A Few Groups from Fort Benning

This piece is written by Neil Block, Captain, US Navy, Retired, Lay Leader at Fort Benning, Georgia, Home of the Infantry.

Being the Jewish Lay Leader at the Army Infantry Command at Fort Benning, Georgia is a busy time consuming job. It is more than compensated for, though, by the personal fulfillment which comes from being able to be of service to my fellow Jewish military personnel, particularly the training troops who are, in most cases, just making the arduous transition from civilian life to the military, and who most could use the insightful care and concern that this old vet can provide. There are so many wonderful young, and not so young, people I meet along the way and the gratitude they express for being able to hold themselves out comfortably as Jews in a recognized and structured Jewish environment which our weekly Sunday morning worship services provide is great reward. (More on that last tidbit as a footnote.)

Besides, the tales gleaned from the basic trainees who include 17 years olds and 41 year olds in the same training units are priceless. Or, of just knowing the young men who have PhDs and are enlisted as buck privates. Or the bankers, or lawyers, or professionals and/or the others from every and all walks of life and geographic expanse who have made a conscious determination to serve this great country of ours. But, today was an especially interesting day and I just had to share it. Three serendipitous cosmic convergences occurred this morning which merited telling.

The first was the wonderful and heartwarming and impacting meeting at our service of a new infantry basic trainee, Brian Steinberg, and his father, LTCOL Barry Steinberg who happens also to be here at Fort Benning for his unit’s airborne training. The Steinbergs are from Tampa, Florida. So many people find it difficult to comprehend the Jewish military involvement at all, and here we have a father and son serving at the same time and at the same place. How great is that?

Then there was the young soldier, Joshua Bressel, originally from New York City, who had passed through here five years ago when he was a trainee and now finds himself back here again to begin Officers’ Candidate School. It was wonderful to see Josh, but what makes his story so interesting and wonderful is that he will be starting his OCS class with the very same Jewish drill sergeant who was his personal initiator into army life, Sergeant First Class Scott Ross, who will also be starting OCS. Only former military folks can really sufficiently enjoy the irony and humor in that circumstance. To add to that piece of serendipity, Josh and our very own JIG creator, USMC Captain Jason Rubin, were AEPi fraternity brothers at Virginia Tech, in their former lives.

And, then there was the visit to our services this morning of Marine Corps Major Max Garalnick, just returned from over there, whose wife and brother both are Naval Academy grads, as am I, which provided me the opportunity to beg for two more votes for my election to the USNA Board of Trustees for which I am on the ballot.

And, while I am at it, and am journalistically inspired, two additional incidents streaked across my consciousness which fit this vignette epistle and are worth sharing.

Some time ago when we were just a small group of worship service attendees, it was the custom to have each person stand up and tell the assembled multitude his name and where he was from. As we are going down the first row, a young man named Gruber stood up and began to make his announcement, when suddenly a booming voice resonated from the back row proclaiming his Gruberness as well. He, too, was a Gruber and a brother of the presenter. Here were the two brothers Gruber from different training units who didn’t know each other was here at basic training at the same time.

And lastly, while introducing myself to the group one morning, a young man looked up and asked me if I might be Neil Block from Houston, Texas. I was surprised and responded that I was. And, after looking more closely at the young man realized he was the son of my former sister in law, a young man I had not seen in over 25 years.

So much for serendipity, Jewish geography, and a glimpse at the breadth and width of Jewish military presence and participation.

As for the footnote of explanation as to why our services are on Sunday mornings and not on Friday night: People always ask me why that is. To which I answer: If not on Sunday mornings we would be invisible for the rest of the world to see. Because most of the troops with whom our program interfaces are in the basic training commands and are subject to rigidly structured schedules, and those training schedules have a time block on Sunday mornings allocated to Religious Services, to assure visibility and recognized presence of our Jewish personnel, it is deemed more appropriate to have our troops form up and march to services when others are also doing so. Otherwise, our lack of visibility would deprive us of recognized participation and also subject the Jewish troops to Sunday chores such as weapons and barracks cleaning which accrues to non-participants in religious services at that time. Also, with only one or two Jews in any company, the agglomerated impact of anywhere from 120 to 180 service attendees tends to make for a more positive visibility and undeniable presence and a more comfortable environment for those trainees. Other post assigned officers and non-comms have the option to make the six mile ride to town to attend services at the two congregations there if they so choose. Training troops do not have that flexibility or luxury and simply cannot.

We are deep into our Passover Seder planning and preparation. Any personnel out there reading this note who may find themselves in the Fort Benning area, for whatever reason, are invited (as well as their families) to our Seder on 19 April. Drop me a note to ensure a seat at the table. We have 170 or so slots and they are going fast.