The Curse Mountain - Chapter 4 (Part 1) (756 hits)
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Submitted by Avals (View user info) at 2006-01-21 12:28:00 EST
'The Curse Mountain' is the story of Gilad, a team-leader in the engineering company of the IDF's 'Givati' brigade. A sort of service diary, 'The Curse Mountain' chronicles Gilad's tour of duty in Lebanon, and was published in the form of a newspaper article a year after Israel's withdrawal from that country.
Originally published in Hebrew, I have attempted to translate this story into English to the best of my abilities.
(Original publishing: Ron Leshem, '7 Days' supplement, Yediot Aharonot, 11.5.01. Special thanks to Mr. Leshem for giving me permission to continue translating this article.)
Chapter 1: http://www.ubersite.com/m/59575
Chapter 2 (Part 1): http://www.ubersite.com/m/59962
Chapter 2 (Part 2): http://www.ubersite.com/m/60385
Chapter 2 (Part 3): http://www.ubersite.com/m/61802
Chapter 3 (Part 1): http://www.ubersite.com/m/61976
Chapter 3 (Part 2): http://www.ubersite.com/m/62052
Chapter 3 (Part 3): http://www.ubersite.com/m/64502
Chapter 3 (Part 4): http://www.ubersite.com/m/80770
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Chapter 4 / Noam
When Noam first arrived at the outpost I thought he was a snob; then we connected; then I lost him right in my arms
A lot of things changed since the great rocket ambush. All of a sudden Tzion asks me if I want to grab a coffee in the SR. They never invited me for coffee before, my men. After that ambush suddenly I find them sitting down next to me, talking to me. Suddenly there's a click, something that says "We've accepted you, you're one of us now. It'll take some time to work on it, but you're one of us." I know I treated them badly before; they hated me. Now it's all coming into perspective.
That event was a turning point in my military career. I guess that was the first time I realized what it meant to be responsible for people's lives. Until that day I didn't give a rat's ass if Tzion's girlfriend was cheating on him, for example. Now all of a sudden I really wanted to know, because I care about him. I depend on him and he depends on me, and after all I'd like to believe that he'd be willing to die for me.
A month later Marco the medic came up to me. Stood right in front of me, close; told me: "I'd die for you." Just like that, straight to my face: "I'd die for you." Imagine what that's like, to tell someone you'd die for them. What do you answer? Anything you say dwarfs in comparison, becomes meaningless. I thought about what to say; maybe just tell him I'd die for him in the next life too? That would sound stupid. So what do you do in a situation like that? Just hug, kiss, say "I love you."
When exactly did this happen? It was the day Noam was killed. I swore I would never forget the date; I swore to God. Now all of a sudden I can't remember. What a disgrace. I think it was the eve of the Holocaust Remembrance Day.
He was killed five days before his discharge from the military. He already had a plane ticket to Greece. He was planning to work as a security guard there for a while, then take a trip to South America with an army buddy for an indefinite period of time. He'd just bought a car, too; a VW Beatle, and had a girlfriend. Good life. It was the last time he went up to Lebanon, he swore.
He called me Chong
It all started a week earlier, when a team of Sergeants went out on a thruway-clearing operation. Intel indicated a bomb had been placed on the access road to the outpost, so I decided to come along and help out. To each such operation we would assign an individual codename, and here too we usually stuck to the names of our girlfriends. This time we announced Operation Lilach, in my honor. "We're gonna do Lilach!" everyone shouted.
We walked along the path with a scout, a dog handler and electronic equipment to make sure everything was in order, and that it would be possible to bring up a big convoy that night. As soon as we got to the G-bend a huge explosion. We yelled "Bomb!" Everyone froze where they were - standard procedure, you extract to the rear. When we arrived back at the outpost we started debriefing what had happened. We came to the conclusion that the terrorists managed to plant explosive devices along the road during the last fog; which means that this probably isn't the last one hiding out there. We froze all convoys.
For an entire week we waited; No one came in or out. Supplies on the base began to run out. The regiment commander decided that we had to chopper in a special team from the Engineering Corps' bomb disposal unit, and they would investigate the blast hole and determine whether it was a single device or one of many. BD (Bomb Disposal) team, they're called.
Their chopper came in at midnight. That's when I saw Noam (Barnea) for the first time. He was 'Number 1' on the team; that was the call sign, that's the job description. When they came out of the helicopter and entered the outpost's protected space they barely even said hello, walked right by and went straight to the regiment commander's room. "Well, they sent us some more arrogant cunts," I said to Bendori. Carmeli the CO came over to let me know that I'd be going with them to the site of the explosion. "You've got two days to get ready. Stick to their ass like glue," he told me. "Tell them everything they need to know. You'll be in charge of security; they'll get rid of the bombs. Clear?"
