Last time, you seemed to enjoy my line-by-line dissection of your post, so here it goes again:
No. My flight is tomorrow night (God willing...and He better! The weather in NJ doesn't seem to be cooperating!)

Thanks! I'm very much looking forward! Although I think more so to my family greeting me in EWR at 5 AM. Something tells me I'll be the only one with a loud cheering squad of 8 at the time of day!

To the best of my understanding, this is the IDF's flying policy:

• Soldiers flying on official IDF business fly on the IDF's tab on El Al, and Arkia if El Al is unavailable. If neither of those work out, they fly whatever airline the government would use in a similar circumstance, preferably flying direct. If not, NYC is the most common connecting airport (JFK/EWR).
• Soldiers in mandatory service, the army has no say in what airline you choose, only in what airline you don't choose. You cannot fly any airline based in a country in which it is illegal to travel during service (Iran, Afghanistan, Syria...) You are welcome to choose whichever airline you wish, but they prefer El Al, Arkia, and Israir. Should you choose a foreign carrier, they prefer a direct flight. A Chayal Boded gets one free flight during his/her service, paid for by the Agudah L'Maan Hachayal, for which I assume any airline can be requested. I have friends who flew this free ticket, and flew airlines such as LY, DL, BA, LX... all to NYC. For the ticket, you go to the Tel Aviv office to request a ticket and tell them the information (dates, airports....) There, I assume you can request a specific airline. I have not done this yet. All times I have flown (including this one) have been on my/my father's cheshbon.

That's where I planned on spending time with her. I usually go to McDonald's there, as I go to sleep on the plane before they serve dinner, and I always enjoy watching the people who work there, who don't really speak English or understand Kosher too well, try to explain to tourists who also don't know Hebrew or Kosher, why there are no cheeseburgers. That would also mean no need to eat in KDL...just shower.

Thanks!

Enjoy! Come back and visit!