. Scrubbing inside the indentations of the metal casing, wiping down the lenses, and then drying the whole piece with a compressed air gun was cool enough. But holding the scope up to eye-level to check that the lens is smudge-feee and seeing the orange dot through the glass — the orange dot that pinpoints a target — was, to put it mildly, a lot cooler.</p>
<p>
Still, though, the scope is only one small piece out of many and I wanted to feel like I was really “working with the guns,” so much so that I eventually asked the Sar-El coordinator if I could be assigned to a base where the armory needed more help. I lucked out on my fourth and final round of this program: Here, every rack of guns requires multiple jobs to be done. I was not the only volunteer who was excited to start.</p>
<p>
This is where I learned how to take apart a <em>tavor</em> — this itself is something I never thought I would be able to say. Once the gun was separated into several parts, the other volunteers and I dipped each piece into a vat of vile-looking cleaning fluid (kerosine mixed with oil), carefully brushed all the dirt out of the crevices, and dried them all individually with the compressed air machine. On a different day, we oiled and cleaned fully assembled M16s and recorded their serial numbers for inventory.</p>
<p>
I feel like I should clarify that guns, as a general concept, are not something that I'm a fan of in any way; I probably could not stand to be in the same room as a firearm in America, simply because I don't think I would trust anyone I know to be responsible enough to own one. But I see guns differently in Israel: they're simultaneously not that big of a deal — I see more people carrying guns than purses just walking down the street here — and an honorable symbol of the defense of the state of Israel.</p>
<p>
Which brings me to the main reason that volunteers are so willing to do this task that soldiers find so tedious: It's the closest we get to feeling like we're actually in the army. Or, more accurately, it's the most we feel we're making a real difference.</p>
<p>
Cleaning guns may not have the same tangible results as <a href=)
“>packing soldiers' kitbags does or invoke the same sense of ingenuity as did Editor's Picks
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