In the Navy
When I graduated from high school, due to the circumstances mentioned in the post below, I was exempt from joining the Israeli army. So I did the obvious thing - I volunteered. For two years, like all other 18 year old girls in Israel.
This was the first time I had met people from different social backgrounds, as opposed to those snobs I knew at my school for 12 years. This was my first test of how well I adapt to different social situations. I passed with flying colours. Made friends with everyone. Kept in touch with a few. Again, no email back then so there was no method to keep in touch with people who were scattered all over the country.
In Israel the military service is a huge landmark in our lives. It may be only two years or three years of our lives, but this is the period where we change from being teenagers to being mature adults. This is the period that everyone looks back to. The amount of memories you gather from your military service cannot be compared to any other experience in life. There is not even one Israeli you'll meet who has not kept in touch with at least one friend from their time in the service. And more often than not, social groups of friends begin in the military. Nothing like throwing a bunch of strangers from different social backgrounds into one tent and telling them - deal with it! It's the best bonding experience in life. Most times, you would never imagine becoming friends with some of those people, yet through some strange turn of events you end up best of friends. Whether it's by "your enemy is my enemy" or whether it's by "I'm miserable, I have no one to vent to, you're it."
I joined the Navy November 26th, 1987. Quite rapidly I learned how to get along with several girls my age who seemed nice enough to talk to when I was bored. Four months later, a new recruit arrived and we realised she was allotted to work in our unit, we did the obvious - started gossiping about her. What else could we do with our free time?!
Well, L.D. wore a lot of makeup. Heavy black eye liner on the eyes. Very goth looking. Well, being the nice girls that we were in this unit, we had determined that L.D. was a drug addict and that's why her eyes always seemed glazed over and in a different world. And we welcomed her in that fashion. We didn't talk to her. No one wants to talk to a drug addict. One day we all sat outside our unit during our lunch break and she broke the news - "I plan to die by the age of 24." That pretty much broke our silence and had us laughing.
She's 36 today, married plus one. She's my best friend from the Navy. She wasn't a drug addict, she just has her own unique style. She's as much of a snob as I am, and we share a great love of art - not to mention we connected on an intellectual level, which meant the world to me! We spent our boring days in the Navy discussing the hunky men we saw pass through our unit daily (I told you - we connected on an intellectual level!). Oh yeah, we performed medical checkups on divers, so we pretty much saw them all without their shirts on. It was a good bonding activity - discussing men that is.
Then there's my commanding officer, Y.M. No, I did not become friends with the commanding officer. He's retired today. But he will always remain "My commanding officer." The amount of respect I feel for him exceeds my ability to ever consider him a friend. But if we met in any other circumstances, I would have loved to be considered his friend. Of course, so did all the bachellorettes in Israel (including one very famous good looking singer who was his girlfriend). We shared the same sign - Aquarius. That was sufficient for me to consider him - my equal.
And of course I cannot forget my favourite civilian in the Navy, R.L. A wonderful Scottish-Jew who spoke only English to me. Intelligent, smart, detail oriented - that's all I needed to know to make friends with him. He was the unit's librarian. I'd spend days in his library helping him out. This was my quiet job in life. I miss working with him. His wit and dry humour kept me going through those couple of years.
I wish I could get in touch with all my other friends from that period. Including one who almost became my boyfriend, but I was a bit young and naive for him at the time. Yes, I still have a thing for him. But I'm way out of his league.
Here's to my friends from the Navy - best time of my life!
This was the first time I had met people from different social backgrounds, as opposed to those snobs I knew at my school for 12 years. This was my first test of how well I adapt to different social situations. I passed with flying colours. Made friends with everyone. Kept in touch with a few. Again, no email back then so there was no method to keep in touch with people who were scattered all over the country.
In Israel the military service is a huge landmark in our lives. It may be only two years or three years of our lives, but this is the period where we change from being teenagers to being mature adults. This is the period that everyone looks back to. The amount of memories you gather from your military service cannot be compared to any other experience in life. There is not even one Israeli you'll meet who has not kept in touch with at least one friend from their time in the service. And more often than not, social groups of friends begin in the military. Nothing like throwing a bunch of strangers from different social backgrounds into one tent and telling them - deal with it! It's the best bonding experience in life. Most times, you would never imagine becoming friends with some of those people, yet through some strange turn of events you end up best of friends. Whether it's by "your enemy is my enemy" or whether it's by "I'm miserable, I have no one to vent to, you're it."
I joined the Navy November 26th, 1987. Quite rapidly I learned how to get along with several girls my age who seemed nice enough to talk to when I was bored. Four months later, a new recruit arrived and we realised she was allotted to work in our unit, we did the obvious - started gossiping about her. What else could we do with our free time?!
Well, L.D. wore a lot of makeup. Heavy black eye liner on the eyes. Very goth looking. Well, being the nice girls that we were in this unit, we had determined that L.D. was a drug addict and that's why her eyes always seemed glazed over and in a different world. And we welcomed her in that fashion. We didn't talk to her. No one wants to talk to a drug addict. One day we all sat outside our unit during our lunch break and she broke the news - "I plan to die by the age of 24." That pretty much broke our silence and had us laughing.
She's 36 today, married plus one. She's my best friend from the Navy. She wasn't a drug addict, she just has her own unique style. She's as much of a snob as I am, and we share a great love of art - not to mention we connected on an intellectual level, which meant the world to me! We spent our boring days in the Navy discussing the hunky men we saw pass through our unit daily (I told you - we connected on an intellectual level!). Oh yeah, we performed medical checkups on divers, so we pretty much saw them all without their shirts on. It was a good bonding activity - discussing men that is.
Then there's my commanding officer, Y.M. No, I did not become friends with the commanding officer. He's retired today. But he will always remain "My commanding officer." The amount of respect I feel for him exceeds my ability to ever consider him a friend. But if we met in any other circumstances, I would have loved to be considered his friend. Of course, so did all the bachellorettes in Israel (including one very famous good looking singer who was his girlfriend). We shared the same sign - Aquarius. That was sufficient for me to consider him - my equal.
And of course I cannot forget my favourite civilian in the Navy, R.L. A wonderful Scottish-Jew who spoke only English to me. Intelligent, smart, detail oriented - that's all I needed to know to make friends with him. He was the unit's librarian. I'd spend days in his library helping him out. This was my quiet job in life. I miss working with him. His wit and dry humour kept me going through those couple of years.
I wish I could get in touch with all my other friends from that period. Including one who almost became my boyfriend, but I was a bit young and naive for him at the time. Yes, I still have a thing for him. But I'm way out of his league.
Here's to my friends from the Navy - best time of my life!
posted at
10/12/2005 02:02:00 PM
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