Who moved my key? The army version

A little bit of light relief from The Most Moral Army in The World: a story from the base I served on – IDF Home Front Command in Ramle…Enjoy my loose translation – for readers from right to left the original can be found here:

10s of soldiers were stuck on the Home Front base after a soldier hung the key to the gate on the neck of a cat, who subsequently escaped and vanished

The Home Front was briefly praised for how it functioned during Operation Cast Lead, but after the end of the operation it experienced an event which nobody expected. A soldier that was guarding the gates of the base, close to Ramle, decided on Friday to abscond and hang the keys to the gate on the neck of a nearby cat. He didn’t imagine that the cat wouldn’t protect the key, and that the soldiers on the base would be stuck without a way to get home for Shabbat.

When vehicles full of soldiers and reservists arrived at the gate and requested to leave for Shabbat, the cat escaped from the position with the key around its neck. The terrified soldier began to look for the cat, but in vain.

The soldiers who wanted to go home became angry at the guard, and the officer in charge of guard-duty rushed to the gates to berate him. “The cat wasn’t disciplined, and how absurd does it sound – everyone was made to look for it,” said one of the soldiers present.

The punishment: A one hundred shekel fine

After a long search without success one of the bus managers decided to put an end to the affair and to break the lock of the gates in order to allow the soldiers to leave. The event was reported to senior commanders on the base, and yesterday it was decided to put the soldier who hung the key on the cat on trial.

The soldier expressed regret, and explained that it was a moment of mischief because of he was coming to the end of his army service and felt festive. His commander decided on a light punishment because of his generally good service, and gave him a fine of one hundred shekels – the price of the lock. Until now, the cat and the key have not been found…