Soldiers' Stories: Exciting-Normal Life Revealed

One of Israel's unique life is the military service. Almost everyone serves in the military. Not many in elite front-line units. Military life is not at all what foreigners imagine. For the most part it breaks down to training in everything from shooting guns to fixing airplane electronics to painting tanks to training others how to obey orders, take responsibility and march in formation. One way to learn about Israeli life is to read diaries and blogs of soldiers. Even on Facebook and Twitter you can find daily updates of soldiers' life. It is interesting how “normal” these stories turn out to be. While learning how to be a sniper is not that normal in an eighteen year old's life, still, Sarah Drill (see: My Life in Israel ) blog reveals many of the hopes and dreams of an American girl doing military duty in Israel. Hint: she becomes a sniper and a sniper instructor (probably not what her mother imagined her life to be as a “good Jewish girl” from America).

One of the most revealing stories of a soldier is Jonathan Netanyhu's letters The Letters of Jonathan Netanyahu 'Yoni', Benyamin Netanyahu's older brother, died in the Entebbe raid in 1976. Twenty years after his death, his family put together (and translated to English) letters he wrote to family and friends. Both, Yoni's death in an important Israeli army rescue mission and Benyamin's political career, made this book popular in Israel and internationally. (see official memorial page: http://www.yoni.org.il/en/ ) One interesting consequence of the book's popularity is the interest around the world in the simple life of Israelis, and especially Israeli soldiers. With so much media coverage, religious mystery, and large number of books in fiction (as well as movies), there is a tendency to give Israel a distorted view. Personal books and blogs give a flavor of life filled with a mix of busy life driven by the army commanders and long periods of waiting for something to happen. For the most part, military service is basically work. Military missions (read: wars or other long term attacks) are few and far between. They last from days to weeks. The rest of the time, soldiers spend essentially in training or doing maintenance. For the average soldier that means working in a unit. The training, living and working is spent in a close-knit group. This aspect of the Israeli military service is interesting to read about.

What about the girls? (here in Israel we do not say women, that's another story...) The Israeli military is unique and famous for the almost equal treatment of women. One of the only military services to give women “almost” front-line (read: attack mission) equality. While the men brigades still hold the most prominent front-line fighting positions, the women have carved themselves a strong position in many important units. There is a fascination with the women soldiers in Israel. Yet, in daily life and all through Israeli society, the military service turns out to be the most useful indication of Israeli values. Women are certainly more equal, yet there is still a level of fear, or some would say, protectionism toward women. While women are taken seriously, there is still a level of “men are more ready to fight in real wars” attitude. Any description of gender equality in Israel always brings comments and sometimes complaints. Yet, here you can find some of the most practical and equitable treatment of people anywhere in the world. This is an issue, which Israelis no longer try to justify. We are simply comfortable with the values and the effort made to make the society as equal as we can.

… to be continued …