Into The Heat

Perek Echad

Ronit sighed. Assuming the newbies finished within the hour, she'd be lucky if she had time to eat, let alone shower and change before her night shift on border patrol. She'd been sweating her ass off all day, roasting in her uniform under the hot sun while training the new recruits. She had her doubts that most of them would even make it to the end of the week. Many wanted to be a part of the elite Sayeret Matkal, but most just weren't cut out for it. She certainly hadn't thought she was. But things changed, and so did she. So here she was, tired and sweaty under the hot sun of the Negev. No matter that it was only April. The Negev was always hot and always sunny. She'd had her visions of glamour, but they'd been corrected the moment she'd become an officer and realized the Matkal wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Sure, it was tough, but most of the work lay in intelligence gathering. Sometimes she wondered what she was still doing here, on this lonely unit filled with men forcing themselves till their last breaths to prove themselves worthy of their special Matkal insignias- not that they could wear them in public, as they were classified. She wondered if they realized that it only made it more obvious to the general public who they were if they were the only battalion parading around in their uniforms without their insignias. She shook her head. It wasn't her job to question the higher authority. Her job was right in front of her, waiting for their next orders.
"Misparei barzel lihitpaked!" She grunted at them, initiating their final countdown of soldiers before they scattered, each one eager to grab a shower and find his way into the cafeteria for dinner- a sticky affair consisting of cold schnitzel and clumpy mashed potatoes five out of seven nights a week. As for Ronit, she stumbled her way to her barrack to grab a quick shower before her shift on patrol. She would at least smell good, even if she was hungry.