Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
has been lowered to eighteen months. A four-year commitment is required of those who want
to become offi cers and an even longer one for pilots. Any soldier has the opportunity to excel
and become an offi cer.
Enlistees take physical and intelligence tests that result in two profi les, which help deter-
mine what kind of job they get. As long as an enlistee's profi les match the requirements of a
requested position, there is a real chance of obtaining it. Nonetheless, entry into the top com-
bat units is competitive. In 2009, seven recruits vied for each spot in the most popular unit,
the Golani Brigade. At the end of 2010, the IDF reported that over 74 percent of those with
adequate health profi les wanted to serve in combat units (compared to about 64 percent in
previous years), the highest percentage in that decade.
Enlistees can specify the navy, air force, or ground forces, although they are not guaran-
teed their choice. It is a point of honor to serve in elite combat units. Conversely, people who
work in offi ces are known as
jobnik
s — the term is not complimentary. Despite many articles
bemoaning declining volunteerism, the proportion of young people who sign up voluntarily
remains quite high. In 2009, for example, 73 percent of eligible men enlisted; of those who
did not, over 11 percent did not do so because of religious exemptions (Haredim mainly);
7 percent had medical or psychological exemptions; and 4 percent were abroad, temporarily
or permanently. Only 4.5 percent of eligible men shirked the draft (and this number includes
those with criminal records).
Religious women and Arabs have the option of signing up for national service instead of
military service. This option is popular among religious women but not among Arabs. Na-
tional service covers a broad range of opportunities, from working with the disabled or en-
gaging in other social welfare activities, including helping new immigrants adjust. Immigrant
men, but not women, who arrive when they are in their mid-twenties or older, may be re-
quired to perform a truncated military service, the main purpose of which is to familiarize
them with the country and train them for reserve duty.
Most men leave the army at around age twenty-one, and women at age twenty, unless they
opt to stay on for a military career. It has become customary for those who have fi nished their
service to go on a long trip — generally to Asia or Latin America — to relax and see more of the
world. Israelis generally enter college after either fi nishing their military service or completing
such travels, or they may begin their careers. Since students are older and more mature as a
result of their experiences, Israeli college students are generally more serious and dedicated to
their studies than their younger counterparts in other countries.
After fi nishing their mandatory service, all men must go on reserve duty for a number of
days per year (which varies based on their job in the military and the army's current needs)
until the age of forty, offi cers until age forty-fi ve, and a few until age forty-nine. Single women
generally serve in the reserves until age twenty-four. In the past, around thirty days of reserve
duty a year was roughly average, with thirty-nine days as the maximum, although the time
spent could be extended in times of emergency.
Reserve duty places a heavy burden on civilians, even though, over the long term, the num-
ber of reserve days has tended to decline — for example, from 9.8 million days in 1988 to less
than 6 million in 1995. It rises again during times of crisis, as it did in the 2000 -2005 intifada.
