1st August, 2004
Today's AV patrol involved another checkpost. Our lieutenant and his jeep's crew were with us. This time the checkpost was done on a narrow Palestinian road. It seemed more reasonable if you think about it: there were less cars on the road, the checkpost was in a hidden spot so that cars wouldn't be able to turn back and escape. It is more likely that illegal activities would happen on narrow roads.
Later on we drove to Beit Kahil' accompanied by Lieutenant's jeep. Somebody reported shots coming from Beit Kahil', a clash between two Palestinian clans. Matan the commander, Oleg the driver and Oren reacted to the event with great excitement. Matan rushed outside to put all the windows' protective, "anti-stone" nets. "Quick, put on your caskets! Yalla Oleg - let's get there as fast as possible!"
Many soldiers are too bored by the everlasting routine of constant guarding, patrolling and document checking. They want some action for a change. I don't know how it's like in other units, but real action rarely happens around us. So whenever there's a chance to shoot at Palestinians or throw some shock/gas grenades or simply witness some action or perhaps provoke some, many soldiers are more than delighted to seize this opportunity and experience something interesting that they could later tell their friends about.
I'm sure the same goes for many Palestinians as well, mostly the younger ones.
I personally prefer the boring routine. Better yawn and guard for nothing, rather than see people get shot or beaten up, or having myself and my friends put in danger. You guard in order to protect your country, not for self entertainment of any kind.
The clash was none of our business, but Matan insisted on going to the scene and asked for a permission from Yair, the lieutenant. Since we were just a short drive ahead of Beit Kahil, and Yair was close enough to join us, he authorized it.
It was the western end of the village. A crowd of Palestinians was coming back from what seemed to be the location of the clash. Whatever had happened there, it was already over.
Everyone kept looking at us. We were leaving the village now.
Kids surrounded the vehicle. I saw a kid picking up a stone from the ground. A moment later he threw it at us. Another one followed shortly after. Matan requested permission to leave the vehicle and start shooting. Yair declined. He said that only if more people start throwing rocks at us, we are authorized to act. Few more rocks followed, apparently not enough. We didn't react.
Oleg is a very annoying guy. He is still a freshman, but he thinks that he can do whatever he wants. He smokes inside the vehicle, drives too fast, he disobeys Matan's orders. When Matan forbid him to smoke inside the vehicle, he decided to take revenge. When our shift was over and we were supposed to go back and switch, he decided that it's time to smoke a cigarette. "I can't smoke inside the vehicle, so I'm gonna smoke now and when I finish - I'll drive." He did his best to smoke it as slowly as possible, smiling at us and hoping we've learned our lesson - not to mess with him. To add to that, he decided to drive 20-30kmh back to Adora. It took us half an hour to get there. What an asshole! That was my last AV patrol for a while. I'm glad I won't hear him swearing in Russian again.
4 comments:
i dont think most on either side are looking for that sort of action my friend.. i think its the few assholes that maybe give that impression but not most..
You're right Lirun - I should clarify this one:
Most people wish to see some action (or in other words - violence) but there are few who would actually cause or provoke it.
But when asked: "Would you prefer it to be peaceful or violent?" Most of the soldiers would choose the second option. They may not provoke it, but they'd certainly prefer to see some violence.
It often gets so boring in the army that people lose their minds! No one wants to spend 3 years standing in a watchtower and doing nothing.
But guarding is only a part of your military service. You spend time with friends, occasionally you have some free time to read a book, to watch TV or get some sleep (for a change). One can live without violence. There are other ways to prevent boredom.
Tse - there should be local police, but as you know there's anarchy in the territories and frankly, I don't recall seeing Palestinian police officers anywhere during my military service.
It would have been a good idea to go there and check it out had we not been informed that it was a clash between two Palestinian families. It could have been anything. But in this case, we didn't go there to prevent Israeli-Palestinian violence, if anything, we could have caused it.
i think most would want to cut the whole crap and go to south america and eat steaks..
לא ככה?
:)
hehe, definitely. South America is where most soldiers wish to go after they finish their service.
As a soldier, being surrounded by the fence of your base, as you stand there in the watchtower and look at the view that opens up around you, you can't help but think about how beautiful this world is, that you wish to see it all, once you get your freedom.
Post a Comment