My Sar-El Experience

John Nettleton
Springfield, Oregon
April 13, 2003

(The Oregon Crew - Right to Left - JoAnn Berenbach, John Nettleton, Marc Berenbach)

As a volunteer in Jerusalem for three months in 2002, I, like others, fell in love with Israel and I knew I would be back.  I came home to Oregon and studied Hebrew and Judaism at the university.  My spouses' health precluded another three-month Jerusalem experience, but I remembered my Lonely Planet guide and Volunteers for Israel®.  Their web site, www.vfi-usa.org, quickly showed me a two-week volunteer opportunity that dove-tailed with Spring quarter break at the U of O.  With just a couple emails and lots of help from Josef, the Pacific Northwest Regional VFI Coordinator, I found myself in Ben Gurion airport in early March 2003.  As advertised, I was met and taken to my base, a medical logistics center not far from Tel Aviv.
 
Having lived in Israel and studied its history, plus having Josef's counsel, nothing surprised me; everything was as outlined on the website and in the brochures.  Nothing surprised about the Sar El program, that is.  I did have several fun surprises with people I met while in Israel.  I assumed I would be the only person from little ol Oregon.  As an Air Force pilot and retired person I have visited more than 80 countries and "small world" experiences always add to my travel experience. 
 
Not only did I meet people from Brazil, South Africa, England and Australia, as I expected, but my roommate, Marc, and his wife JoAnn live just down the I-5 freeway from me in Oregon.  That was a real surprise. 
 
A chance to drop ten pounds was one of the many reasons I wanted to be in Israel again.  Their Mediterranean diet makes so much more sense than ours.  Army chow hall food would help me, I thought, as breakfast and dinner are composed of variations on hard-boiled eggs, cabbage, tomatoes and cukes.  Something went wrong, however, as, instead of dropping ten, I gained five.  It must have been the delicious chocolate milk and the substantial meals at lunch.
 
My work brought me satisfaction.  I was just a menial laborer in a warehouse;  receiving, issuing, counting, stacking, moving, labeling, sweeping and cleaning.  The variety of my tasks, my workmates, Geoff from the UK and Fred from Georgia, plus my boss all made it fun.  While my military brothers and sisters were just a couple hundred miles northeast of me fighting Iraqis, I was in Israel working for one!  My supervisor, a female Iraqi Jewish Sargeant, initially, was a tough taskmaster.  When she learned I was former military, she once said, semi-sternly, "Hey, Schwartzkopf, move those boxes over there, clean this area and I'll be back to check on you."  She warmed up over the days and we became very good friends.  I would go back just to work for her again.
 
Somehow my life has come full circle.  During a 26 year career as a fighter pilot, I was generously provided the constant support of hundreds of people in logistics, maintenance etc.  Now, for a few weeks at least,  I could do some payback and, as a humble warehouseman, provide support for front-line fighters.  Being able to connect with the military again in so many ways from flag-raising to the uniform to the work to the people really was rewarding for me.
 
One of our guys, Luke, some time ago, summed my experiences up perfectly:
  "If you give, you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Whatever measure you use in giving -- large or small -- it will be used to measure what is given back to you."
 
I'm sure that Hillel, Maimonides or another Sage said the same thing earlier.  Truly, I received far more than I gave during my Sar El experience.  Many new friends I met do the Sar El thing often.  I hope to join their ranks soon.
 
A post-Sar El trip to Petra, Jordan and Sharm el Sheikh on the Red Sea, Sinai, Egypt brought a perfect mideast adventure to an end.  Now back in rainy Oregon I'm thinking about going to the sun again.