Reserve Duty Research Articles

The Israeli Social-Military Conflict – A “Boiling Democracy”

ABSTRACT The symbiosis between the Israeli army – the IDF – and Israeli society, that was forged with the establishment of the State of Israel, is based on a model of a “citizen-soldier” military and has always stood as a pillar of national strength. Yet there are some who claim that since the 1990s, carried on the currents of liberalism introduced into Israeli society, as well as the effects of social post-modernism, this bond has been worn thin. The Israeli government’s intention at the beginning of 2023 to enact laws that would change the balance between the Supreme Court and parliament sparked a sweeping protest on part of large swaths of Israeli society, a protest culminating when a group of IDF reservists declared that they would not report for their next call for reserve duty if the reform is enacted. This reality places in question the “citizen-soldier” model, and the importance of the connection between society and the army for the latter’s existence. The present study attempts to examine the effects of the deep currents of social protest on the relationship between society and the military. It included 1,200 participants who filled out an online questionnaire and interviews with 30 participants, who shared their opinions on the ultimatum presented by the reservist to the Israeli government. The findings show that a vast majority of Israelis do not support the use that the reservist made of the duty ultimatum; however, a considerable/non-negligible minority was in support of this act. An in-depth examination of social processes in Israel presents a growing conflict between its liberal and traditional-conservative camps, which impacts the resilience of Israeli society and might very well compromise the national security of the State of Israel.

Refusal to serve in the Israel Defense Forces reserves in an era of anti-democratic judicial reform

ABSTRACT In Israel, most citizens are obligated to serve in the military for a mandatory period and subsequently in the reserve forces for about 21–45 days per year up to the age of 44. Many veterans continue to serve in the reserves for even longer periods. However, uncharacteristically, during 2023, reservists were linked to the social protest in Israel. The ever-widening public protest in Israel was unprecedented. Every Saturday night, from January 2023 until the War of October 7th began, 5–10% of the Israeli population headed out to demonstrate in the streets of various cities and regions against the anti-democratic legislation that was under consideration or had been passed. Among the protesters were many citizens serving in the reserve forces. These opponents of government policy voiced their protest, saying loud and clear that if the legislation continued, they would not serve, unless a war would erupt; indeed, many of them had already quit the reserves only to rejoin when the October War started. And thus, without intending to do so, the army has become a political player in the political struggle currently taking place in Israel. The wide-ranging protest in Israel and the massive number of reservists who had voiced a decision not to show up for reserve duty are indications of an unprecedented social phenomenon that is worthy of scholarly attention. How do we, as critical scholars, put an identity on the military? How do we interpret situations in which the military is more democratic than the government?

Moral Injury as a Social Phenomenon: Looking at the Unique Relationship with System Justification

ABSTRACT Moral Injury (MI) and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) are potential outcomes following combat military service which exposes veterans to a range of potentially morally injurious events (PMIEs). Given the hypothesized social nature of MI symptoms, it was predicted that System Justification, the tendency to defend and justify systems, even when they may be disadvantageous, would be uniquely related to MI, compared to PTSD. A total of 146 male combat veterans filled in questionnaires relating to PMIEs (MIES), MI (EMIS-short), PTSD symptoms (PCL-5) and System Justification (GSJS). PMIEs (self, other and betrayal related) were all related to higher levels of MI. A parallel mediation model was conducted and demonstrated that PMIEs (self) were associated with higher levels of MI and PTSD symptoms and that MI symptoms mediated the relationship between PMIEs (self) and lower System Justification. There was no mediation effect of PTSD symptoms. This relationship was strongest when veterans did not perform reserve duty and thus were not affiliated with the military. The findings support the theory that MI symptomology, as opposed to PTSD symptomology, has a greater relationship with worldviews such as the relationship to societal systems and that this is greatest when transitioned to civilian life.

