A week of minor events

Before going home I had an interview with our battery commander and we've talked about my future in the battery. He said that I'm a very good soldier, that's he's very pleased with me, that I should keep up the good work and that I've a chance to become a "senior" soldier in 4 months. (With privileges but more responsibility.) But he also expects me to organize events and be a sort of leader and that isn't exactly me...

15th-19th July, 2004

When you come home for a few days after 2-3 weeks in the army, you begin to realize how much you miss home and how precious is every minute of your time as a "free" man.

Angel was online and we talked for 4 days every night. She also sent me a lot of her pictures. She's such a model!! :) She wanted to cut her hair short, like Julia from T.A.T.U (her favorite band), but changed her mind. I told her I love her present haircut. She's really beautiful with her long hair!

I posted in StudentCenter.org about the story of me and my Angel. People told me things like - it's the most romantic story I've ever heard of. They wished me good luck and advised us to hold on to each other and be patient. We definitely will!!! I didn't chat with her Mom, but I'll probably fly to Germany. :) Can't wait any longer! I love her so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

20th July, 2004

Time passes by so fast, that the next thing you know - you're back in the army again. I'm currently in our battery's base near Telem. It's fine here, for now...

22nd July, 2004

After having a constant 4/4 shift the whole day (4 hours guard / 4 hours rest and then again...) the 1st department arrived to the base for an evening event and those who had a 4/4 shift were promised they would rest until 10a.m.

But you know how it's like in the army... you must never rely on such promises. Things change so often that every night you don't know how much sleep you'll be getting, you just have to go to bed as soon as you're allowed (around 8:30-9:00 p.m.) - that is unless you're on a shift.

I woke up at 6:15 a.m. and Ron told me I should dress up and go guard at the watching post. Arguing wouldn't help. Refusing to go will only cause more problems - I still want to get home 16 days from now. Besides, the poor guy who's currently guarding is on a shift from 2 a.m. - if you wake the commanders up and start arguing with them, not only that it's useless most of the time, but also the poor guy would be stuck in there more time instead of being in his warm bed.

After having finished guarding for 4 hours, you expect to be replaced. You wait for the guy to come. Every minute gets you more and more upset. Sometimes you can get into a really bad mood if you guard 20 minutes more than you're supposed to. Some guys wage wars - "he was late for 20 minutes? I'll be late for 30!" Other guys punish the wrong people - not always the one you replace in the post is the one who replaced you, so some people just don't care and punish whoever they're supposed to replace.

I've put aside all the bad thoughts and tried to keep myself in a good mood during the shift. Luckily, it was the right thing to do. After the shift was over I slept a little while and then the lieutenant came looking for me and took me to the Telem settlement where most of my team was.

We were supposed to start patrolling at night, but an hour and a half earlier, someone announced on the military radio that a Palestinian opened fire on an Israeli car near our base, 1km from the settlement. Fortunately, no one was injured. The threat level has been elevated and we started our patrol immediately.

After 4:30 hours we were replaced by Or and Yoav and went straight to bed with our clothes on. (Military readiness due to the high threat level.)

The next day it was quiet again. My Angel e-mailed me and told me about her school trip. They've visited a concentration camp and she was horrified by what she's seen there. She wrote that she doesn't want to think about it, that things are different now. I'm surprised but, in a way, glad that students in Germany get to visit such places and learn of their history no matter how unpleasant it may be. But I don't want my Angel to see such things, to be troubled by all the cruelty that this world projects on a daily basis. She told me her grandparents were against the Nazi regime and that she's against it too. :) I've heard that many Germans feel embarrassed from their history. Even though they should be, I wish things didn't happen the way they did. Now it's 2004. I'm a Jewish-born, Russian-Israeli guy who's deeply in love with a non-Jewish German girl and what was 60-70 years ago is irrelevant to our relationship. I love her more than anything and I'll be with her forever, no matter what.

* * * * *

The guys here talk about sex again. :( Ido says that the settlement's mayor has 3 young daughters.
Yoav: "I want to get laid with them".
Ido: "Hope they have the mayor's eyes, but are not as dumb as their daddy." Yoav: "When my shift comes, I'm gonna patrol around her house"

They started talking about Tal's girlfriend: "Tal, why does your girlfriend yell at you whenever you speak to her on the phone?" He replied: "Who cares?! As long as I get what I want when I come home from the army."
"How long are you two together?" "3 years." "Maybe you should consider marrying her!" A burst of laughter followed. "I cheated on her with 2 girls. One of them is her best girlfriend, but it was a short relationship."

It's so sad for me to hear all this. 3 guys from my team - total disrespect to women, all they ever talk about is football and sex. Many girls don't know what they're boyfriends like. I wish they did.