Army Life: A sense of accomplishment

Following my unit's completion of tironut (basic training), we were sent to guard a kibbutz just outside of Gaza.  It was our first real mission as soldiers, the first time where we could feel that we were actually doing something of true importance.
 
While it was nice to get away from the base, the time on the kibbutz was not without its difficulties. For starters, we were required to prepare our own meals in the small kitchen allotted to us by the kibbutz. This meant that those of us who keep Kosher had to keep a watchful eye on everything in the kitchen, making sure that no one used the dairy pot to cook the chicken and that no one used a meat fork to prepare breakfast. We tried to be as vigilant as possible, but we could only run the kitchen while we were there.  What happened when we were on guard duty was out of our control.
 
One of the other major challenges that arose was Yom Kippur, which began the day after we arrived. The kibbutz is completely secular, so much so that it doesn't have any synagogue to speak of, and it lacks a minyan even for Yom Kippur. This meant that those of us who wanted to pray, had to do so on our own.  Exhausted and lacking a general Yom Kippur atmosphere, I found it difficult to pray as I would have liked.  

The ability to fast was also impaired by the 8 hours of guard duty we were required to do each day.  Though I tried to complete the fast, the combination of heat and the equipment I carried with me as I patrolled the perimeter fence in the final hours of the day forced me to drink in accordance with instructions I had received from a community rabbi back home.
 
The time we spent on the kibbutz also included some more enjoyable moments. For instance, the nursery school children came with their teacher to decorate our sukka and various members of the kibbutz baked cookies and cake for us to have on Shabbat and Sukkot. While I couldn't enjoy the baked goods due to kashrut concerns, it was great to see the warm welcome we got from the kibbutz members.
 
While the week and a half spent on the kibbutz was filled with tedious and boring shifts and guard duty, as well as sometimes complicated dilemmas for the religious soldiers, I felt a sense of accomplishment as we left the kibbutz. We had protected the residents and that's what we were there for.  Mission accomplished.