May
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This week was advanced shooting week so we shot and shot and shot all week. We also had the practice run for the contest against the other units, a 2km run with full equipment and 1k with an open stretcher with someone on it. Then you shoot 6 bullets right after
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This week was advanced shooting week so we shot and shot and shot all week. We also had the practice run for the contest against the other units, a 2km run with full equipment and 1k with an open stretcher with someone on it. Then you shoot 6 bullets right after
The unit with the highest score wins. We shot this week from morning to midnight everyday. We had a run once a night, 800 meter sprints , 4 times.. One of the hardest runs I've ever done and right after we had a 2.5km regular run. I haven't showered all week since we were in the field. I think this is the worst smell I ever had.
On Yom Hazikaron , I went with the other lone soldiers from my unit to a memorial ceremony for Machal soldiers that have been killed in Israel’s wars. Machal are volunteers from outside of Israel who serve in the IDF
On Yom Hazikaron , I went with the other lone soldiers from my unit to a memorial ceremony for Machal soldiers that have been killed in Israel’s wars. Machal are volunteers from outside of Israel who serve in the IDF
Some families flew from around the world to come to this small ceremony. There was people there that had stories about how they fought in the six day war..and they had around 1 gun for every 3 people. One guy that was there was in the first draft the IDF ever had. He said they got off the boats, received a gun and went straight to war.
Very interesting ceremony. At night I went to the Kotel there was a huge ceremony with the head of the IDF.
Yom Haatzmaut was a crazy day to be in Israel. There are parties everywhere. I hung out in Tel Aviv that night, all night
This week we learned what to do with APC's (armored personal carriers) We drove in them all day, these are really old ones that they use for practice so they aren't so good .Kind of dangerous honestly. Kind of fun as well. We only needed a day to learn everything about it. We had a 8k run this week..
We stayed on base for Shabbat, and go ready for shavuah machlakah.
Very interesting ceremony. At night I went to the Kotel there was a huge ceremony with the head of the IDF.
Yom Haatzmaut was a crazy day to be in Israel. There are parties everywhere. I hung out in Tel Aviv that night, all night
This week we learned what to do with APC's (armored personal carriers) We drove in them all day, these are really old ones that they use for practice so they aren't so good .Kind of dangerous honestly. Kind of fun as well. We only needed a day to learn everything about it. We had a 8k run this week..
We stayed on base for Shabbat, and go ready for shavuah machlakah.
Exercises, 30 people at once. We walk all day and run up mountains with all of our equipment. Learning different formations.
This is one of the hottest weeks I've ever been through. To a point that it is dangerous to do anything so we got some breaks. People were passing out left and right. 2 in the hospital since they were bitten by leeches in the middle of the night.
This is one of the hottest weeks I've ever been through. To a point that it is dangerous to do anything so we got some breaks. People were passing out left and right. 2 in the hospital since they were bitten by leeches in the middle of the night.
The sleeping area was on an incline on rocks. I walked around all day with my Mag and when it came down to shooting, it didn't work. (All the equipment and guns you have for training is usually older and not in as good condition)
The last night we took helicopters to the starting point of our 10km heavy weight hike, w stretchers in the end.
We ended the hike back on base around 1am. We had a BBQ donated to us by someone in our unit. Some of the best meat I ever tasted. We were supposed to get off for the weekend but something happened so we didn't. My mefaked , told us that night that he is leaving to officers course. So we got to beat him, kind of fun.
My beard was full since it was still the omer And the black face paint + not showering all week+ being covered in dirt , let's just say I didn't look so good. We finally got time to shower. I open the water to find out that the hot water isn't working!!
