I come from a small country in the Middle East called Israel. Israel is surrounded by many Arab countries that are Israel’s enemies. Therefore, everyone in Israel needs to join the Army. Boys serve in the army for 3 years and girls for 2 years. I served in the army for 2 years. I was a sports guide in the navy. My job was to train the solders to be fit. Before joining the army when I was in 11th grade, I took a 3-hour IQ test which checked whether I was suitable for the job. After graduating from high school I was in a booth camp for 5 weeks. The purpose of it was for every person to learn discipline and learn the rules since everyone came for a different area and background. We had to stand straight and not move every time the commander was talking to us, we woke up every morning at 5, every day cleaned the base camp and kitchen, every day we guarded for 4 hours including late at night. Every morning we had to clean our rooms and if the commander saw a little dirt on the floor we had to clean the room again and again till it was 100% clean otherwise we would have been punished. After 5 hard weeks we started the sports guide training course so we could be capable and certified to train solders and people. The course lasted 3 months. Every day we woke up at 5 in the morning and had to jog. In the afternoon we used to clean, study or guard. It was an intensive and hard course because we learned and practiced so much with not a lot of sleeping hours. After 3 months we were stationed in different bases all over Israel. I got accepted to the navy. I started my job as a sports guide in a training navy base (where the soldiers took different courses before they started their job). My job was to train them and turning them to more fit soldiers. My duties included timing them when they jogged, fiving them different exercises on land or in sea, giving lectures on proper nutrition. I was not allowed to converse with them like they were my friends even if I had a friend in the group that I had known from home. I used to wake up early every morning and jog with them.
I have learned a lot from being in the army. I learned what discipline is, what responsibility is and how to think for myself without being dependent on my parents’ advices. I feel like I have matured a lot during my army service. In addition, I met many people and made good friends. If someone asks me if I could go back and do the army all over again I will answer “definitely yes, without any doubt”.
