Israel 7,
March 20, 2024,
Hi Everyone,
Today was our last day with Sar-El at this base. The day started off as usual with breakfast, flag raising and the singing of Hatikva, the national anthem of Israel. Most of us returned to our regular jobs as we were now experienced in ‘quality control’ and ‘medical supply distribution’. I can not say that the jobs were particularly interesting, however, the spirit of the volunteers who came to Israel to help Israel in her time of need after Oct. 7, was unmatched in any other volunteer organization that I have witnessed. Also the respect and the thankfulness that we received from the Israelis was much appreciated. These people realize that all of us have busy lives in other countries, yet were willing and able to donate their time and energy when the need arose.
I finished the day off by running 7 km around the base in reasonable time. I took a different route than usual, cutting through the base where the regular soldiers live. I was allowed to take pictures as long as there were no soldiers present and no signs indicating the location of the base.
After supper we gave back the uniform and then had a group meeting with our commanding officers, 3 young and dedicated Israelis, 1 of whom was a Sabra (a person born in Israel) and the other 2 who had come as immigrants here. We were given tee-shirts, a certificate and a pin which can be stuck on our dog-tags. Each of us then had to give a small spontaneous talk of our experiences. As usual I had no trouble expressing my thoughts.
Tomorrow we will visit a museum and then return to Tel Aviv where I will stay at my beach front hotel. It is Purim which according to my Hebrew teacher will be party time in downtown Tel Aviv and hopefully we will meet up for drinks. I will swim in the Med, run 5 km on the boardwalk, take some sunshine and enjoy my ‘leave’ from the IDF.
Love,
Brian
gobriantravel 