Last Full Measure of Devotion

Raise your hand if you have never been shot. In an ideal world most people would put their hands up. I always assumed that I would always be in this category. Even when I joined the IDF and my family were terrified that something untoward would happen to me I assumed that nothing would. I was never in a combat position, and other than the rare occasion that I was actually sent into a combat area, I was always relatively removed from the action.

I was sent to the Golan during the Second Lebanon War. I went to Bint Jbeil. That was bad but I was never in any real danger. I have been sent to Gaza several times. I witnessed much of the destruction from Operation Summer Rains and Operation Hot Winter after the fact. I was more directly involved in Operation Cast Lead but there was still very little chance that I would never come home alive.

They call it the Israel Defence Forces for a reason. Defence is a key strategy. Putting Israelis in harm’s way is never the objective. An Israeli soldier in combat is far safer than an American soldier in combat. Casualty figures are always very low compared to other combatants. And I have always been several job titles away from combat.

We all knew that tensions would be high when the brutal dictators who rule Gaza declared that they would “open the gates of hell” and wipe Israel off the map. Again. It is politically incorrect to point this out but if your religious leaders repeatedly say that they control the gates of hell, what does that say about your religion?

Predictably, Israel’s high command announced that Hamas would finally be dealt with once and for all. Again. We have heard that song for the last eight years. It may be time to put on a new record.

When hotter heads prevailed and it became painfully obvious that I would likely spend some more time in Gaza I remained confident in my survival. I have always felt safe even when people are trying to genocide the entire Levant. Some people think the entire region is one big exploding sandbox. With the “Arab Spring” that is more true now than it used to be but Israel is not in a state of chaos or civil war. The odds of being killed or shot in Israel are very low. Most of us go our entire lives without ever exploding.

Then I got shot. To be fair, this was not in Israel. So my above statement still stands.

My team was minding our own business and doing our job, admittedly not in a neighbourhood where we are the most popular of visitors. When the shooting started I thought somebody was setting off firecrackers. The AK-47 has almost a high pitched airy sound. It can easily sound like those tiny firecrackers Chinese children throw in the streets during festivals. Especially when fired from a distance. When I lived in China I was very close to a temple and I quickly grew accustomed to the sound of fireworks at all hours. The M16 has a deeper sound and if you are going to mistake it for firecrackers it would have to be those larger smoke things they use during all the various gods’ birthdays. The TAR-21 has a more guttural sound and would never be mistaken for a firecracker.

The baby is perfectly safe and sound. I suppose I should have led with that. At this point in time she or he only takes up a small percentage of real estate. That will change, of course, but they say if you are going to get shot during pregnancy then you might as well do it early on. I am not entirely sure who they are but they say a lot of crazy things.

I am also perfectly safe and sound. Had I been killed I would not likely be typing this. Though one never knows. I live in a place where people rise from the dead all the time.

I was hit by a single round in the leg. Had it been an action movie I could have got up immediately and saved the world for democracy with nothing more than a trickle of blood and hardly a moment’s notice. But movies are bullshit. Bullets are small metallic projectiles that travel at around 2000 feet per second, depending on several factors. When they tear into your flesh it hurts. A lot. A flesh wound may not affect the average action star or Black Knight at all but they cause a good deal of pain to the average human. Bleeding is also a greater concern in the real world than it ever is in movies. Action heroes bleed buckets and run around as if they had a bee sting. Fortunately I was surrounded by medical personnel who never mistook me for Arnold Schwarzenegger and I received medical treatment far sooner than anybody could ever expect.

The funny thing is that I was literally the last person to know that I was hit. When the firecrackers started going off I fell on my tuchas. I thought I simply slipped and fell. There was no initial pain other than landing on my cushioned butt, which just so happens to be more and more cushioned every week. Then my leg started burning like a radioactive super mosquito dug in after fasting for a month. I thought I had landed on some broken glass or something sharp that was poking me. The flight surgeon quickly picked me up and put me in the aircraft before I even knew what was going on. He knew exactly what had happened. One of the paramedics later told me that he saw a small explosion of blood shoot out of my leg. He said it was like watching a tiny volcano erupt. I think I would like to see that. Unfortunately I did not have the best vantage point.

I wanted to take my seat when I was told that I should probably take a break. My point of view was that falling on a piece of glass would most definitely not preclude me from operating the aircraft. It was only after I insisted that I be allowed to do my job and those around me insisted that I stay still and accept medical treatment that I realised what had happened. It was only after I consciously understood that a round had penetrated my flesh that the pain fully made its presence known. I have no idea if that is a psychological matter or the result of increased adrenaline gradually subsiding.

