Becoming a Soldier

Every IDF draftee has a similar first day-- he or she goes to the “Bakum” at Tel HaShomer in Ramat Gan, which is right outside of Tel Aviv. From there, the draftee is processed into the army and then shipped to his base where he will serve. If everything goes smoothly people can finish up at the Bakum in one day, but sometimes there are hiccups and it can take as long as a week (or so I’ve heard.) 

For garin tzabar, it works differently. We all went to the Bakum, and went through most of the things that draftees go through on their first day, but instead of being shipped to our base, we were allowed to go home. We got our teeth photographed, fingerprints taken, x-rayed, given vaccinations, had a few interviews about where we want to go, and got our dog tags and soldier ID cards (hogerim). This means that we are officially considered soldiers of the IDF, even though we live completely civilian lives. It also means that our army service has officially begun, so the countdown until I get discharged has begun. It’s amazing to me to think how dramatically my life is going to change in a few weeks or so when I really get drafted. As far as I know, the only things we didn’t get were our uniforms. By the way, don't sweat it if you are afraid of getting shots. There were lots of people that day who were quite nervous, and afterwards all of them had the same thing to say, "It wasn't that bad."

The ID card we have is great, it allows us to travel for free or at a reduced price on most public transportation. We’re technically not supposed to be allowed to travel for free, but a lot of the bus drivers never say anything to me, or to my friends. Lately I’ve been getting more serious, have been exercising more, reading more, and in general have been more focused. The tzanchanim gibush is coming up in a couple of weeks, and although I haven’t been invited yet, I assume that I will.

It's similar to the situation I was in with yom sayerot. They only let me know the day before that I was invited. Yom sayerot was an interesting experience, I finished the day, but unfortunately didn’t get an invitation to any of the gibushim. I’ll write about it my next post. I’m happy that I did it though, because it was interesting and gives me a better idea of what to expect at the tzanchanim gibush.

After the day was over we were told to give our "regular" hogerim back and they were replaced with different ones that stay we are soldiers in "shalat" which is a Hebrew acronym "service without payment." It took almost two hours and we had to sit outside and do nothing while we waited. People started to get restless so some of the mefakdim started threatening that "you're soldiers now and can go to a court martial for misconduct." Of course it was an empty threat but they managed to get people to quiet down, which didn't bother me because I was trying to sleep.