Star Trek under fire

[QSO TODAY AMATEUR RADIO PODCAST - Blog]

I remember the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1963, at the tender age of 6. My parents were going out for the evening and instructed the babysitter to put us under our mattresses if the civil defense message appeared on the television that we were under nuclear attack from the USSR. The idea that “ICBMs” could be launched at us was science fiction and later not a real possibility, especially as the Cold War was ending. Just last night, during our nightly installment of Star Trek re-runs, my Homefront Command App on my iPhone, along with the city air-raid sirens went off, giving us just over a minute to take cover in our safe room for an incoming ICBM from the Houthis,

Red Alert Activation Around Israel​

in Yemen. And while we are able to intercept almost all of the missiles from the Houthis using our David’s Sling, Arrow, Iron Dome, and now Iron Beam defense systems, the shrapnel from the demolished missiles still rains down on parts of the country, small bits of metal falling at terminal velocity. Last night’s missile rained down debris in the area just south of my city. No casualties, B”H. Fortunately, Karen and I were able to finish our episode of Star Trek by watching it on my iPhone as we waited for the all clear.
We have taken over 400 missiles and drones since October 7th, from Houthis Yeman, a country that does not border Israel and is over 2000 KM from us. We have taken over 10,000 from Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran. It's not like we don’t have business on all of our borders now. Who could imagine living in a time and place where just three ICBMs were launched towards Israel in the past week. Like everything else, we can get used to missiles, as long as we can finish our television program “waiting it out” in the shelter. Our life resumes after these 10 minute pauses. Missile attacks are just one of the many “distractions” that the October 7th war has added to Israeli society. We don’t panic, we just move to a safe place. I can only imagine what people in London did during the Nazi bombing during World War 2.

I believe that the stresses that we are all under made me and a lot of Israelis sick. Cancer and heart disease is up in Israel. We are eating more and sleeping less while our friends, sons and sons in law, co-workers, neighbors, and half of the middle aged Israelis are serving more than 300 to 400 days of combat duty in Gaza, or North on the Lebanese border. Israel has figured out how to keep running when our most talented middle aged men are out of the office and on the battlefield. Yet it comes with an exceptional amount of stress and disease that we all suffer.

All of us are one-degree of separation from someone who is a hostage, killed on October 7th or since then, a fallen soldier, or one of the more than 10,000 wounded. As I said in an earlier post that if my youngest son, who was working at the Nova Festival on October 7th, hadn’t been called to another event venue at 2AM, the morning of the terror attack, then Karen and I would have been one of those parents who lost a child that day as a casualty or hostage. The bullet missed us and hit someone else.

Under all of these “conditions”, we Israelis create a new normal, that is constantly being readjusted by something out of our control. This new normal allows us to finish our Netflix movie or a Star Trek rerun under fire. We do not panic or get hysterical as our enemies intend with their attacks; we adjust and pray for peace and a just end of the conflict.

73, Eric 4Z1UG

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