The people I was with at the time are all perfectly safe and sound. We completed the task at hand without further incident. My support pilot was fully capable of taking us all to an appropriate evacuation site. The patient that we were there to transport and I were treated and are both expected to fully recover. Though I shall not be climbing any mountains any time soon.

One of the best things about the AK-47 is that it is not the most lethal weapon in the world. It is very popular because it is cheap and easy to use but developed countries tend not to use it because you can cause far more damage with more advanced weapons. The AK-47 round tends not to fragment on impact, which is good news for anybody who gets hit. The worst thing a bullet can do is break apart inside your body and create multiple cavities. The M16 bullet is specifically designed to fragment. Its track is compared to a hammer while the AK-47 track is often described as a pencil. Would you rather be stabbed with a hammer or a pencil?

The irony is that I was hit in my left leg. This is the same leg that took the full force of what the American NTSB called an “uncontrolled descent and impact with terrain” in 2002. It is ironic to me at least. Some would say it is a message from God. Others would say it is God’s punishment for not doing things their way. I say those people have issues. If God has anything to do with this then he clearly has a problem with my leg.

My intention was always to continue working until I could no longer sit for hours at a time comfortably. I live in a country that does not hate children. In fact, we are rather fond of them. We also do not punish women for being pregnant, either at work or in the stoning yard. Our maternity leave schemes are rather liberal and we have not honour stoned a pregnant woman since ever. I could have taken time off from work the second my pregnancy was confirmed with no negative repercussions. I simply wanted to keep working.

There is a relatively famous story of a combat commander who got pregnant and remained on active duty until her child was born. What made her story noteworthy is that she completed a 55km hike in full uniform whilst seven months pregnant. Much was said of the fact that she remained in uniform up until her maternity leave. Officers are exempt from wearing any uniform at any time during their pregnancy, regardless of job title or duties. I think the more exceptional aspect to this story is that she made the hike whilst seven months pregnant. Who cares what she was wearing.

Working until I drop is no longer an option for me. I could return to work as soon as I am medically approved but more than a few people have expressed their opinions rather unambiguously. Everybody I know has told me to sit this one out. My natural reaction is to go against whatever I am told to do. There are also psychological considerations. Not returning to work as soon as possible could make it difficult to return later. Shoot me off my horse and I want to get back on straight away. The last time I forced myself to stay away from flying professionally it took me eight years to get back.

But as soon as the doctor says, “Congratulations. You got knocked up,” your priorities have suddenly gone pear shaped. All that independence goes out the front door. Another person comes first. As soon as they start shooting at your baby it is time to let somebody else do the job. Defiantly standing up for yourself is never as important as protecting your child.

Technically nobody was shooting at my baby. It is highly unlikely that any of the masked freedom fighters who are keeping the world safe for totalitarianism even knew that any of the infidels they were trying to liberate from life were pregnant. According to the experts, they were trying to kill our patient. Not that it matters at this point.

More than a few people have criticised Israel for letting pregnant women serve in the military. More than a few people have criticised Israel for letting any women serve in the military. More than a few people have criticised Israel for even having a military. I think the system works pretty well. Rather than punish women for being pregnant, as most countries do, Israel lets the woman decide what she can and cannot do whilst pregnant. She can take maternity leave at any time or leave her job altogether. She can stay up until the point that she, and not some old men, decides to take a break.

I have read how this means that Israel hates women. Ignoring the hypocrisy of how women are treated by the countries that want all Israelis dead, I think it shows how much Israel respects women. Everybody is supposed to serve at least two or three years in the IDF. Theoretically. There are a million ways to get out of compulsory service. Especially for women. All of my sisters got out of it. Women who serve generally have more options than men. And pregnant women can do pretty much whatever they want.

But the fact that a pregnant woman can choose to serve in a combat position scares the hell out of a lot of people. Sooner or later there is going to be a photograph in a newspaper of a pregnant soldier lying dead on the ground. That will not be a good day for anybody. There will be reports issued by committees. Options will likely be reduced. Women’s groups will complain about regression. I would never want to be the face of that campaign. Especially since it would require my untimely demise and the likely death of my unborn. I am glad that I have the choice and since I do, I choose to keep us safe.

One of the best things about getting wounded in service to your country, aside from all the fun scars and party conversation topics, is the food. Take a bullet for your country and you get all the ice cream you can eat. They say babies eat whatever their mothers eat. I hope this one likes chunky monkey.