IST Blog Post:
"Hakshev Hamekafedet. Listen Commander. This week in Gadna was unbelievable. 18 of us went to a Gadna base in the north of Israel. On Sunday when we arrived at the base, we were immediately split up into teams of nine, 4 boys and 5 girls each. One of the mefakdot (commanders) introduced herself to our team and introduced the Gadna program, then proceeded to teach us some basic army commands in Hebrew. We learned how today commander as well as how to introduce her after a break. She told us that time in the IDF is holy and that for every task we would have a time limit, generally 10 seconds. We quickly learned to count backwards from 10 in Hebrew while also doing things, which was a challenge.
On the first day, we were given a water bottle that we were told to keep filled. I didn't think that it was as big of a deal as it was to have it 100% full, so I didn't fill it. I was told the reason why was so thy in battle, you cannot ear the water sloshing around in the bottle an the enemy can't locate you. My commander made sure that we would never make the mistake again. Then we were sent to our shatash. After our hour of free time before bed (shatash), we were given 4 minutes to finish up and get into bed, then we were no longer allowed to be up and around.
The second day, we started out with breakfast duty, which was a nice way to start in with teamwork, as well as a nice break from the physical work from the night before. Then we went to classes to begin learning about the M16 that we would shoot in two days. A large portion of the time was spent teaching us the safety rules of the gun, and also the positions we would be shooting in.
Day three was as if we were actually in the army. We still had like one ore two gun lessons, but the bulk of the day was in the field. We learned how to walk, crawl, and we even carried around sticks as if they were guns. Our commander had us put mud on our faces for camouflage to teach us that we could not ever be seen. When the staff came to take pictures of us, we smiled, which exposed our teeth, so she instructed us to put mud in our teeth, which was an experience on its own. She also taught us about IDF morals as well as some stories from fallen soldiers that had great legacies. Food that day was only tuna, but we had a jar of peanut butter, so that was good for some sandwiches. That night we slept in the field, so we had to have two people up patrolling at a time, all in 20 minute intervals throughout the night.
When we woke up the next morning, we got ready fast and went right to the shooting range. The commander in charge went over the rules one last time and we shot the guns. We were allowed to shoot 10 bullets and of those, I got 5 of them on the paper. Shooting was basically the highlight of the week, and it was a great experience to learn about. We got to experience firsthand how the kids our age will be doing this for the next few years of their lives an just how impactful it will be to their futures. Gadna 2013" - Arin Simon
"The weekend with my host family was an amazing experience. I had a lot of fun learning some Hebrew from the 10-year old daughter, Maya, whose English was much better than my Hebrew. Saturday was especially fun. Our "mom" made a special pancake breakfast for Shabbat. There were so many new toppings for the pancakes. I had date syrup, fresh honey, homemade jam and of course our favorite shokolad. The date syrup wasn't sweet but it tasted like fresh dates.
In the evening, we went to a community event. It was similar to a talent show for everyone. We sat on the cool grass and watched people perform with the sun setting behind the Negev.
The highlight for me was a group of adults come together as a jazz band. Playing both saxophone and flute in school, I really enjoyed the music made on the same instruments around the world. At the very end, our own Sarah Keller performed "Butterfly'". The community was so inviting and she had many fans. The weekend was a very unique part of my Israel experience. I know it will stay with me forever." - Alex Raphael
