looking at permanent damage if I go, and how do you think with will hold up.” He answered: “In an ideal situation I would tell you to wait until it is completely healed, but since this is your only opportunity and it’s your dream I am going to clear you because there is no serious injury or tear.” “You will know very quickly if your knee is going to hold up, but you need to have the maturity to stop if it does not feel good.” I came out of the doctor’s office, armed with Ibuprofen and a knee brace, charging with excitement and happiness. As soon as I said a deep thank you to Elaine and was making my way back home, I let out the loudest scream of joy anyone has ever heard.
The next day I travelled with one of my boys Yarden to do the Yom Sayerot. It started at 3 pm in the afternoon with a 2k run. I finished 16th of 90. The next morning after sleeping next to nothing, alongside some of the loudest Israeli's I have ever met, the real work started. We were split into groups 15 and for the next few hours did some of the most intense exercise I have ever done. The first thing they do is sprints. It is all on the beach, on very steep sand dunes. They line you up, show you the top of the dune and then you sprint, over and over and over and over. The first sprint I was very worried how my leg was going to hold up so I took it a little easy. I came in fifth. This did not make me happy at all, so after that I just went for it. After about 20 sprints and up and down the dunes we started with the sand bags. 30 laps later it was time to dig. We dug with the tiniest shovel on earth but the holes were meant to be about a meter in depth and width and as long as you could make it. The last thing we did was more sprints, although this time instead of getting down and waiting the 3 seconds before they sent us off again we would race down and the first four would have to carry the stretcher on another lap before starting the process again. It is very demeaning exercise, over and over and over again. No idea of when it’s going to end. They also play with your head a lot, asking if your going to be okay, ask you if you want to quit. They sometimes even ask you strange Israeli trivia or whatever else they can to get you doubting yourself, they want you to struggle and see how you react to different situations. That is the point of the entire exercise, to see your level of mental strength. In the end I was fortunate enough to get the stretcher all but two times and also performed very well on the other activities. At the end of the 3-4 hour activity, after cleaning up the camp of course, everyone sits in one bug group (about 250-300) people and they read the 35-40 numbers (we were all assigned one) that were accepted into the Sayeret Matkal, Shaldag and 669 Group.
I sat there very depressed as all the names of all the groups were read and I did not here my number once. Thinking, well at least I gave it my best and preparing to go home. A female soldier came over to the group and asked, "Is 175 here?" I said, "Ken Ken!!" She said, “hurry over to the Matkal group, you were supposed to be there 3 minutes ago!” With the biggest smile of my life I went to join Yarden in the Matkal group. I gave him the loudest and best high five ever when I got there, even causing the senior officer already giving the presentation to crack a smile. I sat there dumbfounded, I could not believe it. Here I was in the group accepted to do Gibush Matkal, when a week ago I could not even walk. How was I so blessed? The first part of my dream was complete. I was on my way to the weeklong try out for Sayeret Matkal, which is also for Shaldag and 669. I have included a link to a blog post about what I will be facing there, it is fascinating and I would highly recommend you to read it. (http://sonicinbeijing.blogspot.com/2009/11/gibush-matkal-sweat-sand-tears.html)
On November the 7th my Gibush starts. Until then I am training hard, physically and mentally. Working out at least twice a day and mentally preparing myself for perhaps one of the most difficult challenges of my life.
On another note, we had another Garin trip to the Golan Heights; we went to Tel Chai (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tel_Hai ) and also went rafting on the Jordan River, followed by pizza and ice cream to celebrate our first Garin member joining the army. Mazal Tov Ilana!!! (She will be doing International Relations in the Territories).
I hope this update was interesting and put some of your minds at rest. I wish everyone a peaceful and reviving Shabbat.
Much love,
אנדרו
PS pray for me November 7-13 I’m going to need all the strength I can get.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Friday, October 1, 2010
Why we Fight
For those of you who know me well, you know that I always say that you should fight for what you believe in. This was among the many reasons that I decided to come to Israel in the first place, to see if I had the courage to truly fight for what I believe in. In amongst this decision I had another choice to make, which in the end ended up being the harder one to make by far. I had to choose whether or not, I wanted to be in a Kravi (Combat) unit in the army.
