Will you return?
I’m definitely planning on going back. Given what’s going on now, I’m just doing what I’ve done in the past, which is check in with my friends and ask if we’re getting any indication that our unit is getting called up.
Does the news of kidnapped army corporal Galid Shalit, murdered settler Eliyahu Asheri, and the offensive into Gaza have you feeling powerless, wishing you could return and do something about it?
Without question. The first time I heard about it, I was glued to my e-mail account to see if I’m getting any messages from friends. And without question there’s a personal struggle to know that I have this capability, to be an effective soldier, and there’s constantly a sense that if I was there then I could be a part of hopefully freeing [Shalit].... At the same time, I certainly recognize that whether I am there or not, it’s certainly not going to impact the success of the mission. It’s not as if the Israeli military needs me to be there. I work in marketing. My day-to-day job is to help sell the widgets of my company. There’s a satisfaction of a job well-done: we sold 20 percent more widgets this year than last year. But it doesn’t compare to the satisfaction of knowing that the work I did today may have saved some lives.
Related:
The home front, Shooting under fire, Letters to the Portland editor: September 29, 2006, More 
- The home front
Space and place, journeys and returns structure and punctuate Jewishfilm.2006.
- Shooting under fire
What began as an exotic summer job — shooting for the Israel-based photo agency Flash 90 — ended up being a crash course in combat journalism. Audio slideshow: Phil Sussman's photographs of Israel
- Letters to the Portland editor: September 29, 2006
War is art
- Both sides
Two young women are coming of age on stage as part of New Repertory Theatre’s “Their Voices Will Be Heard” series.
- Israeli upstarts
The sound of angry Israeli youth mocking the extreme right is growing in volume, so much so that it’s now reaching the US.
- Land of the dead
Clint Eastwood does not say that war is hell. He says that war is shit. Watch the trailer for Letters from Iwo Jima (QuickTime)
- The Host
Running a rubber-gloved finger across gallons of dust-covered bottles of formaldehyde, a US military official orders a Korean morgue attendant at a US Army base in Seoul to “empty every bottle to the very last drop.
- Yes sir!
David Zeiger’s Sir! No Sir! is yet another absorbing documentary that George W. won’t see, or want you to see, because, as the prez often cautions, “It sends the wrong message to our troops.”
- Suicide Attacks Target Kabul Peacekeepers
KABUL, Afghanistan - Two separate suicide attackers rammed car bombs into vehicles belonging to
NATO-led peacekeepers Monday in Kabul, killing at least one German soldier and wounding at least 13 people in the first major attack on foreign troops in the capital in more than a year.
- Understanding conscientious objectors
“Kill, Kill, Kill,” they shout, banging their rifles on the ground — it’s an image you won’t soon forget.
- Peaks Island veteran collects stories of war's atrocities
Thirty-six years ago, more than 100 Vietnam veterans gathered in Detroit to describe and expose war crimes perpetrated by themselves and their fellow soldiers.
- Less
Topics:
This Just In
, Harvard University, Armed Forces, Israeli Defense Forces
