A Little Bit Of Army

I know it was a while ago, but I figure now is as good a time as any to talk about what went on in gadna a couple of weeks ago. First off, gadna is a program run by the army to give 16 year olds a little idea of what they will be going through when they turn 18. Given this, it is not surprising that some of the gadna "mifakdim" (officers) were unprepared to deal with "campers" slightly older than that. In any case, at gadna we learned basic army instructions like how to stand at attention, how to stand in a chet (imagine a square with one side missing) and how to make a bed so that our mother's would be proud. In addition, we have classes on the different army insignias and ranks. We also had a day of field training. We practiced moving in the wilderness, dropping down into a shooting position, and what to do when a grenade is thrown at you - essentially run like hell in the other direction, drop to the ground, and cross your legs to protect your "naughty bits." Oh yeah, and we also got to play with m-16s. I can now take apart and reassemble an m-16, not to mention hit the outskirts of a target some 60 yards away. Unfortunately, this may be the end of Adam's play time with weapons, as the army has indicated that as a volunteer I won't be going through basic training and so will not be carrying a gun. Don't worry though, I still have to have words with the army on that subject.