Shabbat Shalom. I would like to thank Rabbis Block and Stahl and our temple leadership for honoring the military this Shabbat and asking me to speak as a military representative. Wednesday marked my tenth year in San Antonio. One of the highlights of our life here has been our association with the Temple Beth-El Family.

In my professional life outside of temple I am a pediatrician, a neonatologist, a medical educator and a military physician. It is on the military physician side I would like to focus tonight as I discuss my personal experiences with Peacekeeping in the Sinai. As a jew in the military I often find myself an ambassador. I am often the first Jew military people meet. I always try to leave a favorable impression and clear up any misconceptions or prejudices some people have. I had a chance with this trip to do this with an international force.

Many of you know I am a first generation American from German jews. I joined the military to get a college scholarship. I stayed in the military because I found good people and opportunities and enjoyed serving a country that saved my family from the holocaust.

The American people pay me to "conserve the fighting strength". I do this indirectly each day by giving excellent medical care to military families. I am prepared to do this directly on a moment’s notice by supporting troops directly. Many of you may chuckle and say why in the world would we send pediatricians to war? To me it is obvious.

All doctors have general medical training, and all pediatricians are trained in adolescent medicine. It turns out most soldiers health revolves around adolescent medicine issues. Last Spring I volunteered to go to Egypt for a month or more to cover as a medical officer for the Multinational Force and Observers, otherwise known as the MFO. (Many of you might think me crazy to volunteer. Most military physicians have to support the military force every year or two, and I thought this assignment might be more to my liking than Bosnia or Kuwait. I have no regrets.)

The MFO is an 11 nation independent force created after the Camp David Accords to separate the Forces of Egypt and Israel and monitor their actions. It is not a UN force. It is commanded by an Australian General and has a civilian leadership headquartered in Rome. It uses three battalions of 1000 soldiers along the border to separate the former enemies. The Fiji battalian covered the north, the Columbian battalion covered the center, and the American battalion covered the south. Civilian monitors flew in American and French Aircraft to monitor all troop movements.

I was transformed into a peacekeeper with the issue of desert uniforms, American flag patches and an MFO patch and insignia. The insignia was a white dove carrying an olive branch. I felt very proud being able to be part of such a noble mission.

Reality sunk in pretty quickly, though. The enlisted officers informally suggested that I wear dogtags that had "no preference" rather than "Jewish" as my religion. They were afraid of harsh treatment if I was involved with arab terrorism. I ended up carrying both sets of dog tags. I was briefed on a long list of dangerous, off-limited areas. These included half of the Sinai, which is covered in minefields. I was told to use civilian luggage and dress whenever I traveled. They also joked that the round dove MFO symbol made a good target for terrorists. I didn't laugh. We flew into Tel Aviv because it was unsafe to fly through Cairo.

I was excited to arrive in Israel again. It was my fourth visit. However, we were quickly isolated by security agents, processed with our diplomatic passports and placed on an MFO bus for a 5 hour trip to the Sinai and the North MFO camp. Our check point on the border was beautiful on the Israeli side, but rough and ill kept on the Egyptian side. It reminded me of old North Africa pictured in the movie Casablanca.

I was assigned to the Southern Camp in Sharm-el-Sheik. As we flew down in the French Air Force plane I saw how desolate and harsh the desert was. I wondered how our ancestors survived for forty years. I was amazed again at how quickly the Israelis conquered the Sinai in 1972

Both the North and South MFO camps were former Israeli military bases. They were spartan but well kept. We lived in air conditioned trailers which helped in the 110 degree weather. We were on the shore of the red sea and one of the most beautiful coral reefs in the world. However we were secluded in a 2 square mile base with a highly guarded perimeter. The armed guards were very strict and inspected every part of the vehicle. They were even more thorough after the bombing in Daharain and the TWA crash which happened shortly after we arrived. We were surrounded by a booming Egyptian resort town with dozens of resort hotels springing up and hundreds of Italian tourists flocking to the beaches and towns, even with minefields a few miles away.