This past Shabbat the garin went together to a Holocaust museum in the Golan called lochme Ha’ghetteot (The Ghetto Fighters). Unlike Yad V’Shem and other holocaust museums Lochme ha’ghetteot has a very special story. Founded by survives of Poland Ghettos, these heroes took it upon themselves to tell their story, and the stories of others like them, so as to not only preserve the memory of the ones they had lost, but to tell the stories of those who had been saved. Most of you I’m sure, have seen the movie Defiance, but as an aside I will explain a bit about it. It is the story of The Bielski Brothers who, after their family is killed start a camp/resistance in the forests of Belarus. They create a camp, fight the Nazis, rescue more people from the Ghetto and in the end save over 1800 people from the death camps. These brothers made a choice in this movie, a choice to fight against the forces trying to exterminate their people, to keep the people that were still with them alive. They decided it was better to fight for what they thought was right, rather than give up as say that all had already been lost.
I have been thinking about this decision of mine ever since I decided to come to Israel, it has easily dominated my sub-conscious and conscious mind for the past five months. However in the end my decision came down to a few simple ideas. Firstly, the reasons that I came here in the first place: I want to serve this country to the best of my ability, both for the betterment of the country and of myself. I want to be challenged and fight for what I believe in the best way possible. Lastly, I wanted to have a meaningful service with a team of guys that I would emerge with from my service as family. Each day I went back and forth between combat and non-combat, always doing my best to keep an open mind and have the most information possible to make an educated decision. I talked with EVERYONE about this decision. Israeli’s, non-Israeli’s, old people, young people, friends, strangers—each person offering a different perspective or opinion. In the end with some help from both my Israeli mothers Rain Wieselman and Iris Bar I came to understand that after all is done, this will be 2-4 years of my life, in which it is up to me to accomplish the tasks asked of me and to live the life I want to live. To progress towards the person I want to be with the character I want to emulate. In the end I had to look past everything else, much like when driving in the rain—looking past the rain droplets on the windshield to see the road ahead, in the end it was my road and it would be my decisions that determined what lay ahead.
I am an adventurous soul, constantly wanting to be on the move, so that I may experience the world, and share whatever I can with it. A part of this is taking every opportunity given to me, I can’t say no to anything new, it just is not a part of me. I also feed off challenges. When I am faced with something that is outside my comfort zone, I want to experience it. This is not to say that I blindly do anything that is presented to me, I obviously think about my actions and each decision before I make it, but when it comes down to it, if I am not doing something because of fear I take that leap of faith. I prefer to bear the consequences of a conscious decision, rather than bear the ones of indecision. At least in this case I know that I was present in my own life, still making my own decisions.
That is what it came down to in this decision, a conscious decision, for myself, that demonstrated the reasons and ideals that I came for. It is with this prologue that I have the great honor of telling you that I have chosen to serve in a combat (kravi) unit in the Israel Defense Forces. I know this is probably not the decision that most of you would have made for me, but that is because you worry and fear for my safety and as much as I understand that this was one time in my life where I had to do what was best for me.
I am excited, frightened and apprehensive about my decision, but I am happy with it. I am proud to fight for what I believe in, to move one step closer in becoming the person I want to be, and to do my personal best in the service of this country. I realize that this might cause some hardship for you( my friends and family) but in my mind that is the price you pay for being in my family. This country is my life and by being a part of my life, you are sacrificing too, so from the bottom of my heart let me say thank you, both from myself and from this Eretz Yisrael.
As you have probably realized by now, I am not a particularly gung hoe or violent person but I finally come to understand that there are times when after all other options have been exhausted, there are times when weapons are necessary to defend ourselves and the people of this country. Although keepin the fact that I am not so “gung hoe” in mind I have my sights set on the elite unit 669. It is an Airborne Rescue and Evacuation unit that is part of the Israeli Air Force. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_669) I have attached the link to let those of you who are interested read more about it but it is an amazing unit. In war time its missions include rescuing pilots and other soldiers who have fallen behind enemy lines, and in non-war time its missions include a lot of civilian related work, people that get lost in the desert or fall into the ocean or any other such emergency. As it is such an interesting unit, it is also EXTRODANARILY difficult one to be accepted into. I have to pass multiple physical testing days, about four levels of them actually. The first round of these tests is Yom Sayerot a try-out day for all the elite units, which B’ezrat Ha’shem I will have in the second week in October. If I succeed there I will have to be offered Gibush Matkal (basically the try out WEEK for the most elite commando unit in the army) *Sayeret Matkal is the most elite unit in the Israeli military focusing on deep enemy territory reconnaissance and counter terrorism. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayeret_Matkal) IF, and it’s an enormous IF I pass that six day mental and physical battle of a lifetime I will have to be asked to try out for 669. At that point I will have to pass a one day “pool day” which I am sure would be one of the hardest things imaginable, and only then would I qualify to be INTERVIEWED for the unit. As you might have guessed these units require a full background check so even if I make it all the way there I could be turned away because of a security problem. Regardless, I will do all I can to make it as far as I possibly can.