Noam wanted to know everything, to go over everything in order to plan how to properly approach the scene. We went through every single aerial reconnaissance photograph together, surveyed the area together from the guard stations; We briefed the team and ran drills.
A drill is a dress rehearsal, where you confront the team with all kinds of surprises. "You've got a casualty at the rear of the force! You've got a casualty in the middle of the force! You've got a casualty at the head of the force! You've got a bomb that went off and failed to injure!" For an entire night we went over mock scenarios like this with them so that they would be ready for anything.
I told Noam I had to take my Sergeant Bendori on this operation; that I'm not moving an inch without him. Other than that I'm bringing along two marksmen, a medic, a Negev operator and a Nakpadon driver. We went back and forth on whether we needed plus one scout, minus one scout; plus a medic, less a medic; evenutally we felt ready.
I don't know what it was I liked about him; there was something that drew me in. Maybe it was the fact that he was the biggest hotshot there; otherwise they wouldn't have called him 'number 1'. He actually started out in the Flight Academy, then excelled as a recruit in basic training. He was a good-looking guy, athletic but thin. We spent the last night in idle chit-chat. He was deliberating on whether he should study history. He used to call me Chong, which means rookie. Used to tell me "Shut your dentures." We'd have some laughs, talk about life for a bit, and then backtor. Backtor (back to routine) means to sleep. They also call it 'flying zeds', like the 'ZzZz' of snoring in the cartoons.
At five a.m. we got up like every morning; An hour and a half with full gear, alert and ready for an outpost attack. Then I went back to sleep. At seven-thirty Carmeli woke me up with a slap. "Get up quick. What are you doing sleeping in the morning?" he told me.
I went outside with my mind completely foggy and headed to the briefing room. Noam was already there engrossed in preparations. The regiment commander did a quick overview, then a supplementary briefing, and out we went. Bendori boarded a rescue Nakpadon, the dog-handler and I went out on foot along with Noam and his numbers 2 and 3. We took an eight-men security force. Along the way we didn't say a word. A hundred meters from where the bomb went off I signaled for everyone to kneel. With two fingers I signaled to Noam "look forward," that's where the blast hole is.
At this point before going in we started clearing 360 degrees. It means we go around in a circle and check the whole surrounding area for booby-traps. During this we deploy WMT (white marking tape), so that we know where we've already stepped. After clearing 180 degrees in the span of a half an hour, Noam stopped and said that that was enough.
One of the electronic devices wasn't working even before we left the outpost, so I told Bendori to advance towards me with the Nakpadon; There's a second device on the Nakpadon, maybe it would help. Bendori stood up with his upper body out of the vehicle. I screamed at him to get back inside, otherwise he's dead.
Noam told me, "Get me the medic and the radio-man, I'm taking them with me to the site." I told him to forget it. "No one's going with you except me," I said. "I'll be your medic and your radio-man, none of the kids moves an inch." He became angry. "Newsflash: the medic and the radio-man are coming with me," he said. "That's what we agreed on in the outpost." I don't know what came over me; I refused. I felt I don't trust anybody right now, don't want to get the kids involved; something's not right there. We got into an argument. "It's a shame to be standing here exposed in an observable spot," I said finally. "Either you take me or I get on that Nakpadon and disappear along with my men." He gave in.
We started walking. He first, I a couple of meters behind. "This isn't right, you know," he told me. "You're not supposed to be running things here, you're supposed to provide security." He took another two steps forward, turned his head and said, "keep your distance, kid," with a smile. "Get moving, rookie," I answered. Suddenly an explosion, a deafening bang. 16:29, Noam went down.
User Reviews
Submitted by LadyPlural (user info) at 2006-01-23 11:39:04 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by GuinnessSince1759 (user info) at 2006-01-22 23:50:43 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
probably a good piece.
Submitted by thorpe (user info) at 2006-01-22 07:02:47 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I'm gonna read these one day.
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2006-01-21 19:01:56 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
+2 because it was awesome.
As usual, I really like these. Thanks.
Submitted by Snark (user info) at 2006-01-21 17:12:26 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
+2 Cuz you got a -2 for all the wrong reasons
Submitted by Lucky13 (user info) at 2006-01-21 15:46:18 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Didn't read it...don't care...obviously no else bothered to read it so it must be crap....k thanks.