The goal of this blog is to give you a glimpse into the life of a Rasap and a soldier in the IDF serving in the reserves. This is where it starts. Before the uniform, before the base. The pre-planning.
It begins with rumors. Only the top level of officers and commanders know anything real at first. They tell the other officers. Some of those officers tell their friends, and in the reserves everyone becomes friends. From there the information starts flowing. WhatsApp groups start buzzing. Every officer gets 500 messages asking if we are going back and whether these are the real dates.
Part of the problem is built into the system. The army has to give 30 days notice. So they often tell people before the date is actually solidified. You end up with a game of telephone, everyone racing to be the one who breaks the news to everyone else. Most of it is not true. Like everything else in the IDF, until it is final and you are called to base, it is not final.
My commander believes in sharing news when it is real news, not rumors. He communicated with the unit constantly and passed along information as he got it. That kind of straight talk matters more than people realize when the messages are flying.
While the soldiers were sorting through the dates, we started planning. The first job was getting our officer group for the security team open again and communicating. We checked which guys were available heading into the summer. Who was with other units now. Who had left the army. Who had switched out. All of that started right away.
For me, the questions were simple to ask and harder to answer. What would we need. What do we have. How do we close the gap between the two.
It was an eye opening experience. Many more hours went into it than I expected. But failure to prepare is preparing to fail. And at the end of the day, we were getting called up and we needed to start planning.
On a personal note, when I looked at the original date, I realized I would be on base for Shavuot and for my wife's birthday. I ordered cakes for all four meals. I called friends and family to make sure every meal for the holiday and Shabbat was accounted for.
The biggest takeaway from my first round was this. Taking care of your family is one of the most important things you can do. In the army, everyone takes care of you. You have what you need. Making sure your family has the same is essential.