Update from the Other Front - Eric Guth 4Z1UG

[QSO TODAY AMATEUR RADIO PODCAST - Blog]

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I realize that while I promised to update you with blog posts about the war in Israel and my part in it, I have not done so. It's not that I am not writing. I am writing 3000 word essays on everything that concerns me, but these I don’t publish for the simple fear of letting you know how I feel about what is happening and how is must collide with ham radio and interviewing hams. Thanks to you, I have new episodes in the “can”, wonderful distractions from all of the other distractions.

We are all constantly bombarded with information from social media networks, YouTube, television networks (if you are older and still remember what they are), and the “news” in general. It is overwhelming and mind numbing. This massive amount of information sits at the same level of importance and priority, regardless of what it is and where it comes from. Our brains start to level it all off as either noise or panic. We are constantly distracted. Our brains are someplace else, completely.
We look at our phones for updates on the war, where the rockets are falling, and the condition of our “boys” who are fighting on two fronts. We have apps for knowing when to run for cover, how many of us can gather together in a single place based on the level of threat. Whatsapp has a group for everything, including making meals for soldiers, where to volunteer for something, where to get vegetables, and where to house the over 100,000 of our refugees that have been removed from their houses close to the borders.

The companies that I support with my IT business are missing all of their engineers who are serving on the front lines, or in critical support positions behind the troops. These companies are limping along while management prioritizes other work not in the critical path, but left on the sidelines until now. The government is working to compensate everyone to pause industry to recover as soon as the war ends. We are all making sacrifices for this effort to eradicate evil from our land.

I have volunteered my services as I have a pretty amazing electronics shop where I can fix just about anything and a kid next door with my 3D printer who can make just about anything. Still we have this idea in Israel that only a “specialist” can fix a drone or a two-way radio. I am not needed for my expertise. So I help to change tires and offer to do anything that someone else needs because their man is on the front.

I have said this before that we are trying our best to be normal, under very abnormal conditions. We can still meet friends for coffee and visit the grandchildren, for now, while the war rages in the background and connected to our phones. It's a surreal experience.

I have much to write about, but will save it for the next post.

73, Eric

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