Draft Day

After a year of waiting, lots of trouble with meitav, almost not being allowed to do the gibbush and pulling every string I have to get invited, the day to draft to Tzanchanim finally arrived. It feels surreal but also incredibly normal, like this was a predetermined “of course I was going to” moment and I was just waiting for it to be actualized

I was driven by my roomate Sam and picked up Liora on the way. We met Shlomo and friends from Aleph at the Bakum.

At the Bakum we were shuttled from room to room doing random medical/official things before we got to the uniform room.

First time putting on a uniform made the army feel and look official now. First impressions: The army feels both a little different than the army my father described and that in the letters of Yoni and yet some of it is exactly the same. It’s the same uniforms, command structure, army units and all that, but the army always felt like a place outside of time. Like a separate special universe within Israel.
So, it was weird seeing soldiers scrolling through Instagram while doing their tasks or taking selfies in between serving people food. The tangential but expected inevitable effects of an armys modernization I suppose.

We Had lunch, waited around a bit, and got on the buses to go to Tzanchanim base. We did a medical questionnaire, a tnai sheirut questionnaire and a mental health course. It was all quickly done on our phones

I’ve had some conversations with people in Hebrew and am definitely feeling the weight of needing to speak in Hebrew/struggling to fully express myself, but I know that the improvement will come in time.
Rumor has it were closing the first shabbat, then we’re off the next, and then closing for 4 straight. Well see if that’s true

We got to the base and stepped out to 102 degree weather – hottest few days of the year. We did another set of procedural things in the tzanchanim gym – sweet sweet air conditioning. I ended up holding up the entire plugah because there was a chance I wasn’t recognized properly as a chayal boded. I sat with the mashakiot Tash for a while to figure it all out.

We then spent the next few hours waiting our turn to speak to the mefaked. I spoke with the mefaked, told him about myself, and requested a יציאה for a friend’s wedding. He pointed me to the mefaked hamachlaka. I had to enter the room with my feet together, salute, and ask “הקשב מפקד המחלקה”.  The armys becoming more real. We spoke, I made him laugh, and he told me that whatever I need, I should know I should ask him or the other mefakdim. So far, on day one, I’m not feeling the distance. This is just pre-training though.

I’ve had a headache throughout the day, probably from the heat, but there’s a tightrope walk you have to do between drinking enough and not drinking too much that you have to constantly go to the bathroom. Small bladder not helpful here.

Had an hour of shaat Tash, spoke with family and friends, and went to bed. Took some Advil fo help with the headache.