Where I stand with the Army

To make a long story short, I have been back in Israel since April 1. On Thursday, while at the Lishkat Giyus, I was told my profile is a 64. Aaron, from the Lone Soldier Center, thinks that the army is making a mistake. The soldiers at the Lishkat Giyus are extremely incompetent, as shown thus far. They have given me false information through this process and whatever else. Originally, Aaron thought I had a good chance of having my profile changed, but on Thursday a doctor told him they would not change my profile. Now, I have to start the appeal process. I will go see an Israeli doctor and Michelle’s aunt is helping me write letters and such to the army. I can only hope that it all works out.

This has been the most frustrating process of my life, hands down. I’m frustrated, annoyed, and just flat out uncertain about what the hell is going to happen with me. To put it bluntly, I feel like the army has shoved a rifle up my ass and pulled the trigger. I came to do combat, not sit behind a desk. I don’t even want to think about sitting behind a desk for the next year and a half. Hopefully I will be able to opt out of my contract because I was told that people going through Mahal do combat. Even if I can opt out, it’s not what I want to do, I want to fight. It’s all I’ve thought about the last few years. I see soldiers walking down the street and it just makes me want to be in the army already.

I’ve been an athlete my whole life, I’ve played baseball. I’ve hit against pitchers who throw 90 mph, I think my eyes are just fine for combat. Someone else who has better eyes, but still wears contacts is just as screwed as me if they fall out. The army’s logic just sucks. I also now probably won’t be going into the army in May, so I’ll have to wait until August. What the hell am I supposed to do for 3.5 months? My visa doesn’t allow me to work, so that’s more or less off the table. I’ll look into taking hebrew classes, since my hebrew still sucks. So I guess that’s what I’ll do.

This is where I currently stand with the army and to be honest, it sucks the big one!

Time Passes

Following my eye exam, I was supposed to be all set. I had taken care of my visa, which allows me to stay in Israel for 18 months and then I will have to renew it, I had taken my physical and psychological exams, and my eye exam. I should be all set and then I just had to wait to get my official letter from the army stating my profile number and draft date.

The profile shows what a soldier can do, what units and such. A 97 is the highest you can receive for your physical profile. They say the highest is a 97 because Jewish soldiers are circumcised. I always thought that was funny. You also never find out what you score on your IQ test, but if you score high then you can do intelligence and other things. So the way the physical profile works is that if you get a 97, you can basically do any unit, minding you pass their physical tests. An 82 means you are still eligible for combat and infantry. A 72, you can do artillery and tanks. Below that and you are what is called a jobnik, a paper pusher.

On March 8, I went home. Well first I went to Toronto with Michelle for five days and then went home. I was waiting to here from the army, but figured it may take a month or so to find out what my profile is. I was pretty calm about the whole thing, expected to get at least an 82 and be able to do an infantry unit. I was home for about three weeks. Towards the end of my trip I decided to get in contact with the guy from the lone soldier center to see if he had heard anything about my profile. Through email he informs me that I have received a non-combat profile and scored very highly on the IQ test.

At this point, it felt like I had been run over by a track. My heart stops. I never expected to receive such a low profile. While my eyes aren’t good, with contacts and glasses I can see perfectly. There is an HBO miniseries called “The Pacific” and it’s about World War II, and at the beginning of the first episode one of the characters finds out he cannot enlist in the Marine Corp because he has a heart murmur. He immediately breaks down and cries. That was exactly how I felt and still is. I’ve never been so devastated by anything in my life.

So many things were going through my head. I signed up to fight, not sit behind a desk and push paper. I left everything familiar to me back home, what can I do to change my profile? Will it be changed if I appeal? What do I do if I don’t win the appeal?

For my last few days at home, I basically sat around feeling sorry for myself. I had called the army and they told me that the problem was just my eyes. I would have to take care of everything when I got to Israel.

Editor’s Note

My editor informed me that I need to talk about my thoughts and feelings more, rather than just give everyone a recap of what has happened with the enlistment process. I agree. I have gotten caught up in trying to get all of you readers up to date with what’s going on with me that I have forgotten to add a personal flavor to the blog. So from here on out I will do my best to do so.