Prologue - A short biographical background

I was born in former USSR in 1985. In January 1991, after the collapse of the Soviet Union (its borders became open for immigration) my whole family moved to Israel.

I grew up in a small town located in the southern part of Israel. After 10 years (Dec 2000), following my parents' divorce, I moved with my mom and my brother to Tel-Aviv, where I graduated in 2003.

The same year, just 2 weeks after I turned 18, I was drafted into the military service.

I maintained an online contact with a girl (we'll refer to her here as "Angel") from Germany. Throughout the year, despite the distance, our relationship had suddenly become serious and thus we decided that no matter what, we'll meet each other and be together. (What may seem to many as a pointless and impossible relationship would later prove to be a romantic love story with a lesson for all.)

The army soon became an obstacle. I hoped to either skip the military service, hoping to meet her earlier (skipping the army would have cost me a month or two in a military jail, which isn't suitable to me at all, besides Angel was against it, she didn't want me sitting in jail) but then decided against it.

If not skipping the army, then at least serving where I wouldn't regret spending 3 years of my life... That would be... computers... something with computers. Unfortunately (or perhaps eventually fortunately), my request was rejected. The army saw me fit to serve as a combat soldier in an Artillery battalion. At first I refused as I was told by my friends that stubbornness on the drafting day can eventually get me to where I desire to be, but after a day in a detention cell (a punishment for refusing a command to draft to the Artillery training base) I changed my mind and obeyed.

The basic training ("Tironut") was really hard for me. It was still a period when soldiers in "Shivta" (the name of the training base) had to carry Galil weapons - long and heavy pieces of iron assault rifles. After 2 months of basic training I gave up on trying to actively drop out of the training as a combat soldier, but continued to hope that my fate would eventually get me where I want.

I feared serving in the territories. Long before the army, I had a terrible nightmare of me parting with all my relatives and going to the army to never come back again. For some reason I feared this nightmare as if it were some kind of a prophecy. Since then I decided to avoid the army at all costs... but here I am, serving as a combat soldier in the territories...

It seems that the army knows better than us where it's most suitable for us to serve. Looking back, I don't regret having served in an Artillery battery, as both an Artillery soldier and a standard infantry soldier in the territories. I've served in all parts of Israel, on all borders - Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. I've learned a lot from my experience and the experience of other soldiers, I've visited many new places in Israel where I have never been, where I would have never visited, I've met a lot of good people (and bad people as well) and despite all the difficulties of being a combat soldier, despite missing home for weeks, I am proud I have gone through it like a man.

Let me conclude the prologue...

August 2003 - 4 months of basic training in the Negev desert
December 2003 - Advanced Artillery training in the Golan Heights
January 2004 - Hermesh settlement protection & motorized patrols in the region (Near Jenin)
End of January - 2 months of protecting the Maccabim area (The town of Maccabim-Reut, route 443, Beit Sira and Beit Likya)
March 2004 - Joined the A battery as a fresh soldier. (After 8 months, you either join a battery of "senior soldiers" or take a commander's course of 4 months, after which you become an Artillery team commander. I didn't want no responsibility for the lives and fates of other people and decided to try joining the A battery. A battery consists of mostly nice and shy soldiers. B battery consists mostly of hooligans and troublemakers)
In the A battery I served in the area of Rantis. (near the town of Halamish, village of Budrus, during the fence construction there)
April 2004 - Took a 40-day commander's course with infantry soldiers (It's a different course which gives you the skills but in the Artillery corps, it's worth nothing... They hoped I would continue and take an officer's course, I passed the exams but refused, it wasn't obligatory. I didn't want to become an officer because officers have to serve at least 4 years... 3 years was long enough for me)
June 2004 - I got back to the battery as a regular soldier and after an Artillery training in the north, we were assigned near Hebron. (Hebron, Halhoul, the settlements of Telem and Adora) That's where I started writing the diary...

My next post begins with my first diary entry as a combat soldier in the area of Hebron. My experiences, my personal life, the way Palestinians live and the way the soldiers live and the consequences of the siege that was laid on Hebron when a suicide bomber from Hebron exploded in the southern city of Beer Sheva...