Comments on Israeli by Day, American by Night: Commander Names

It's a matter of necessity. You're in for...

2010-08-04T15:24:33.289+03:00

It's a matter of necessity. You're in for 3 years, and then you're out. The only way you stay in combat and do a day more than 3 years is to become an officer. Our NCO's were professional and smart and good leaders, however, and I don't think anyone could have done a better job than they did. They do not sleep during training, since they have meetings for hours into the night about each day's activities while we slept. They knew their equipment, knew the drills, knew the tactics, and knew how to treat us. I have always been blown away by what a 19 year old kid can do.

Doesn't the US Army make a big deal out of inspiring "ordinary people to do extraordinary things"?

It's very interesting to read about IDF comman...

2010-08-04T03:38:40.580+03:00

It's very interesting to read about IDF commanders in basic, which seem to be the equivalent of drill sergeants/drill instructors in the US military. You've said they are young. I would say a drill sergeant in the US Army is a) a staff sergeant or above, and b) 25 or older. So assuming someone joins the Army at 18, that means he is in at least 7 years before he can train other recruits. No offense, but it seems like the American system would produce better-trained soldiers. I understand, however, that because the IDF works on a draft system, they may need to have younger trainers.

When you try to find out how 'human' he is (or oth...

2009-04-02T16:22:00.000+03:00

When you try to find out how 'human' he is (or other people are) do you try to find out what motivates them to be better, rise higher, do more difficult things, break records, be the first to..., or anything like that? F'rinstance, if I recall you wrote that one of your Commanders is Ethiopian (or some other non-mainstream group member). When you try to find out how 'human' he is, do you try to find out what motivates him to rise from a minor group position to a level of command over members of major groups? I don't recall reading that your exploration of 'humanity' has any connection with being better, rising above etc etc etc. Did I miss something?

nooyawka - I enjoy your comments on my blog, but t...

2009-04-01T13:30:00.000+03:00

nooyawka - I enjoy your comments on my blog, but this one makes me doubt your sanity.

First of all, I'm not really a frummer, and I certaintly don't read Torah for character flaws.

Most importantly, when did I say I was looking for flaws in my commander? I said that its nice when they get personal with you, when they reveal their true selves. looking for a person to be real with you is hardly 'liberal.'

And I hardly think my situation has anything to do or is in any way rekated to bill clinton! Me seeing that my 19 year old commander is just a regular guy has no bearing on my desire to go to combat with him! There's a guy in my platoon who I despise, but I want that crazy son of a bitch next to me in battle!

Thanks for your comment, but I think you're off on this one.

This business about discovering his 'humanity' (fa...

2009-04-01T06:35:00.000+03:00

This business about discovering his 'humanity' (faults, flaws etc) does you no good IMHO. It doesn't help you to know he had acne when he was 13, he never had a relationship with a woman past the third date, he farts when he eats beans, he cheats on his taxes, he's a mother raper etc etc etc

What you are trying to do is find his flaws. His flaws make him more 'human'.

But they also undermine your respect for him. They make you doubt him, second guess him, make you more than his equal perhaps his better.

And then in a combat situation when your mind should be clear to follow him, you'll be thinking about how he's so flawed you couldn't possibly follow him.

I deliberately used the word 'liberal' which I take from the US political context. I'm thinking for instance of Clinton. When he was accused of the Lewinsky thing, he shot back that all or just about all past Presidents had sexual flings too. In other words, they were 'human' too. They were no better than the rest of us and certainly no better or different from Clinton.

The problem with that way of thinking is that if it's true that Presidents and all other past Great Men also had sexual things and were no better than the rest of us, then forget idealism, forget admiration, forget any desire to be 'good' 'pure' 'better' 'a leader' 'a hero' any of those 'higher' things. If even the 'higher' figures are no better than the rest of us, there's no sense trying to be 'better'.

I find your interest in 'human' flaws interesting also because you are a frommer. Do you study Abraham Isaac Jacob David etc to find their flaws? Yes, we know they had flaws. We study them to find out how to rise above our flaws. We want to know how we can be better because they tried to be better. You know and I know they had flaws, big ones in some cases. But that's not how we look at them as people.

Why do you look at Commander X differently? When are you going to study how he rose above?

nooyawka - not really sure what you're talking abo...

2009-04-01T00:11:00.000+03:00

nooyawka - not really sure what you're talking about...

But I like the offensiveness of it so go ahead and explain.

Whether you realize it or not, you are such a libe...

2009-03-30T04:27:00.000+03:00

Whether you realize it or not, you are such a liberal. This bizness of finding fault and finding 'humanity' is such a liberal trap. You really should be careful.

If the minority who loads bags of muddy sleeping b...

2009-03-28T22:09:00.000+03:00

If the minority who loads bags of muddy sleeping bags in the rain don't become commanders, the country is left with the penguins huddling in the rain.

Don't let your Hebrew be an impediment to becoming a Mak or Mem-Mem if that's what you want to do.

Getting to be a commander isn't too difficult. Re...

2009-03-27T15:42:00.000+03:00

Getting to be a commander isn't too difficult. Really, you have three chances immediately after advanced training (ie - you could start to train to be a commander after 6 months in the army!) to go to the commanders' course.

You just have to get the greenlight from an officer, I think. Then you go for 4 months to a different base where you learn all types of stuff. It's not easy, but it's certainly not hard. Let's put it this way: the first month in my commander told me I should be a commander.

My Hebrew sucks.

It seems really weird to take orders from 19 year ...

2009-03-26T18:13:00.000+02:00

It seems really weird to take orders from 19 year kids. I guess they don't behave like that. I wonder, how do you get to be a commander?

very interesting bro and hilarious! love you

2009-03-26T06:12:00.000+02:00

very interesting bro and hilarious! love you

Yep, they get to choose how friendly they want to ...

2009-03-25T20:32:00.000+02:00

Yep, they get to choose how friendly they want to be. If you do something wrong, though, they'll still have to give you mishpat - That gets a lot harder for everybody involved once distance is broken.