Posted on 06/06/2024 9:05:00 AM PDT by Uncle Miltie
Base: Navy Base in Eilat situated at the extreme South of Israel on the Northern tip of the Gulf of Eilat (or Gulf of Aqaba to muslims).
Base Mission: Defense against incoming drones, rockets, ballistic missiles, etc. Freedom of Navigation.
Base Conditions: The Navy lives up to its reputation as the most organized service. Better food. Cleaner base (essentially no trash). More disciplined soldiery.
Weather: Daytime highs of around 107. Evening showers for bathing are in “cold” water that is room temperature: 105 degrees at 6:00 p.m.
Borders: From the beach on the Southwest shore of Eilat, you can see the lights of Eilat, Israel on your left, Aqaba Jordan across the bay and the sunset on the Jordanian hills, the Northernmost port of Saudi on the right, and knowing that Egypt is directly behind you over the hill.
Sar-El Mission: Food preparation in the fully Kosher commercial Kitchen. Serving about 100 troops per meal. Lots of vegetable chopping, deep frying chicken and potatoes, peeling hard boiled eggs. Huge amounts clean up afterwards; soap everything, hose it all down the drain, squeegee everything off.
Kashruth: Keeping Kosher across that many people is tough. Meat stuff and rooms are Red. Milk is Blue. Parve (neither meat nor milk) is Yellow. There are separate rooms, utensils, machines, cooking facilities, dishes, etc. for each flavor. Breakfast was milk. Lunch was meat, with lots of it. Dinner was either Parve or Milk, served on Milk dishes.
I saw two infractions against Kasruth. First, a chef friend promised three of us some special roast beef in spicy sauce; high class eats. It was going to take some time l, so I headed back to my vegetable chopping station in the Parve room. About five minutes later, the other two guys came storming into the room, eyes gleaming with a handful each of the roast beef. My eyes got big, and without time to form a coherent sentence, I spread my arms and corralled them, and pushed them back out of the room before they touched anything. You see, had the meat actually touched anything, it would have made it “treif” (ritually impure), probably forcing them to throw it out.
For the second infraction, I called over a young woman working in the kitchen to the water-filled bin in the meat room that held several cutting boards. I pointed to the large dead cockroach floating therein, and declared, “Treif!” All hell broke loose. You see, a cockroach is not a kosher animal, and indeed probably makes the cutting boards unusable having contaminated them. I vacated the area quickly, and the hullabaloo continued for about 5 minutes. I don’t know whether they ultimately junked the cutting boards, but that was one heck of a kerfuffle.
Ship Visit: We got a mostly complete tour of a relatively new Navy corvette. Very high tech. We had to deposit our phones in a box at the door, so no photos. Virtually everything we saw or discussed is potentially a military secret, so I’ll leave it at that. Photo on the bow of us by the crew, facing away from the ship so nothing showed. Very cool, though.
The Beach: Great beach, 2 nights. Clear blue water. Warm, somewhere in the 70s, but so much cooler than the 105 degree evening air it felt freezing until you realize your body is just getting used to a normal temperature. Lots of families. An Orthodox bridal shower was on last night.
Ballistic Missile Attack: The Houthis fired an Iranian ballistic missile at Eilat one morning while we were prepping lunch. We all scurried to the ubiquitous bomb shelters and waited. I kept my head stuck out so I could see an intercept, but nothing happened. Later, we learned that the Israeli Arrow anti-ballistic missile system had intercepted it in space. Here’s the Times of Israel report on the event:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/idf-says-arrow-system-intercepted-apparent-houthi-ballistic-missile-fired-at-eliat/
Dimona: We stopped for lunch on the way to and from base in the town of Dimona. There is a restricted base there with a golf ball shaped building visible from the highway in the distance. You know.
Sar-El Team: Three good friends from two previous weeks were on this trip. This base is considered to be a plum assignment, because the Navy is great, the food is especially good, the work is consistent but not especially hard, the beach is fantastic, etc. We feel like they chose the hardest workers from previous weeks and sent them there as a reward. We had a great time. Good comradery, jokes, photos, etc.
Well, that’s a wrap for my vacation week down South. On to Jerusalem. I aim to be at the Western Wall Friday night at sundown to welcome the Shabbat Bride. I know now why they call it “The Wailing Wall”. I’m so emotional about being there I’m definitely gonna be bawling my eyes out. While G-d is everywhere, there is no place on the planet where He is more present.
In case you missed it, here is my Pre-Flight Intro:
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4237961/posts
And my Week 1 Sit Rep:
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4239681/posts
And my Week 2 Sit Rep
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4241282/posts
FReep on!
Uncle Miltie, Since Nov, 1999, Monthly Donor.
thanks for the sitrep
no idea it was that hot there
.
Great report. Thank you, Uncle Miltie.
Y’all keep a good eye on that [hardspunned] character! You never know quite what he’ll make up next!
Absolutely.
Thank you for your sitrep!
May God continue to strengthen and be with you in this good fight against terrorism.
ALSO: SAR-EL - The National Project for Volunteers for Israel
Our volunteers come from across the globe and last year, we hosted people from over 60 countries.
We welcome all volunteers above the age of 17 (we will accept 16 year old with a parent or adult relative) who are physically and mentally able to contribute to the work detail as provided by the IDF.
We welcome both Jewish and non-Jewish supporters of Israel into our program.
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF SAR-EL?
The purpose of Sar-El is to enable supporters from around the world, and at home, to contribute to the security of the State of Israel by assisting on IDF bases in a logistical support role.
-Sar-El is a unique volunteer experience fostering new friendships, greater understanding and the creation of a cultural exchange between Israel and the volunteers’ home countries
-Sar-El welcomes friends of Israel as volunteers, many of whom become “goodwill ambassadors” for our country
-We are the only volunteer program that places volunteers directly on IDF bases. working side-by-side with our soldiers
*Register here:
https://www.sar-el.org/application-get-involved/
>> >> Pretty soon you child murderers will have to fight through real fighters to kill women and children. << <<
Handspunned, in view of the attacks targeting women and children in the most egregious ways on October 7 as well as the well-known proclivities of Hamas to use women and actual children (as opposed to brainwashed teenage boys whom Hamas uses as terrorists) to protect their own sorry selves, your comment makes no sense whatsoever.
I think you need to get your information from someplace other than “Palestinian” propaganda mills.
It is wonderful that you are helping out Israel.
And your reports are great: interesting, descriptive, and well-written!
That’s Rich! Taking valuable time from your genocidal cheerleading to note I don’t get my information from the AIPAC feeding trough like you and your murderous fellow travelers.
Wow, you missed the point I was making completely. Unbelievable.
But, hey, I don’t want to kess up thos thread with the invective you seem on the point of spilling out, so maybe next time.
That is correct. Thanks for the post.
A most vitally interesting mission report, Uncle Miltie! God bless you and all the volunteers and brave military fighting this just war.
Great report, as always. I gotta go soon.
As an aside, why are the Houthis still allowed to exist? The USA should have turned Yemen into a parking lot after the first ship was hit. Better yet turn Tehran into a parking lot and the Houthis will run out of ammo.
Double tapping you with the latest, including my light pitch for other FReepers to sign up.
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4243327/posts
Isaiah, 6:8
And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here I am; send me.”
חוָֽאֶשְׁמַ֞ע אֶת־ק֚וֹל אֲדֹנָי֙ אֹמֵ֔ר אֶת־מִֽי־אֶשְׁלַ֖ח וּמִ֣י יֵֽלֶךְ־לָ֑נוּ וָֽאֹמַ֖ר הִֽנְנִ֥י שְׁלָחֵֽנִי:
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