I have had many. One that I will always remember... I was in the military and was delegated to the Engineering Company in my Brigade. At the time the First Intifadeh was taking place, in 1988. The Company was ensconced at a Forward Operating Base in Rafah, a large city on the Gazan/Egyptian Border.
It was a lot of boring days in the sun punctuated by very vivid and intense action, my job being "Security" when the Company operated. On the days when they did not operate we were left to our own device in a very small fenced and walled compound. This being long before the days of personal DVD players and lightyears before the internet, times were incredibly monotonous to say the least.
Locals, as one might imagine, despised us and all the more so because of the Intifadeh. However, down the street from us lived a very cold widow and her 20 something retarded grandson. He used to come to the compound and because he was retarded he could interact with us without being branded a "traitor" by his neighbours, which would have earned him a death sentence.
We nicknamed him "Jimmy,"and he would wash APCs with us, sit while we cleaned weapons, just spending time, like a kid brother. Most personnel were in their teens. Myself though, I was 21 and had already almost finished by second hitch, which made me a grandfather to most of the guys.
In addition, my wife and I were divorcing, with 4 very young children, the eldest of whom was dying, and it was a terrible time emotionally for me. This man, because indeed he was older than me, kept me sane at what was one of the roughest times in my life.
Sad to say he died, killed in the chaotic violence that surrounded all of us, Jew and Arab alike, but I remember him fondly and will always owe him a debt of gratitude.
(Edited for spelling)
