My Daughter, The Soldier
It was a two-hour drive, mostly through endless desert on all sides, to get to my daughter’s army base. She had been inducted into the Israeli Defense Forces only a month earlier, as part of Israel’s compulsory service, and had just finished basic training. We were on our way to her swearing-in ceremony, and were thus looking for a compound that was not listed on any map and had no road signs indicating its location. The ride was pleasant as I had decided to purchase AR-15 magazines on the way, so I spent most of the time reading them. We took a wrong turn about five minutes too early, and landed at a different cluster of unmarked army bases heavily guarded by kids in uniform holding big guns. I suppose I should stop calling my 19-year-old daughter and her contemporaries “kids”, since they are now charged with protecting the entire nation from attack. “Look for the row of palm trees on your left,” a soldier on duty directed us nonchalantly, “around seven kilometers down the road.” We miraculously found those palm trees on the first try – I suppose one of many miracles involving the daily function of the IDF – or perhaps due to the fact that in this particular miracle, we were guided by the more obvious and familiar queue of cars in the middle of the desert filled with parents on the way to watch their children become soldiers.
There were 120 soldiers being sworn in to the Intelligence Corps that day, two all-women units of forty, and one coed unit. In Intelligence, soldiers are not supposed to reveal too much about what they are doing, so I really have no way of verifying why some groups are single-sex and others are mixed. Perhaps it’s a reflection of a deeper ambivalence about women soldiers – on the one hand equals, but on the other hand, still at times relegated to “women’s” jobs. Or maybe that’s an unfair characterization – despite the fact that there still exists the “women’s corps” in the army, making one wonder what everything else is, and despite the fact that some of the most important jobs in the army, pilot notwithstanding, are still closed to women. Nevertheless, the young women in all units fulfilled the same roles and tasks throughout the ceremony as the men, running and saluting and holding their guns the same way. And even though it was a coed space, the women outnumbered the men. So it was an event of excellent soldiering in which women dominated.
5 comments on “My Daughter, The Soldier”
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Wow, I didn’t know the experience meant so much to you… And yet I’m glad it does, I know being in the army is important to me and I’m happy to share that experience with you. You compliment me so much, I really dont deserve it- I kind of feel a bit more pressure now 🙂
Thank you for making me feel like I’m part of something so much bigger, you have a wonderful way with words; you make me sound like a super ninja or something haha 🙂
Love you
You really area chayelet mofet… in so many ways
love you too
Fantastic!
Your pride in your daughter’s accomplishments rings loud and clear. But it all rests on your own amazing accomplishment – to make a succesful aliyah. I wonder how many chayalot had parents who gave their children this opportunity to coming to live in Israel.
Why are they wearing American army uniforms?
They should be wearing tzahal uniforms.
Looks a little strange
Pls explain