Basic Weapons Skills, Group Dynamics and Social Representation in my IDF unit

These past two weeks have been physically demanding, but have also included what we've all been waiting for - weapons training. Movies and imaginations aside, the way that a soldier is trained to use weapons is done in such a way so as to make the experience as safe and as precise as possible. This is done both to ensure that no one gets injured and to instill the idea in the mind of every IDF soldier that weapons aren't toys, and there's nothing fun about them, at least not in the childish way that "fun" is perceived when we see "action" in movies. It all starts with the fact that we carried our guns around for quite sometime before we learned to take them apart and to check them for safety. A certain amount of time after that, we finally got to shoot, but very little. Eventually, we got to shoot a lot. The way shooting works in training is clearly focused on developing safety awareness and technical skill. There's no room for flair.

The discipline at the shooting range is much stricter than anywhere else on base. The fact that various equipment needs to be brought out to the shooting range and back, makes the soldiers physically stressed. Getting out to the range and back turned into mini-marches. While some groups were shooting, others were doing calisthenics, crawling or practicing getting into and out of various shooting positions. This last activity sounds fun but is actually physically quite draining. Holding the kneeling position for five minutes, with the gun and body properly aligned, is very difficult.

At this point, we are all very comfortable with our cut-off M-16's, and many of us are excellent shots. We also spent a whole day throwing a grenade. Yes, it apparently does take a full day to have each soldier in a platoon throw one live grenade. Between the practicing and the random running up hills, throw-a-grenade day turned out to be quite hard. The army has a way of making you get tired and give you a workout when you least expect it. Last week also featured a day of kitchen duty, random cleaning and dealing with equipment issues. The low point was the two days and nights of guard duty - 2 hours of guarding, 4 hours rest, 2 hours guarding, 4 hours rest, and so on for 48 hours. I can assure you, this is an unpleasant experience.

It's becoming very clear that out of the 120 guys in my company, 60-70 maximum will finish the training. A lot of people can't mentally handle the IDF training atmosphere. The commanders haven't kicked people out, but some have quit on their own. Our company commander always states that anyone who doesn't feel it's for him can be transfered out. From the experiences of the older guys, a 50% attrition rate during training is pretty standard for the IDF. Although it seems high, it does make sense. Not everyone is cut out for it, and there are many jobs to be filled in the IDF that need these guys to drop out. So as they leave, I am not too disappointed to see them go. In some cases, they can't leave soon enough. The guys that are totally not meant for this type of environment generally cause problems for the other soldiers and that leads to interpersonal tensions. Group dynamics is the absolute key to a successful unit, far more important that such silly things as military skills or physical fitness. People can be trained and made more fit. But if someone can't work in a team, and give of his energy to his fellow teammates, that's a personality trait that is difficult to change.

In fact, it's becoming clear that the single most important element in one's success in the IDF is how well you can work with others and how patient you can be. You have be a giver, not a taker. Someone who contributes in even the smallest matters, and not someone who takes advantage and lets others do the work. Some people naturally have that mentality, some are developing it as training goes on, and the rest are going to fall into that 50% that is going to go on to other jobs in the IDF.

I know my company quite well and the following statistics should give my readers a taste of who is defending Israel these days. In the following, I list the social subgroup, its percentage of my company, and then (in parenthesis) its percentage of the draftable Israeli population.

National-religious - 37% (21%)
urban secular - 16% (40%)
(excluding olim)
Jewish Russian olim - 7% (12%)
Non-Jewish Russians - 9% (6%)
Ethiopians - 4% (2%)
Kibbutzniks - 9% (2%)
Moshavniks - 10% (2%)
French Olim - 2% (2%)
English-speaking Olim - 10% (4%)
Ultra-Orthodox - 0% (10%)

I note that the percentages add up to over 100. This is because of overlap in many categories and because I ignored fractions for simplicity's sake. For example, the national-religious and English-speaking immigrants have some overlap. This is done on purpose as my readers would be interested in the English-speaking sector regardless of their observance level. But the general point still stands, even if the math isn't completely precise. I should also note that the draftable population currently stands at 5.7 million, including 5.4 million Jews and 300,000 non-Jewish Russians. For clarification, olim means immigrants. The national-religious, or dati-leumi, are Orthodox, but participate fully in society. They are most certainly not to be confused with the hareidim, the ultra-orthodox.

As you can see from the simple analysis of my unit, there's a shortage of Zionism in the secular sector, and a total absence of it in the ultra-Orthodox sector.

So, who is defending Israel in 2006? Not the ultra-Orthodox and not the secular urbanites. Those secular, urban, Israel-born, middle class kids who did get into my unit, are almost surely going to drop out by the end of training, although there will be some exceptions of course. They are simply the least motivated to be there.

The higher quality people who will in the end finish training with me will be some combination of national-religious guys, new immigrants (russian or american), kibbutzniks and moshavniks. The materialistic life that the secular middle-class in this country leads, and their lack of Jewish-Zionist values, make it almost impossible for them to succeed in the army.

Clearly, I want the greater Tel-Aviv area to return to having Jewish identity and a Zionist ideology. They are, after all, just as much a part of the Jewish physical and spiritual whole as anyone else in Israel. I also want the ultra-orthodox to show some Zionism to go along with their Jewish observance. I used to get angry at the ideological slackers of Israeli society, and I still do from time to time. But as I get to know them as individuals and I start to understand what education they had and what cultural influences affected them, I cannot blame them. They should serve in other units in the IDF, not in mine. In some cases, they shouldn't serve at all. Only those who are commited to some sort of set of Jewish values are needed. And if there's one place we don't need self-hating anti-Zionist Jews, it's right here in Eretz Israel. A lot of work needs to be done in Israeli education to keep those on the spiritual fringe connected to Judaism and to Zionism. The good news is that those who are Zionist are incredibly strong and can pull some of the dead weight. After all, what normal society can get 100% agreement on anything? I'll take the 80% recruitment rate of Jewish males and be happy with it. There's room for improvement, but we're holding fast (that should be the State of Israel's motto).