On a bit of another note this week we had our Garin “coming-out ceremony.” It is a profile of sorts of our garin, in which we created the entire evening from programming to food, and presented it to our friends, family and the kibbutz. It was enormous success and I have the honor of telling you all that we named our garin, Maayan, after Elaine and Mark Rothenberg’s son. (for those who are starting to read just now I wrote about him in an earlier post, but here is the link to his website) (http://maayanrothenberg.com/). Maayan as you might know means spring or fountain, it is a word that conjures an image in your mind, an image of growth and progress, both things that were important to everyone in the group. I want to take this time to thank Iris, and Gal Bar for trekking up from Tel Aviv for the Tekes and of course Daniel Belik for making the journey was well.
After an incredible night of celebration Daniel and I made our way down south to a kibbutz near Eilat called Ktorah. The six hour journey was more than worth it. After travelling the entire distance of Israel, we were greeted by friendly faces, food, and a day at the pool. What a way to end such a dreadful trip. It was a wonderful Chag in the desert and as always Daniel, Ariel and I had the time of our lives, trekking, eating and dancing all day long.
For Shabbat I am back in Tel Aviv with the Bars, looking forward to some training and relaxation before Sunday, which is the day I officially becoming a soldier of the Israeli Defense Forces. (Although I become a soldier on that day I don’t actually start my service for a few more weeks).
I want to wish everyone Chag Sameach and Shabbat Shalom. May this writing find you with happiness and health in your life.
Unimaginable love from the holy land,
אנדרו
This past Shabbat the garin went together to a Holocaust museum in the Golan called lochme Ha’ghetteot (The Ghetto Fighters). Unlike Yad V’Shem and other holocaust museums Lochme ha’ghetteot has a very special story. Founded by survives of Poland Ghettos, these heroes took it upon themselves to tell their story, and the stories of others like them, so as to not only preserve the memory of the ones they had lost, but to tell the stories of those who had been saved. Most of you I’m sure, have seen the movie Defiance, but as an aside I will explain a bit about it. It is the story of The Bielski Brothers who, after their family is killed start a camp/resistance in the forests of Belarus. They create a camp, fight the Nazis, rescue more people from the Ghetto and in the end save over 1800 people from the death camps. These brothers made a choice in this movie, a choice to fight against the forces trying to exterminate their people, to keep the people that were still with them alive. They decided it was better to fight for what they thought was right, rather than give up as say that all had already been lost.
I have been thinking about this decision of mine ever since I decided to come to Israel, it has easily dominated my sub-conscious and conscious mind for the past five months. However in the end my decision came down to a few simple ideas. Firstly, the reasons that I came here in the first place: I want to serve this country to the best of my ability, both for the betterment of the country and of myself. I want to be challenged and fight for what I believe in the best way possible. Lastly, I wanted to have a meaningful service with a team of guys that I would emerge with from my service as family. Each day I went back and forth between combat and non-combat, always doing my best to keep an open mind and have the most information possible to make an educated decision. I talked with EVERYONE about this decision. Israeli’s, non-Israeli’s, old people, young people, friends, strangers—each person offering a different perspective or opinion. In the end with some help from both my Israeli mothers Rain Wieselman and Iris Bar I came to understand that after all is done, this will be 2-4 years of my life, in which it is up to me to accomplish the tasks asked of me and to live the life I want to live. To progress towards the person I want to be with the character I want to emulate. In the end I had to look past everything else, much like when driving in the rain—looking past the rain droplets on the windshield to see the road ahead, in the end it was my road and it would be my decisions that determined what lay ahead.
