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Israeli troops carried either m-16's or another automatic weapon called the Galil which uses the same ammo as the m-16, kind of a miniature looking AK-47. It has a much shorter barrel and a lot longer clip, or magazine, than the m-16. Anyway, it always made me nervous sitting next to Israeli troops on a bus with loaded guns, especially after one young Israeli female dropped her m-16 on the floor next to me... All I could think of was a lot of immature young people walking around with loaded guns, like the way it was with a lot of the guys in our unit in Vietnam.

Most of us going into Vietnam were only 18 or 19 years old. I saw a lot of stupid accidents that never should have happened. A lot of people going into the military grew up in the city and weren't used to going hunting and growing up with guns around the house. The end result of their inexperience was that a lot of our young troops shot one or more of their own men out of carelessness , or they shot themselves. Basic and AIT wasn't enough training, or enough time to adequately familiarize one with the killing abilities of a loaded gun. In Israel, both male and female have to serve in the military. Females were even more likely, I figured, to be inexperienced and much more unaware of the dangers of a loaded weapon...

Meanwhile, the Arab, Palestinian bus drivers were always a lot more considerate toward people needing a ride. When they knew that someone wasn't close to the bus who needed to get on, they'd honk their horn for them to hurry. I always felt safer on a Palestinian bus. There were no Israeli soldiers and most importantly 'there were no guns' on the bus. Most of the people getting on the bus were usually Palestinian locals, non-military, of course. There were usually some older men riding the bus who wore the traditional Palestinian head coverings. I remember several times when I wished I had one on my head as well. The white ones are a really thin layer of cotton and great for keeping your head and shoulders from feeling the intensity of the hot sun. The Israeli bus drivers in 87, when life was still quite peaceful, compared to the way it is now, didn't seem to really care if someone was trying catch the bus. When they took off from the bus stop, they always left the remaining people at the bus stop in a cloud of dust as if they were in a race or something...

There were a lot of times when I could only stand being out in the intense heat for about four hours a day. I had some problems adjusting to it, and was sick for a few days until I got used to it. I was always careful about the way I conducted myself everywhere. Every time I went into town, I made sure my appearance didn't stand out among the rest of the community. Everyday was another venture into unknown territory. I chose not to wear a hat because I didn't want to be identified as a Jew, and I didn't carry a camera because I didn't want to be known as a tourist. I didn't wear an Arabic head covering because I didn't want to be identified as Palestinian. Unfortunately, in the process, my head got pretty hot, which was part of the reason I had heat problems... I figured it was better to have problems with the heat instead of having somebody shootin' at me, or cross examining me about what I was doing there. After all, my main goal wasn't to look socially acceptable to either side, but to find out as much as I could about the religious and political situation without getting into any kind of trouble...

I got quite comfortable living at the location on the West Bank and going into Jerusalem almost every day. Jerusalem had the extremes of both Israeli and Palestinian culture in a small geographical setting. If you were in a Jewish setting, you needed to be able to speak some Hebrew. If you were in a Palestinian setting, you needed to know some Arabic. I studied both languages as much as possible and went over necessary survival words when ever I got the chance; repeating them over and over to myself, until I could use them halfway intelligently with whomever I needed to interrelate with.