Gadna!!!
I just returned yesterday from a week long experience in the Israeli Army!!! It was an amazing week, extremely tiring and frustrating, but also fun and rewarding. We got uniforms-pants, a shirt, a belt, a canteen, a coat, and a hat, which we wore at all times around the base except while sleeping. We slept in tents of 9 people on cots and had inspections of our beds and areas each morning. Our group was divided into Tzevets of about 15 people and we each had a mefaked/et (commander). Mine was an incredibly petite woman named Neta, but we didn't know her name until the last day. She did not smile or show any emotions for the whole 5 days! Each morning and evening we went to flag-raising and lowering ceremonies where the mefakedet hamachlakah, the samal, and the mefaked hapluga(I don't know the english terms, but they're higher up and scary!)... We always had to stand in hachshev/attention when around any of the leaders which is feet at a 90degree angle, hands behind back in a diamond, water bottle touching left foot, and jacket behind your feet. Oh, and THIS WAS ALL IN HEBREW!!! Punishments for being late or talking were usually push-ups, but being talked to by the samal should have been enough!! Everything is timed and I now know how to count incredibly well backwards in Hebrew! I've had enough of making 2 lines and a chet for ever!!! The food was actually pretty good.. but I was really hungry by meal time. We spent one day in the field after an hour and a half walk/run in silence... It was really hard because we were learning war tactics like crawling and walking in the field. So, my arms and legs were very bruised from running and crawling from 'bombs' and the enemy...It was also incredibly hot because Gadna is in the Negev Desert and we had to wear long sleeves and pants!We also had some lessons about the Israeli flag and heard stories about Israeli soldiers. We also got to talk to our mefakedet about Israel and why it exists. We had daily duties like cleaning the kitchen which took about 3 hours! We had to clean everything and a man inspected everything after we cleaned it... mostly it was fun, but hard. We ended up cleaning the kitchen twice because a different Pluga got in a fight and weren't doing their jobs. If we did a good job, they gave us chocolate milk in a bag after!! We also had to clean the bathrooms and around the tent areas many times. We also had competitions with other groups with push-ups, crunches and other exercises. The last few days we spent learning about the M16 and then shot 10 bullets. It was one of the most scary experiences of my life to realize that I was actually shooting bullets out of the gun. But, now I know the power of one, and how to take it apart and put it together. It was a very difficult experience for some people and for me also, but I enjoyed it. The last day, with 5 minutes left, our mefakedet sat down with us and smiled and said 'hello.' It was like emotions breaking, the moment she smiled she was more of an equal. We got to ask her questions and talk to her as a normal person! She is 20 and just went into the army and is very cute. She says she will come visit us at Tzuba!!! Anyway, the end was amazing and everyone was very proud of themselves for completing it.
