The Mission
BANG BANG BANG! "YOU'RE LATE!! YOU HAVE 7 MINUTES! BE DRESSED IN FULL UNIFORM!! GET UP NOW!!!"
The second night rather than my 6 in the morning alarm clock, these foreboding words occurred around 2AM. In the fog of sleep, confusion, and annoyance, the girls in my room and I struggled to dress and stumble out the door. It was cold. It was dark. And we had no idea what the heck was going on.
Continued...
Those that made it out the door were standing around outside the dining hall while our group leaders were just yelling and yelling a lot. Things like "STAND IN A CHET!" (what the heck was a chet?) "NOTHING IS FUNNY ABOUT THIS!!" (actually 20 slumpy, sleepy, out of place Americans was fairly funny)
We were ushered into a square shape with one side open, the shape of the Hebrew letter chet. Then told to put on all this equipment in front of us - backpacks, helmets, other clothing. Yelling continued - "WE NEED A VOLUNTEER!" (only one girl raised her hand) "EVERYONE MUST VOLUNTEER WHEN WE ASK FOR ONE!!! EVERYONE MUST RAISE THEIR HAND!" (all of our hands go up, but not too high of course)
A stretcher carrier was picked in case someone was hurt. Someone else was picked to carry the radio. Then they yell - "START RUNNING!!"
And we did. We ran in two lines at 2 in the morning all around the base. We ran up hills, we ran down hills. Sometimes we had to stop and crouch on the ground. Sometimes we had to stop and lay on the ground. Someone got "hurt" so we put her in the stretcher and then had to continue while holding the stretcher with the body. Then ran up a hill with the stretcher and the body. Whoa. It was pretty terrible.
But at the top of the hill we stopped and saw candles set out (in a chet) and a whole ceremony to conclude our initiation and mini basic training. We all got things to put on our uniforms to show we were volunteers. The scene was really something. All of us standing in the cold, sweaty and tired from all the running around, but in this almost magical place surrounded by candles. It felt good. And we didn't have to get up later to do morning exercises!
The second night rather than my 6 in the morning alarm clock, these foreboding words occurred around 2AM. In the fog of sleep, confusion, and annoyance, the girls in my room and I struggled to dress and stumble out the door. It was cold. It was dark. And we had no idea what the heck was going on.
Those that made it out the door were standing around outside the dining hall while our group leaders were just yelling and yelling a lot. Things like "STAND IN A CHET!" (what the heck was a chet?) "NOTHING IS FUNNY ABOUT THIS!!" (actually 20 slumpy, sleepy, out of place Americans was fairly funny)
We were ushered into a square shape with one side open, the shape of the Hebrew letter chet. Then told to put on all this equipment in front of us - backpacks, helmets, other clothing. Yelling continued - "WE NEED A VOLUNTEER!" (only one girl raised her hand) "EVERYONE MUST VOLUNTEER WHEN WE ASK FOR ONE!!! EVERYONE MUST RAISE THEIR HAND!" (all of our hands go up, but not too high of course)
A stretcher carrier was picked in case someone was hurt. Someone else was picked to carry the radio. Then they yell - "START RUNNING!!"
And we did. We ran in two lines at 2 in the morning all around the base. We ran up hills, we ran down hills. Sometimes we had to stop and crouch on the ground. Sometimes we had to stop and lay on the ground. Someone got "hurt" so we put her in the stretcher and then had to continue while holding the stretcher with the body. Then ran up a hill with the stretcher and the body. Whoa. It was pretty terrible.
But at the top of the hill we stopped and saw candles set out (in a chet) and a whole ceremony to conclude our initiation and mini basic training. We all got things to put on our uniforms to show we were volunteers. The scene was really something. All of us standing in the cold, sweaty and tired from all the running around, but in this almost magical place surrounded by candles. It felt good. And we didn't have to get up later to do morning exercises!
posted by JessMauer at 10:34 PM
| 
.jpg)
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home