I am an adventurous soul, constantly wanting to be on the move, so that I may experience the world, and share whatever I can with it. A part of this is taking every opportunity given to me, I can’t say no to anything new, it just is not a part of me. I also feed off challenges. When I am faced with something that is outside my comfort zone, I want to experience it. This is not to say that I blindly do anything that is presented to me, I obviously think about my actions and each decision before I make it, but when it comes down to it, if I am not doing something because of fear I take that leap of faith. I prefer to bear the consequences of a conscious decision, rather than bear the ones of indecision. At least in this case I know that I was present in my own life, still making my own decisions.
That is what it came down to in this decision, a conscious decision, for myself, that demonstrated the reasons and ideals that I came for. It is with this prologue that I have the great honor of telling you that I have chosen to serve in a combat (kravi) unit in the Israel Defense Forces. I know this is probably not the decision that most of you would have made for me, but that is because you worry and fear for my safety and as much as I understand that this was one time in my life where I had to do what was best for me.
I am excited, frightened and apprehensive about my decision, but I am happy with it. I am proud to fight for what I believe in, to move one step closer in becoming the person I want to be, and to do my personal best in the service of this country. I realize that this might cause some hardship for you( my friends and family) but in my mind that is the price you pay for being in my family. This country is my life and by being a part of my life, you are sacrificing too, so from the bottom of my heart let me say thank you, both from myself and from this Eretz Yisrael.
As you have probably realized by now, I am not a particularly gung hoe or violent person but I finally come to understand that there are times when after all other options have been exhausted, there are times when weapons are necessary to defend ourselves and the people of this country. Although keepin the fact that I am not so “gung hoe” in mind I have my sights set on the elite unit 669. It is an Airborne Rescue and Evacuation unit that is part of the Israeli Air Force. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_669) I have attached the link to let those of you who are interested read more about it but it is an amazing unit. In war time its missions include rescuing pilots and other soldiers who have fallen behind enemy lines, and in non-war time its missions include a lot of civilian related work, people that get lost in the desert or fall into the ocean or any other such emergency. As it is such an interesting unit, it is also EXTRODANARILY difficult one to be accepted into. I have to pass multiple physical testing days, about four levels of them actually. The first round of these tests is Yom Sayerot a try-out day for all the elite units, which B’ezrat Ha’shem I will have in the second week in October. If I succeed there I will have to be offered Gibush Matkal (basically the try out WEEK for the most elite commando unit in the army) *Sayeret Matkal is the most elite unit in the Israeli military focusing on deep enemy territory reconnaissance and counter terrorism. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayeret_Matkal) IF, and it’s an enormous IF I pass that six day mental and physical battle of a lifetime I will have to be asked to try out for 669. At that point I will have to pass a one day “pool day” which I am sure would be one of the hardest things imaginable, and only then would I qualify to be INTERVIEWED for the unit. As you might have guessed these units require a full background check so even if I make it all the way there I could be turned away because of a security problem. Regardless, I will do all I can to make it as far as I possibly can.
On a bit of another note this week we had our Garin “coming-out ceremony.” It is a profile of sorts of our garin, in which we created the entire evening from programming to food, and presented it to our friends, family and the kibbutz. It was enormous success and I have the honor of telling you all that we named our garin, Maayan, after Elaine and Mark Rothenberg’s son. (for those who are starting to read just now I wrote about him in an earlier post, but here is the link to his website) (http://maayanrothenberg.com/). Maayan as you might know means spring or fountain, it is a word that conjures an image in your mind, an image of growth and progress, both things that were important to everyone in the group. I want to take this time to thank Iris, and Gal Bar for trekking up from Tel Aviv for the Tekes and of course Daniel Belik for making the journey was well.
After an incredible night of celebration Daniel and I made our way down south to a kibbutz near Eilat called Ktorah. The six hour journey was more than worth it. After travelling the entire distance of Israel, we were greeted by friendly faces, food, and a day at the pool. What a way to end such a dreadful trip. It was a wonderful Chag in the desert and as always Daniel, Ariel and I had the time of our lives, trekking, eating and dancing all day long.
For Shabbat I am back in Tel Aviv with the Bars, looking forward to some training and relaxation before Sunday, which is the day I officially becoming a soldier of the Israeli Defense Forces. (Although I become a soldier on that day I don’t actually start my service for a few more weeks).
I want to wish everyone Chag Sameach and Shabbat Shalom. May this writing find you with happiness and health in your life.
Unimaginable love from the holy land,
אנדרו
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