My days at work included covering sick call and seeing emergencies in the clinic. We also did work physicals on the Egyptian workers to make sure they were not carrying any disease. I saw patients with sport injuries, dehydration, skin rashes, colds, poison fish stings, and shrapnel wounds among others. I quickly demonstrated that a pediatrician could be an asset to the troops. Many of my colleagues would ask me how it felt to be Jewish in an arab land. It felt the same as being Jewish in a Christian land. In some ways it was easier because we followed the Fri-Sat weekend of the Jewish-Islamic world, rather than the Sat-Sun weekend of the Christian calendar. It was easier to keep the Sabbath. I would say some of our prayers and think about modern and ancient history.

One of our missions was to give humanitarian assistance to the civilians and tourists in the area if asked. My clinic had no inpatient or advanced diagnostic capabilities. The hospitals in Egypt were not much better. The Israeli hospitals were well equipped and staffed but were 4 to 6 hours away. The Egyptian nationals would rather die than go to an Israeli hospital, but the tourists were happy to be taken to Israel by ambulance or aircraft.

An elderly Egyptian hotel chef had a heart attack. We were asked to move him by helicopter to a larger hospital an hour away. The camp commander allowed us to evaluate him in town. But part of our evaluation had to include insuring that he had no terrorist bombs on him before we brought him into camp. This was the first time I ever frisked a patient. He did very well and we got a bonus tour of a new Egyptian military hospital. They were very honored to have an American physician visit their facility. I enjoyed talking shop and drinking Turkish coffee with them. My religious preference did not come up. I did not enjoy the ride back watching the heavily armored Egyptian units in the nearby mountains. The pilots told me they had surface to air missiles and were authorized to shoot any aircraft down which came near the mountains. We stayed well over the coast.

I had the opportunity to interact with the Bedouins as well. I flew at night by helicopter to pick up a Bedouin with a severe head injury. He was near the Israeli border and a Columbian outpost. The Israelis had three aircraft with weapons locked on our aircraft in case we were a terrorist threat. I had to try to communicate with the Columbians in Spanish and give sign gestures to the Bedouin brothers of the patient because I didn't know any arabic. The story of the tower of babel came to mind. At the hospital the Egyptians took the Bedouin from us, but my colleagues told me that he would be treated as a second class citizen and not given the full advantages of their medical system. The Bedouins of the Sinai actually felt better treated by the Israelis than the Egyptians.

My interactions with the Israeli medical system peaked with the transport of a Hungarian police officer who had sustained a head injury in a car accident. It was strange being the doctor for someone who a decade ago had been part of the enemy forces and now was one of the good guys. Since we had to move fast I flew him in an American helicopter north, while a French plane flew south to meet us. We transferred him to a plane at an old Israeli airbase from which the raid at Entebbe had been launched. I remembered that Jonathan Netanyahu had been killed during that raid. We delivered the Hungarian policeman safely to the Israeli hospital. He did well.

Not all of my time was work. I got 12 hours off to go to mount Sinai. After passing through numerous military checkpoints and inspections we arrived at the monastery at the foot of the mountain. We climbed the mountain in the heat of day with plenty of water. It was a rigorous 3 hour climb with two Christian colleagues. We discussed Jewish and Christian perspectives on religion during our climb. We all felt the presence of our ancestors in the area and the meaning of the 10 commandments. We marveled at the stark and harsh environment below, but were amazed at some of the beautiful mountain flowers and springs that were higher on the mountain. We were all unimpressed with the burning bush down below, but enjoyed our visit at the monastery of St. Catherine’s.

After a month of service, I felt I made a good impression as a military officer, pediatrician and a Jew. I left there with a feeling of accomplishment and hopeful for the future success of the peacekeeping mission. Subsequently I enjoyed two weeks with my Israeli relatives. On leaving my diplomatic passport caused the Security guard to pause and ask what I did. I had a very difficult time convincing her that I was a Jew in the American army. She was told that only Christians were allowed to join. It made me think that we all have a lot to learn about living together in peace. I feel very proud to be a part of the U.S. Army both as a citizen and a Jew. Thank you again for the opportunity to speak.

Shabbat Shalom.

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