Oddly, my coffee obsession started in the army. I didn't drink it before then. But when you're cold/tired, you're not gonna say no. At first it was army swill, but later I cozied up to the Moroccans and YEmenites and their Turkish coffee, but it was the Bedouin and DRuze trackers that really got me. They always had a coffee kit packed in an ammo box, and I learned to do it right from them, quickly becoming my platoons barista.
Two days after I was released from service, I was back in a gov't office volunteering for the basic security school run by the Israel Airport Authority and the Shin Bet; it's the school that all gov't security forces take, border crossing guards, air marshals, secret service, embassy guards. It was 6hrs a day of krav, 6 hrs of shooting, 6 days a week, for 3 months. That fucking sucked, but I went to the last two weeks, then quit. Everyone had said I should go travel like all the other Israelis do after the army, and they were right. I wanted to prove to myself that I could make it (due to NOT making a SpecOps unit in the army), and I did that, but my heart wasn't in it. It lacked the camaraderie of the army, the instructors were all up in our shit (and I wasn't the guy who needed micromanaging), and I just felt lost (fucked).
After the army I needed a job, and walked into a cafe in Tel Aviv, where they made me study and take a test before hire. That really opened my eyes to good coffee, and what it entails, and I worked my way up to head barista. They offered me a position as shift manager, but I ended up turning it down and returning to the US. I still dont know why I came back, really. I loved Israel, did the army like an Israeli, no immigrant shortcuts or BS, and never planned on leaving. I drove as a courier up in SF for a year and a half. Nothing felt right, nothing made me feel as good as the army did, nothing meant anything. I was 3 days away from starting EMT school, when I got a call from an army buddy in LA to come down and interview with the company he was doing security for. He needed someone he could trust on his client, and on a whim I dropped everything, came to LA, interviewed, and here I am 16 years later. Strangely, my experience in ISrael has kept me employed for the last 16 years, but I'll be 41 this week. Last Aug I was fired (the whole company was, long story, no one did anything wrong) from the best detail I ever worked. I'll never have that again, it was truly one of a kind. I'm doing security at a school with some great guys, which helps make up for the fact I don't enjoy the work too much, and trying to make the coffee business grow to the point I can do only that.
Both the coffee and security have their roots in the IDF . Go figure.