This week we have our Masa Kumta (Beret March) last hike around 60km (35 Miles) 8km of them being with an open stretcher. We started getting ready around 5pm we painted our faces. Fixed up any equipment that had any problems. We took a bus to the starting point of the hike. We had a meal there before we started. Good food for once. We sat down and waited for them to say we were starting. Everyone was excited and happy that its our last one. Even though we know its going to be extremely hard. We started the hike at 7pm . I had my Mag this hike as usual . I remember the first hike we did 3km and it was hard . I was thinking then how would I ever do more. We started the first 6km .They are usually one of the harder parts of the hike. We are 120 people. With 3 more groups of around 100 people behind us. After 15km I tripped and fell into a hole hit my knee and then my gun fell on top of it .
My beard was full since it was still the omer And the black face paint + not showering all week+ being covered in dirt , let's just say I didn't look so good. We finally got time to shower. I open the water to find out that the hot water isn't working!!
This week we have our Masa Kumta (Beret March) last hike around 60km (35 Miles) 8km of them being with an open stretcher. We started getting ready around 5pm we painted our faces. Fixed up any equipment that had any problems. We took a bus to the starting point of the hike. We had a meal there before we started. Good food for once. We sat down and waited for them to say we were starting. Everyone was excited and happy that its our last one. Even though we know its going to be extremely hard. We started the hike at 7pm . I had my Mag this hike as usual . I remember the first hike we did 3km and it was hard . I was thinking then how would I ever do more. We started the first 6km .They are usually one of the harder parts of the hike. We are 120 people. With 3 more groups of around 100 people behind us. After 15km I tripped and fell into a hole hit my knee and then my gun fell on top of it .
Now I have knee pains and I'm limping the whole time. We got to the halfway line. There was a pretty good meal. This was around 2 am. Right after the food break we had a huge mountain to climb it was dark and we couldn’t see the end . Everyone is pushing everyone with a lot of weight up the mountain. The next break someone dehydrated, scary thing to see. Its now 5am and the sun started coming out. The guy that is in charge of all 600 people joined our hike. Once it got light out we knew we were almost done. We got on the road finally.
This road led to Masada, at the back end.
We opened the stretchers when we had 8km left we were on the top of the mountain and can see Masada all the way down miles away. At this point no one can walk but everyone continues. I held the stretcher as much as I could until my legs almost collapsed.
We had our last break before the end and a taxi pulled up on the street, it was my father..
He found the place where the hike was!! I ran to say hi and continued the masa. He was waiting for me at the end...only parent that actually came.
We finished on the bottom of Masada. After the hike we walked up Masada..I think that was harder than the hike. We had a ceremony at the top. Everyone was so happy it was over. It took 12 hours. We took buses back to base. Walking was close to impossible at this point. There was obviously no hot water when we got back. It was also hard to sleep from the flies. I got to sleep a bit though.I got off in the morning; since my father was here and we went for dinner by this sick meat restaurant. Some of the best food I've had in a while. We had a ceremony Thursday where we got out berets. Lime Green ones. I was with my father all week.
JUNE
We were on base up north this week. We learned about the army hummers and about bunkers on the countries borders. We had a lot of classes I can't speak about.
We had to go back to base next week for a day.
We had the competition 2km and 1 km with a stretcher run and the shooting. Home for shavuot I ate by my friends cousins house
We got back next week . We had a exercise competition with all the people on base. It was also about who's equipment looked and was set up best. We had a meeting with the Mem Pey since we have shavua milchama -war week -next week.
For Shabbat I was in shetach with 5 other people we had to watch the tanks that were there until Sunday where we started the shavuah milchama.
3 hour exercise, walking until night 3 hour exercise, walking until 7am ,3 hour exercise - walking all day, 3 hour exercise, then a building exercise, a hike to the mountain in Arad where we finished the week. After the first night I got hypothermia, hard week though, 6 days no shower or brushing my teeth, we got our loochem (fighter) pins for our shirts.
The second to last night on base we got some other things, hats shirts.. And did imitations of our commander’s, was a fun night.
The night after we had a Ceremony " sof imun mitkdem" (end of advanced training). Concert , comedy show, with all the plugot plus awards.
Cleaned up the base before we leave for good, were done with all of our training now. Heading up north to guard the borders for a whileYou still train every once in a while though. Ill keep it updated.
