Life of Marcus, an M16 1. It’s a blistering hot summer day, highs climbing to 105 degrees in Israel and I’m still as happy as a kid in a candy store. Although my firing pin is drying out and needs a greasing, my attitude is up in the skies because today is the day where I find out who my owner is. The only thing I’m not really excited about is how sweaty humans are and how sweaty they make us when they are holding us intensely! Not only do humans make us feel grimy because of the sweat, but they make us smell like dried up salt and rotten eggs too! “General Kaufman, grab that M16 ASAP and get to basic!!” yelled Lieutenant General Martin (m-areteen). And there he is! Finally! My owners name is General Kaufman? Wow, Kaufman started out as a general? I must say, that is pretty impressive. Ew, here comes the sweat … but how could you blame these soldiers? They’re wearing multiple layers of clothing with backpacks that probably ad at least 45 pounds in this 100 degree weather!
2. Off to Kravi we go! Kravi is a different type of basic training specifically established for combat soldiers going into the front lines to participate in fighting. I’ve overheard some of the commanders talking about Kravi and this type of basic training is significantly more difficult than any other training because they are preparing for some of the soldiers worst endeavors yet. Some major areas they hit in basic training are the normal gun training with YOUR gun, challenging physical training and to learn how to help the guards at base. Learning how to help the guards out at base or just learning about the base is important because if they are ever under attack, the soldiers know exactly where to go, even that isn’t their designated spot. In Kravi, they even teach you how to suffer when hungry and not being able to eat for a period of time as with not being able to sleep for a certain number of hours. I bet my owner, General Kaufman, is going to be a prime candidate for the best soldier here on base. I mean look at him, he’s 6’3 at 210 pounds; pure muscle with dark eyes and a defined jaw line. He seems to be pretty athletic with a good endurance! I am proud to be such a great gun for him, he treats me well and cleans me thoroughly twice a day. I couldn’t be luckier and happier with my owner. Here’s my time to shine! General Kaufman just arrived at gun training. People are yelling and demanding here, but I feel that General Kaufman will succeed in whatever he does. General Kaufman has to score an eight out of ten to move on to the next step so I have to put my all into helping my owner. Yes! General Kaufman nailed a nine out of ten with time to spare on shooting a target. Guess I’m not doing too bad myself! Now General Kaufman has to go through the rigorous steps of physical training where he doesn’t need me, but has to army crawl through thick and smelly mud, run his ass off for miles, climb up a wooden, half broken wall and other multiple endurance demanding activities. Hopefully he doesn’t do too badly so we can get moving on the shooting. Luckily, I am just a gun and not a human because what I’ve seen, it can get pretty gory and repulsive out there. Even though the soldier’s minds are going insane, it’s still a pet peeve when some soldiers pick us up and handle us roughly. You know, we are doing them a favor and helping them out and the soldiers treat us like we are the dirt/sand they step on, on a daily basis. Now I see my owner walking back, looking worn out. His hair is all messy with dirt on his cheekbones and his clothes all untucked. Just from the look of it, I can tell he had a tough time at this check point. Now that he’s cleaning me and I have a chance to eavesdrop, I know exactly what he encountered that day. Surprisingly, he passed the tests with borderline scores when I thought he’d pass with shooting stars. The climbing up a wooden wall and crawling through mud were just a few things he encountered on this memorable day.