Shmira, mitbach, and a masa.

So my Plugah (Company) had the wonderful luck of being chosen to guard the base and do kitchen duty this week. We started guard duty on Sunday afternoon and it ran through Monday afternoon. We guarded 2 hours on 4 hours off, and we did madasim (PT) and the like in our free time. When relieved we went to classes on Abach (NBC warfare)and the different weapon platforms there will be in each squad. This lasted till Thursday when we got our turn at the kitchen. At 0530 were outside the kitchen and work began. I thought this was going to be a simple day, but it was anything but, we worked like dogs. While we were prohibited to run indoors we could walk fast, extremely fast. Everything we did was done with times, and our mifakdim (commanders) were always pushing us faster and harder. We finally finished up in the kitchen at 2300 and were in bed by midnight, with a wake up at 0515. At 0600 we were back in the kitchen on friday and back to hard work. Since we had done so much the day before they had trouble finding enough work for us to do so we did things like organize the cardboard recycling and stack all the broken down boxes in a neat fashion. We were finally released at 1430 and from there we went into our free time for shabbat, but more on that in a minute.

This week was also our masah (ruck march) samal (Platoon sergeant). We knew this was coming as all day we were made to drink water by the gallon to keep us from dehydration. So when we finally left at about 2030 we were ready to get it over with. The Samal started the masah off by screaming "after me" and then running out of the plugah and towards the base's gate. This pace did not let up one bit. We had our physical trainer NCO come along with us, and she ran the whole masah with us, that was the pace. We did 7 kilometers this way in about 50 minutes which is a 11.5 minute mile pace. then with a kilometer t the base we stop and the stretcher is opened and we place 8 sand bags on the stretcher, which is a total weight of about 270 pounds. We then run at our previous pace with the stretcher all the way back to our plugah and there everyone gets under the stretcher and one of us screams "alaeh" (rise) and we respond "krav" (combat/battle) and heave the stretcher above our heads. We did this three times and then we left the stretcher above our heads till our mifakdim said to place it on the ground.

Now I ma going to get back to shabbat. It started like any normal one on base till after dinner, when we had to stay and clean up the whole cheder ochel (mess hall) and then I was taken to help clean dishes. This all ended at 2130m and I went straight to bed. at 0100 I was woken up for my turn at shmirah (guard duty) on the base and from 0100 to 0300 I guarded the rear gate withe a member of my kitah (squad). Then at 0300 I was relieved and went back to sleep till 0450 when I was woken up for the next rotation on guard duty which lasted from 0530 to 0800, this time at the front gate and with my mem'mem (Platoon leader). When relieved I got back to my Plugah in time to be placed on kitat konenn'ut (the readiness squad literally: its our job to be the first t respond to any incidents around the base) and then we as a group went to morning prayers. Afterward we got back to the plugah and I had 10 minutes to rest till I had to head out to the cheder ochel to help set up and prepare the place for lunch. Then came lunch and clean up which meant I did not get back to my bed till 1330 and after 20 minutes of sleep I was woken up to be told I was back on kitat konnen'ut and in 20 more minutes i had to switch out the plugah's guard for a half hour tour. So I placed the radio in my vest and sat down hoping the time would pass quickly but after 2 minutes we had a hakpatzah (literally a wake up its when there is a test of our readiness or a real occurrence we had to go deal with) and it was a real one so we set off at a dead run to the other end of the base. We get there and some arab's had parked their car about 300 meters waya from the fence and were just wandering around next to the fence, right next to the ammo storage bunker. So we shouted at them to go home and get out of there and they got the idea after a minute or two. We then went back to the plugah and I did my tour of guard duty and finally got to go get some real sleep at 1500 in the afternoon.

The highlight of the week was the end of shabbat though when we all found out our positions in the squad. I got Team leader meaning they want to send me to more leadership courses in the future and I will get a nice scope (3x zoom) to add to my weapon.