Israel still wants you

What happens to IDF's hero soldiers once they become reservists?

By N. GANZARSKI
army1 (photo credit: courtesy)
army1
(photo credit: courtesy)
In Israel, you aren't going to find crazy people dressing up as superheroes trying to save the day. You also won't find Batman picking up beautiful girls in the middle of the street. See, in Israel, when you turn 18, you can be a real hero. At least that’s what most of us think when we’re that age; walking down the street in our combat uniform, a slight odor of sweat, gun oil and mud, a sub machine gun on your back and girls looking at you like you’re a Greek god (some might say I actually am, but that is beside the point).
During three years of combat service, that feeling doesn’t fade, however it does disappear in a heartbeat the minute you set foot on foreign soil, usually India, China or South America. In those places, all you care about is everything you didn’t do or weren’t allowed to do in the army… Enough said.
When you return to Israel and start your new life as a tax paying citizen, you start getting, among other things, a regular letter from the army. That letter invites you to a 21 day, all-inclusive “vacation” at one of the IDF’s best resorts – a base in the middle of nowhere. This is what we call ‘miluim’, or reserve duty.
Much to the IDF’s disappointment, not everybody does reserve service. A recent poll showed that less than 30% of citizens actually do any reserve service for more than four days a year, even when the average request is for 21 days a year.
Not everybody likes to do reserve service. Many people believe that the IDF doesn’t really know how to “use” people efficiently. Sticking a highly-qualified computer engineer as a guard in front of a base is not really the best use of his time. More frustrating is the fact that most people who have left the army have gone on to build a career or a business for themselves. Then comes along the good ‘ole IDF, which insists on uprooting you from your normal life for 21 days...
Check out part two of this article in January D”ash!