Options 2 - IDA - Carla Cohen & Eden Stern
We woke up in Neve Ilan, ate the delicious brekky, prayed and then set off for our 2nd set of options - IDA. After an hour and a half bus ride with the wonderful Moaz, we arrived at a kibbutz. Immediately, once exiting the bus, we were greeted with an array of food and four men, all of whom would become our instructors for the next three days. Dor, the head instructor briefed us about the program and then split us into our groups: yellow, red and purple - yellow being the best.
After our first activity of designing and spray painting our team flags we all went to bring our bags to our rooms. We arrived at the rooms to a big confusion about which rooms we all were in, after a while we finally sorted it out and headed to lunch. As expected the lunch was shintzel, still very yum though (even after five weeks of it). We then headed down to the gym for a “quick” talk on the IDF’s history. Once the very exciting talk was over we did some Krav Maga with the Red team instructor Yagel. Due to not exercising for 5 weeks the numerous laps of the gym, push ups, squats and jumping jacks all came as a surprise. We then learnt about defensive strategies to protect ourselves from attackers and practiced these new found skills on punching pads. We left the gym sweaty and puffed out and headed to our rooms to prepare for our evening activity.
On arrival at dinner, a huge bonfire awaited us, it was insane! Together, the 54 of us sat around the fire, ate dinner, lit the Chanukiah and sung songs. Then, we painted black stripes onto everyone’s faces and set out into the darkness for a march in the dead of night. There we learnt about camouflaging ourselves and the tactics and benefits of being able to surprise your enemy. Learning about the importance of teamwork, stamina and mental determination when entering a war zone was vital and really interesting from the soldier’s perspectives. We then went to bed, ready for the jam packed day ahead.
Day 2 of IDA began with a 6:30 wake up and a nutritious breakfast of bread, butter and coffee. We then all headed to the bus and divided into our groups. The Yellow group began with navigational activities, setting out to find an army base using a map, getting a photo of cows nearby and successfully entering the army base. After that, we went to the shooting range where our instructor taught us how to properly shoot a gun and the correct way to hold it. He stood with each student and assisted, ensuring that we could maximise our knowledge and skills. It was a lot of fun!
Following, we had lunch before continuing to Krav Maga where we learnt how to defend ourselves using fake knives and punching pads while also improving our fitness through numerous rounds of running, burpees and pushups. To conclude the day, we set out on a 3 hour hike back to our kibbutz, holding an open stretcher with water barrels and all our backpacks from the day. While tiring, we saw beautiful sights of cows and a colourful sunset that we’ll never forget. Once back at the kibbutz, we had dinner, candle lighting and tasty sufganiot, followed by a summary of the day with our instructors and then to a well earned sleep, ready for our final day.
Day 3, last day!!! Tuesday night we were so so excited for the final day and were told that wake up was at 6:30am so we set our alarms and went to sleep. Then bright and early at 5 am, music blasted on the loud speaker and our instructors voices boomed outside our rooms “WAKE UP! OUTSIDE IN FIVE MINUTES!!!”. The classic army wake up, really getting the whole experience here... We got dressed and headed out in the freezing cold darkness. For two and a half hours we marched through the forest and roads in the cold rain and the “lovely” breeze. Each team got a stretcher where we put our bags on and everyone took turns to help carry it. The whole experience was very rewarding as we turned up to our destination, Joara base, the very first army base in Israel.
We ate our breakfast and then sung happy birthday to Aaliyah- lucky girl, 5am wake up on her birthday!!! After our morning adventures, we walked down to the Krav Maga area and shooting range. We then learnt defensive techniques to protect against choking, followed by a navigation task using BB guns. After that, we caught the bus to the kibbutz and had lunch, packed our bags and went to the gym for a closing ceremony of well earned certificates and final photos with our instructors.
Feeling fulfilled yet exhausted, we got on the bus to the iconic Ramat Rachel, ready for our final days of IST.
Carla Cohen & Eden Stern - 25.12.2019
