One of the great legends (I am trying to avoid inflammatory language, and someone told me yesterday that “myth” is a no-no”) about Israel is that the army is the army of the people - that nearly everyone serves. Well this article, which brings official army statistics, belies that legend.
To read more about the legend and how it is used in Israeli politics, see my FAQ
The last few years I served in the army, I was the unit clerk. One of my jobs was to help out with the recruitment for our annual stint in the reserves. We had several hundred people listed as being part of our unit but we would only send call-ups to about 80. When I asked why, I was told that the rest won’t come anyway. Out of those 80, about 50% would find some “legitimate” excuse not to serve. So the statistic that only 70% of those of reserve age actually do reserve duty, is no surprise to me. Keep in mind too, that people who work for the army are exempt from reserve duty.
Keep in mind too, that of the 30% who do reserve duty, only a small percentage actually are in fighting units. It is no wonder that those of us who were felt like “freyerim” - the Israeli word for suckers.
The army made a big deal of the eagerness with which soldiers came for Operation “Defensive Shield” - so called, and how more people showed up then were actually called, i.e. many soldiers “volunteered”. Well first, one needs to keep in mind that as I explained above, the army avoids calling up people they know won’t show up anyway. Then, as I was recently told, the army played a trick. This is not something I have personal knowledge of, but I got it from a reliable source.
For this operation, the army sent around a reserve call up which is known as “Tzav 8″ - “Command 8.” This is a call-up for war, and the only way not to show up (and thus avoid being considered a deserter) is to be on your death bed (for normal reserve duty many other excuses serve the trick). However, on the bottom of some of these, in small letters, the army indicated that this was really a voluntary call up. Of course, soldiers who received these “voluntary” call-ups, didn’t notice the difference, and so they went thinking it was the real thing. Then, a few weeks later, the army sent these same soldiers a real call-up, so these reservists had to go again. In essense, the army tricked people into “volunteering.”
