Home vacation and a weekend in a pillbox

6th August, 2004

We were released home as early as 6:15a.m.!! Our lieutenant told us we may receive a phone call during the vacation, requiring us to attend a contribution day - Represent IDF in a public place where we help people or contribute in some way. Not that any of us doesn't like to give a little helping hand, it's just that it shouldn't be done during our relatively short, home vacation.

6-10th August, 2004

I didn't do that much at home, but I had a lot of chatting with Angel and it was extremely great!

I parted with my mom and with Angel as I won't see them for over 1 month. =(
My mom flies to Kyrgyzstan on 19th and Angel flies to Croatia on 21st. I come back to the army tomorrow and I won't be back home until... the 27th? When you're in the army, you never know.

11th August, 2004

My day started on a happy note. Coming back to the army is never a happy thing, but I filled the papers today, stating that I'm leaving the country during my "regila". I need to write the exact dates, so I'll have to ask my commander about it.

Ari told me that Yair, my lieutenant, will come tomorrow and then they'll decide about the dates.

12th August, 2004

All the desk-work soldiers went home for the weekend, so Yair asked Ari to tell me that it will be decided on Sunday, when everyone's back at the base.

2 teams got their regila today. I found out that my team will have a regila on 16th. Interesting... Will I have a separate regila or do they plan... to give me 2?

Everything is very organic here in the army. The officers try to make sure that every soldier guards, sleeps and goes home with his team and platoon. Maybe it solves some problems, but it creates many other ones.

13th August, 2004

I had a talk with my lieutenant, Yair. He said: "Yes, we already have the dates ready." "Could you tell them to me?" "You fly on your next release home" "What? But Ari told me that I'll fly in a month from now, on my 2nd release home, in September!" "No. It's on your next release." "But I can't. It's no use." "Why?" "Because as I told you, my girlfriend's flying to Croatia. I must go in September." "We'll see what we can do. Maybe you could switch with one of the soldiers from the 1st platoon." The last thing I said was "It's important."

This and having my towel left in Adora with no way of getting a shower, especially when I'm going to a pillbox until Sunday noon (there's no shower in pillboxes) was only the beginning of Friday 13th.

Sarah, Angel's friend, told her that her online buddy fell down on the rails and was ran over by a train. They're both in grief after the terrible incident.

I'm in the pillbox now. It's a 30 feet tall watchtower where you have a place to sleep and a short supply of food. We're 3 soldiers without a commander, spending the weekend here.

















Hygiene is a problem here. It's very dusty and there are no windows here, beside the small ones on the top of the tower. We have to fill in the toilet tank with 1.5litre bottles everytime we go to the toilet. The food we have here with us is only for 2 days. It's a bunch of vegetables, pears, bread, salami and hummus.

At least guarding here is bearable. We can read books and even listen to music when we turn on the generator in the evening. We can sit as much as we like while we guard (unlike in a regular guarding shift) and it's not too hot in here. The conditioner is on in the evening.