Day 1/730

What does the first day of the army look like? First days are always fun, exciting, new, and scary all at the same time. Starting the army, and going through day #1, is an exciting experience. It isn't all fun and amazing as one might think, but it's one of those long long days where you sit around for hours doing nothing, but then end up doing so much at the same time. It's a day that feels like forever, but also blinks right before your eye. So here is what my first day looked like, Tuesday, January 4th.

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I woke up at 6:00/6:15, to give me time to get ready, feel awake, and be energized before it was time to leave. Several months earlier I received my draft notice saying to report to the Air Force Museum in Be'er Sheva at 8:00 AM on January 4th, 2022. My host family was driving me, and was picking me up 7:00 that morning. So I got up, made sure everything was in order, took a little bite to eat, and left with my host family.

After a 45 minute drive, we finally arrived to a parking lot filled primarily with other lone soldiers all drafting to Michve Alon (IDF Hebrew course base) that day. Michve Alon was the only base drafting that day, so it was a pretty small turnout at the parking lot. We said our goodbyes, took our pictures, and crossed the fence to a bus on the other side. Instead of leaving right away, we sat on that bus for an hour and a half doing nothing. For what reason? I have no idea. But it was at this moment I realized how much waiting we'd be doing that day, and how much waiting we do in the army in general.

*Right before crossing the fence to start the army

We finally left, and after another hour/hour and a half or so, we finally arrived to the Bakum at Tel Hashomer. Tel Hashomer is a central army base located in Ramat Gan, right next to Tel Aviv, and the Bakum is the place where every soldier goes on their first day of the army before going to their base. It's the place where you get a bunch of tests done on you, receive several medical shots, your Aleph uniform, and a bunch of other things. We arrived at 11:15, and went straight to lunch.

The food was really good, and definitely one of the better meals I am going to have in the army, but this might just be the army's way of fooling people before they get into it. We finished eating around 12:00/12:30, were taken to an area to sit, and then sat there for a while. One hour, two hours, we sat. Then someone came and told us we will be moving within the next five to ten minutes. Finally we all thought, restless from sitting for more than two hours. Then forty five minutes later they came to move us, which I guess is just how the army works. However, they didn't move us to somewhere to start the process, but rather another place to wait.

We then came to another area where we waited another hour. But this was worse because there were no benches, so I then missed waiting in the previous area. After an hour, we moved somewhere else with benches, where we sat for another thirty minutes. At this point, the time was 4:30 in the afternoon, and all we did that day was sit, drive, and eat lunch. At five they finally bring my group into an indoor room, but jokes on us because we sat for another 45 minutes.

Finally, at 5:45, we were finally taken to start the process, and from there everything was overwhelming. After hours of sitting and doing nothing, the next two hours would be spent doing absolutely everything under the sun. You enter this big building with a school-looking hallway, with lines coming out of doors on all ends. It's basically a self-directed process. You wait on one line to enter a room, do whatever needs to be done in that room, get out and go wait on the next line for the next room. You do this for about an hour going into random rooms doing random things.

I enter the first room and take a picture for my Hoger, army ID card. I then enter a room to do a whole bunch of fingerprint scans on every finger and every combination of fingers imaginable. I then go to get a dental impression, and another to get a dental scan with the same machine my mom has in her office. I receive three shots in the same place on the same arm, and have my finger pricked and used as a marker where some 19 year-old soldier is using my finger as a crayon to color my blood inside a circle. She unfortunately didn't color inside the lines. I sit at a desk where someone from the army is going over my details, making sure everything is correct, and also taking my bank information so that the army can pay me. I finally go and receive my army ID, and then the real fun begins.

I open a door to the next room, and I enter Henry Fords motor factory. Upon entering, you look straight ahead, and stop every 15 feet to receive something different. The first guy stands there, looks at your feet, hand you a pair of army boots, and says to move right along. The next guy looks you up and down, just like some judgmental yenta at Shabbat morning services monitoring that everyone is wearing appropriate clothing, and shoves two pairs of army pants and shirts into my torso. I then ask ״איך אתה יודע את המידה שלי?״ "how do you know my size?" and he responds by saying ״אני פשוט יודע״ "I simply know." Well he actually didn't simply know. We continue down the line to get a bunch of other little things such as an undershirt, pair of socks, belt, and a million other small things, before being directed into a changing room.

The one tip I heard in the changing room is to take your time and to not feel rushed. This is the opportunity to try on everything, see if it fits, and trade in what doesn't fit. After this, it is still possible to trade in gear, but it's a lot harder to do so and requires jumping hoops. So I took the time to try on everything, but the main problem was the pants. The guy who simply knew my size really didn't. I couldn't even pull the first pair of pants over my waist, and the next pair I couldn't close, so it wasn't until the third pair of pants that I got it right. After trying on everything, we have to leave wearing our Aleph uniform we just got, putting our civilian clothes in the big duffle bag they gave us.

(In the army you get two pairs of uniforms, Aleph and Bet. Aleph is the uniform you get at the Bakum, and it's what you where off of base. This uniform is nicer, more sleek, and more professional looking. Bet uniforms you receive on base, and are only worn on base. They aren't nearly as nice, and rarely fit as well, yet are somehow usually more comfortable).

We then leave the Henry ford factory, and enter another room...surprising right. It is here where you approach a counter, and they ask you to take out every single thing you just got to show them that you have everything. So I am there unpacking my new bag, making a mess, just to re-pack it two minutes later. I then receive a little welcome bag with some snacks, very nice of them, before finally finishing the process. I then enter a room and need to sit every other chair and wait for enough people to finish before getting ready to go on the next bus to my base. This part felt like waiting 15 minutes after receiving a COVID vaccine to make sure you don't have any crazy responses to the vaccine.

I then took my new bag I just got, with the other bag I brought from home, and went towards the bus at about 8;30 for another 1.5-2 hour bus ride to the Michve Alon base in the north. Upon arriving at 10:30, we were split up into our new Tzevets (groups), and I was thinking that this was it for the night, and that they'd start dealing with stuff in the morning, but oh was I wrong.

We spent the next 2.5 hours doing random things that I can barely remember because of how tired I was. I remember us meeting with the doctor to fill out a medical form, having individual brief conversations with our temporary commanders, and meeting with someone else to give them details such as family information, contact information, emergency contact information, and so on. We went to our room to set things up, and did a bunch of other things I am forgetting. At 1:30 we were given half an hour to do whatever we wanted, which included taking a shower and getting ready for bed, and then by 2:30 it was bed time.

After waking up at 6:00, and going to bed at 2:30 the next day, I can say that it was one full and crazy day that lasted over 20 hours, and a day I will not forget for a long time. Everyone's first day is always a bit crazy, and I definitely have a lot to look back on, despite how crazy and tiring it was.