IDF

Last week we were given some vacation time for Hannukah. We were offered the chance to participate in an army volunteering program or stay here in Ashdod. Most of us chose to participate in the army volunteering, without much knowledge of what we would be doing. (Just a little background for everyone. Military service is mandatory for men and women in Israel. Women serve a minimum of 2 years and men serve a minimum of 3 years.) We all met at the bus stop at 7 in the morning and were split into two groups. My group went north to a base called Hativa on the Lebanese border. Once we got there they gave us uniforms and sleeping bags and told us a little bit about what we would be doing. For those five days we were soldiers. We had to be up at 7, eating breakfast in uniform by 7:30, and on the bus by 8 which shipped us to an outpost on the border. At the border we carried sandbags for hours re-fortifying one of the many Israeli outposts. The bus took us back for lunch at the base and then drove us back to the outpost for some more heavy lifting. At night we had dinner with rest of the soldiers and afterwards we were free to do what we wanted. For me that meant playing soccer with some of the soldiers and many games of durak (a popular card game). On the last day we were given military clearance to go to the location of the event which triggered the 2006 Lebanon war. At that moment I was standing at the exact spot where two IDF soldiers were killed by Hezbollah forces and dragged back into Lebanon. This event led to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and was the beginning of the controversial 2nd Lebanon War. The commander was able to explain the kidnapping in great depth because his brother was part of the first special forces unit sent in to rescue the soldiers. The whole experience of volunteering at the base was one of the most fulfilling I've had thus far in Israel. There were many things that I wasn't allowed to take pictures of and that they asked us not to post online, so I'll take this as my opportunity to show off my de-classified modeling pics.

recreation room

luxurious accommodations

Hativa base

killing time

outpost

I can pretend

 On the other side of the fence is the UN buffer zone and beyond it is Lebanon.

Here's Ronald!