Wednesday-May 8
My assignment – Work on rifle inspection.
Of course, we know nothing about rifles. Our job was merely to remove one rifle at a time from the storage rack, bring it to the officer who is an expert on dissembling and re-assembling each one, and then return it to the exact numbered place on the rack. He had one trained chayelet assisting him. She was able to unscrew the butt of the rifle making it easier for him to inspect it internally. If we were not there then she would have to bring it to him from the racks and he himself would have to unscrew the butt. With us there he was able to be more productive during the day. Of course, it wasn’t all work all day. He took the time to show us how to the find the exact target on the rifle eye. These rifles are used by sharpshooters. They were all M-16 rifles from the U.S. After each war, the U.S. discards the guns by selling very cheap to Israel or other countries. About 10% of the rifles were faulty so he either replaced faulty parts or sent them back to factory.
Night Activity – Received our Certificates, & our I.D cards. This was followed by discussion and evaluation of program.
Afterwards, there were 17 sheets of paper; each sheet had one of our names. We were to write something (interesting) about each one in the program. These we kept as souvenirs.
Thursday, May 10.
At flag raising – Senior officer of base spoke. He said, today is Lag BaOmer, which means no more beards allowed. As of Sunday morning, every chayal must be clean shaven and hair cut to army regulations
He then thanked us publicly in front of all chayalim for our contribution of time and work. He said we were an inspiration to the chayalim by doing our work efficiently, enthusiastically and with love. All soldiers then applauded us. It was meaningful and emotional.
9:30- 11:00 – Packed up, cleaned our room, washed floor, and left it spotless for next group arriving Sunday.
11:45 –Early fleishig lunch.
12:30 –Board bus back to Yerushalayim or Tel Aviv.
If anyone interested in joining this program call Howie Mischel at Nefesh B’Nefesh.
[email protected] or call 02 970 4923