As we prepared to depart Kibbutz Ketura on Sunday morning no
one could quite mentally ready themselves for what had been anticipated as
perhaps the most challenging week of the program, our week’s pseudo IDF service
at Gadna Sde Boker. For our final activity on kibbutz we were invited to choose
between mud building, sand candle making and oil painting, each which boosted
uniquely interesting qualities and made for an interesting yet reasonably laid
back final morning on kibbutz before we packed the bus and headed for the
dreaded Gadna. The bus ride was reasonably uneventful, as most tried to secure
a bit of comfortable shut eye as we anticipated the horrible state of our
upcoming bedding for the week. Just prior to our arrival at the Sde Boker Gadna
base we took a brief pitstop to consume a DIY meal of bread rolls, accompanied by
a side of chips, wafers and a can of soft drink.
The second the bus came to a halt were immediately thrown
into the deep end as commanders entered the and barked orders at us to grab our
bags and file into neat lines of boys and girls. We were quickly marshalled,
all in Hebrew and translated, into 4 tzvatim (groups) each with a different
mefaked/et (commander) and quickly whisked away into different areas of the
base. Gadna had well and truly begun and the first day was to be remembered as
one of the hardest. We had no choice but to quickly attempt to adapt to a lack
of cleanliness, privacy, space and nutrition. Meals were often the hardest, as
we were forced to stand outside the cheder ochel (dining room) for up to half
an hour in lines knowing fully that our growling stomachs could be eating if
our commanders simply said a few words. The food itself was edible but nothing
special, however it had one unbelievably redeeming quality, the uncapped
quantity we were able to receive. A lack of protein was often moaned by the
more health conscious of the group.
Also on Gadna at the same time as us were 3 different schools
from Eilat, which made for some interesting socialising and new friendship
formations. Amongst standing in a chet (Hebrew letter) for numerous hours in a
day and walking places in two lines within a time limit we also engaged in
various lessons about the values of the IDF, its place in society as well as
the M16 firearm which we were able to fire following roughly 4 lessons and did
so on our final day. Not everyone enjoyed firing the weapon, but the brief
moment of adrenaline and the uniqueness of the experience ensured that it was
not a memory which would soon be forgotten.
Gadna was also positive for the Hebrew speaking and understanding
abilities of the group, with most commenting that it had improved their lingual
skills more than the few weeks of ulpan which we had undertaken on kibbutz.
However, the vocabulary is reasonably limited for obvious reasons. We also
undertook various groups as a tzevet, such as competition between the13 tzvatim
(including those from Eilat) which was jointly won by one of the Australian
groups.
Our accommodation was army tents which contained a number of
stretched beds which were not the most comfortable beds we have slept on in
Israel but funnily enough not the least. However it was the lack of quantity of
sleep rather than quality which hindered the experiences of many as we were
expected to doze off at roughly 10:15 PM and arise again at the ungodly hour of
6:30AM, and on the last day even more shockingly at 5:30, roughly the same time
as the sun.
The final day brought farewells to our mefakdim and their acknowledgement
of their status as real people as much as they had successfully tried to hide
it all week, with only a few cracks in the armour thanks to smiles here and
there. Funnily enough, the mefakedet of my group was not the eldest member of
the tzevet, Dan Rother being elder than her by a month. We also participated in
a closing ceremony in which certificates were given to the ‘best soldier’ in
each tzevet as well as overall in the Aviv cohort (combined group one and two).
Certificates went to Daena, Dan, Gareth, and Jonski in tzvatim, and myself overall.
All in all, as much as people deny it, Gadna was a priceless experience which
taught us all the place of the army in Israeli society and privileged us to
walk in their shoes for a week in order to respect their sacrifices for their
country.
As we finally boarded the bus to Tel Aviv cheers went up
amongst the group as one of the tougher weeks on the program was put behind us
as we headed for a free weekend of recovery prior to the beginning of the
community program in which there are 3 groups (mixed of 1 and 2) in separate
locations: Kiryat Yam, Ranana and Tiberias. How we will cope with being away
from our newfound families of our individual groups only time will tell.
Another awesome week down, 92 days to look forward to!
Jake
