Groundhog Day

My stomach dropped as if on cue when the producer counted us in. The host launched into his preamble, a grin spread across my face as he introduced Captain Sam in his toothy American accent. Surrounded by green screens and sweating through the makeup already, I recounted for the audience at home the story of …

An Officer and a Gentleman

Despite the instructions the Drill Sergeant had repeatedly barked at us throughout the rehearsals, as the three F15 jets roared overhead I couldn’t help but follow them with my eyes until they were mere dots on the horizon. I lower my gaze back through the stands of cheering families, clutching their cameras lest they’ll miss …

At The End of All Things

Have you ever marvelled at the power of language? The truly incredible feat that is a series of agreed-upon sounds compiling a code so complex that it can convey even the most abstract of theories. The audacity that blotches of ink on treated pieces of wood could deliver whole stories and thoughts. Lines and squiggles …

Good Morning, neVatim!

The Beer Sheva skyline becomes hazy and small against the surprisingly blue December horizon until the unending plane of wasteland brown is all that’s left. A neglected dusty road winds our path through the rolling hills of this godforsaken world like a scene out of Mad Max. The desolate horizon disturbed momentarily by a metal …

Fear and Loathing in Sde Dov

A man decides to serve his country. He decides to be all he can be. He decides to stop feeling like a foreigner in the country he was born. He decides that this is one time-pressed dream he can’t leave unfulfilled. It was two days after my name was read out in that briefing room. …

The Aviator

I’m five and a half thousand feet above sea level in zone 605. I finish the turn and check one last time that there’s nothing but fields below us. He makes sure again that his belt and parachute restrains are tightened. The hat and sunglasses don’t do much to hide his white hair and wrinkles. …

Jarhead

“You have three and a half minutes to get yourselves in uniform and get out here - be late, I fucking dare you!” The commander’s voice bellowed from outside our tent. They sent us to bed just an hour ago. What horrible sin did I commit in my past lives to deserve this? How does …

Night At The Museum

It’s a lot cleaner than I remembered. The books, all neatly lined up on the desk, just waiting for someone to have a look and maybe pick one out. The cardboard box packed with all the loose bits and pieces I left under the bed and in unseen corners. Perched on top is the large …

Top Gun

‘What the fuck is wrong with me?!’ It’s four in the morning and I’m in the middle of the desert. I’ve just been dragged out of bed for the third time tonight and brought to ‘The Crawls’ Hill. After seventeen laps of crawling, I’ve finally been allowed to stop. I feel like I’m about to …

Camp Nowhere

So there I was, in this small (refugee-camp resembling) student village in the south of Israel, questioning the manner in which I make major life decisions (- like, you know, moving to a different country and joining the army). Standing outside of my new apartment, trying to decipher whether the large Amharic message splayed on the …