So, IsraeliDad is off to another week of military reserve duties and I’m sitting in bed with the kids, watching a nature show on our laptop. It’s past 7 PM, past showers and dinner.
The phone rings. At first I can’t figure out who it is, he has to repeat it twice. It’s Brigadier General Shuki Ben Anat, the IDF’s Chief Reserve Forces Officer. Yes. In person. My first gut reaction: a panic wave. My husband out there who knows where, and this general is calling me? Oh no!! What’s happened?
Then I remember I had sent the guy a letter a couple of weeks ago. Whew.
So, yes, he’s calling about my letter, where I was complaining about the fact that not only do we contribute a couple of months a year to the IDF’s reserve duties, but we also have to pay for it. You see, the IDF still hasn’t figured out a way to pay reservists for the cost of getting to their base and back. The official line is you should take a bus and save the ticket and they’ll reimburse you later. It’s ok, only they send you to places where there is no regular bus service. Or you have to be there or get back from there in some ungodly hour where no buses are running. Or maybe it’s Shabbat… You get the picture. So, reservists usually end up using their own cars, paying for the gas with no refund whatsoever.
So, I wrote a letter about it and asked for them to fix the issue. Them being several Knesset members, the IDF’s Chief Reserve Forces Officer and a bunch of other hotshots. This was why he was calling back.
Now, see, this is what I like about Israel. Instead of issuing some cold formal letter back, the guy actually picks up the phone and talks to me. It was a nice friendly chat, where he told me he’s also a reservist and is facing the same problem (with a frustrated wife of his own back at home). We talked about possible solutions and in the end he asked me if I can help by showing up for some meetings in Jerusalem and talking to some officials about it. Voicing the wives, so to speak.
Can you see why I don’t believe in conspiracy theories? My good old Israel is just too informal for that.
Thank you General Shuki, for reminding me of that and of just how approachable senior IDF officers are. It’s been years since I got to do IDF staff work, interacting with people like you and you know what, after last night’s call – I miss it a little…
on Dec 7th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
I love these kinds of stories of Israel. It reminded me of reading an interesting story about an American Oleh who met the Ramatkal (Chief of General Staff), but I cannot find it right now.
on Dec 7th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
Wow thats amazing!
Makes me really miss Israel now!!
on Dec 9th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
This is heartwarming. My guess is he’s been trying to fix the problem, and your letter “crashed through an open door” as Israelis like to say.
It reminded me of a time that my husband was away on reserve duty and I got a call from the IDF surveying reservists’ wives about their experiences and what the army could do to make it better.