The Reserves…Step 1

Yesterday, as we were preparing dinner, Elie said to me, “I got a call from the army today.”

Amazingly enough, those simple words were enough to stop my heart. I’m not ready. “What did they want?” I asked.

He has an appointment soon with the commander of his g’dud (battalion) for Miluim (Reserves). I guess he will learn what the army wants him to do. Shmulik thinks they’ll offer him to come back into the army. It happens quite often. A friend’s son left and after a few months decided to return.

I don’t know what Elie will do. For the first time, he didn’t laugh the idea away. I’m torn. I think the army was great for Elie. It gave him so much; helped shape him into the man he has become. But more?

It isn’t for me to say. It might not even be for that. More likely, the commanding officer is just meeting all the “new” guys under his command.

Elie will go there…I guess not in uniform…and after a short meeting, he’ll come home. And then, at some point, he’ll get a letter with a date and a time and a place. That next time, he’ll go in a uniform, he’ll train or he’ll serve at a check point or something and then, he’ll come home.

And the same thing will happen next year and the year after and I’ll deal with it because that’s part of what I signed on to the minute Elie left our home almost four years ago. I’ll deal.

And I’ll probably laugh at myself somewhere down the line, as I laugh at myself now for those early days. It’s really just a process…a step by step acceptance.

I handled those early days of basic training. I handled the advanced training. I even handled war. Really, I did and I can handle this too.

1 Comment

  1. I apolgogize if this response is not in line with the article. I am a former Army soldier and I am looking to have some custom military shirts made for my unit. Wondering if someone could suggest where to go?

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