Return to the Gridiron

Just when I had almost given up all hope on sports in Israel, I received an intriguing phone call.  I was in the middle of Shabbat dinner when I got a phone call from a number I didn't recognize.  The voice on the other end of the line introduced himself as the coach of the Haifa Underdogs.  I had no idea what the Haifa Underdogs was, so there is no chance you would have heard of it.  As it happens, the Haifa Underdogs are one of 5 football teams in the Israel Football League, a league created by Patriots owner Robert Kraft.  It is an 8-on-8 league in its third year of full-contact.  The coach said asked if I was interested in coming to their practice the following day, and that he would be willing to be pick me up and take me there (I didn't know at the time, but one of the members of the team knows a friend of mine).

I didn't have anything better to do, and I was pretty curious about seeing what it would be like, so I told him I'd be there.   The next day I wasn't exactly sure what to expect, but I was somewhat surprised with the turn out.  There were maybe two Americans and the rest were Israelis.  There definitely was a little "Bad News Bears" about them, but at the same time there were a few guys with some potential.  Perhaps the funniest thing was that when everyone was split up into different positions I was sent to the running backs group.  Actually, I don't know what is funnier, that I practiced with the running backs or that I was actually pretty good.  Who knows maybe my real talents were wasted through out high school.  Not to mention, I don't know if I would stand much of a chance against there line men, who were all at least two of me put together.

It wasn't particularly serious, they only practice about 2 times a week, but that actually works out well for me since I only get out of the army every now and then.  The whole way home I couldn't help but think how it reminded me of a book I read recently by John Grisham, Playing for Pizza.  About American Football in Italy, and how the players aren't payed but receive free pizza and beer after each game from one of the players who owns a restaurant.  

Just when I thought the training was over

The past two weeks I have been participating in some supplementary training.  As a result of the Second Lebanon War the training regiment has been rearranged with an emphasis on open field warfare.  Apparently, the army felt that its soldiers were not under prepared for the last war and thought it necessary to devote almost the entirety of our training to wartime efforts.  Thus, leaving a rather important gap in our training - the  "peace"time training.  

The primary task of the IDF Special Forces during "peace" time, as of 2002, has been defined by "Operation Defensive Shield" (http:en/.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Defensive_Shield).  From that point on, Israeli forces started crossing the border into the West Bank and arresting terrorist in their home.  So this would be the work that we would be doing (although it is relatively quite these days and there actually isn't much work to be done).

In order to prepare for this work an additional two weeks was added to our training.  The first week was devoted entirely to a special style of Urban Warfare shooting.  Unlike open field warfare, Urban Warfare takes place at a much closer range.  Therefore, the techniques used for shooting differ greatly.  The concept of what we were learning is that close range combat requires  multiple bullets shot in rapid succession.  Over the course of the week we fired over 30,000 bullets in an effort to acclimate to the kickback of shooting 5 or 6 bullets in under 2 seconds.  I put a video on so you can see what it is like, in this video they are practicing how to fix your gun when it jams.

The second week was a little more diverse.  We spent one day practicing how to sneak around in a city without being seen.  We actually did this in Tel-Aviv and it was pretty funny.  We were a group of soldiers with full out face paint, M-16s, and night vision lurking in the shadows of a the biggest city in Israel.  You would be surprised how close you can get to people without them seeing you.  There was one couple who were literally 5 feet from me having an argument about whether or not they saw soldiers.  The woman was adamant "She saw 1...no 2...no 3 soldiers!"  And while her boyfriend was convincing her that he didn't see anyone I was laughing that she didn't see the other 5.  I have a hard time imagining this drill working anywhere in America.  I just can't think American citizens would take too kindly to soldiers sneaking around, more accurately I can't imagine them not freaking out.

The rest of the week we spent learning how to work with dogs, how to sweep a house (using paintball guns), and the specifics of how to surround a house and make an arrest.