Victorious by Yishai Sarid

Reviewed by: Victorious by Yishai Sarid Ellis Shuman YISHAI SARID Victorious Trans. Yardenne Greenspan. New York. Restless Books. 2022. 288 pages. MILITARY SERVICE IN ISRAEL is mandatory, although the ultra-Orthodox and Arab Israelis are exempt from conscription. The majority of young men who serve, as well as a growing number of women, do so in combat units. Training to serve in a combat unit takes a physical toll on recruits, but they pay a stiff psychological price as well. In this novel, Abigail, an Israeli Defense Forces lieutenant colonel, serves as a mental health officer in her reserve duty. In this position, she has gained a "gateway into the soul of the military," and she is well aware of how army commanders transform new recruits from young civilians into battle-ready machines, capable of anything, including killing. In fact, Abigail has become an "expert on the psychology of killing." In a talk with young battalion commanders, she says: "You're taking eighteen-year-old kids and turning them into soldiers through rituals, symbols, punishments, and all sorts of other enslaving techniques, taking advantage of their desire to be real men. You trick them and play with their minds to make them do things they never dreamed of. One of those things is killing." Abigail's connection to the army is personal. Her son will soon complete his basic training, unaware that his father is the army's chief of staff. Abigail's father, a traditional psychotherapist, disapproves of her techniques, saying they don't actually help the soldiers she counsels. "You stand on the sidelines, offering advice, and you think it makes a difference," he says to her. But she thinks otherwise. "You break them down and then try to fix them … that's what these kids want, and I'm helping them achieve their goals," she tells herself. For Abigail, a complex protagonist who is both rational and cold-blooded, helping young soldiers ultimately leads to pulling the trigger with them when spotting an approaching enemy. In his previous novel, The Memory Monster, the author addressed the painful subject of how the Holocaust affects the collective conscience of Jews worldwide. Victorious tackles another sacred cow in Israel. This thought-provoking novel questions the country's reliance on the military to train, both physically and mentally, the uniformed young men and women entrusted to protect their nation. Ellis Shuman Neve Ilan, Israel Copyright © 2023 World Literature Today and the Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma

Gender and Mandated Benefits: The Impact of Israeli Reserve Duty on Wages

Neoclassical theory suggests that mandated benefits drive a wedge between the wages of those that receive benefits and those who do not. Much of the empirical literature focuses on family leave programs that primarily benefit women. In Israel, two major mandated benefits are family leave and military reserve leave. This study exploits differences in the pattern of benefits/leave probabilities for men and women, Jews and non-Jews, as well as changes to the structure of reserve duty in the mid 1990s to see if employers respond to anticipated leave changes by adjusting wages. It finds that younger Jewish men made small gains relative to older Jewish men, but that young Jewish women made even greater gains during this period, suggesting little evidence that employers adjusted wages in response to the change in reserve duty requirements in Israel. This finding contributes to evidence suggesting gendered political and cultural factors shape wages. Highlights In Israel, mandated maternity leave and reserve duty leave are similar in terms of cost to employers. This provides a unique opportunity for analyzing how employers respond to costs associated with such leaves by gender. Israeli reserve soldiers, comprised almost exclusively of Jewish men, do not experience a wage penalty. Findings challenge standard neoclassical labor theory, which argues that higher cost workers earn lower wages. Wage determination is driven not just by economic factors, but also cultural and political ones.

Coping with Transitions: The Case of Combat Reserve Forces

Reserve duty is described as cyclical, ambivalent, and complex and as involving traumatic elements in all militaries. However, to our knowledge, little has been written about how the soldiers themselves phenomenologically define the experience within specific social contexts. Israel has mandatory military service for all citizens, many of whom continue to serve in the reserves. Given the ongoing conflicts in the region, combat reservists are often called upon to serve. Our aim in this paper is to investigate these soldiers’ transitions from their call up to their engagement in battle, and finally, to their return home. Our methods will be to use the narratives of twelve such soldiers. The central themes describe a deep conflict between collective versus individual cultural narratives that create dilemmas and stress at each of these stages of transition. The narrative framework and culturally contextualized, rather than trauma-related, focus of the findings shed new light on combat soldiers, self-defined stressors, and their relationship to specific socio-cultural contexts.

Intolerance of Uncertainty Moderates the Association Between Potentially Morally Injurious Events and Suicide Ideation and Behavior Among Combat Veterans.

Exposure to potentially morally injurious events (PMIEs) among combat veterans has been acknowledged as significant stressful combat events that may lead to mental health problems, including self-injurious thoughts and behavior (SITB). However, few studies have examined the risk and protective factors that can explain the conditions in which PMIEs may contribute to the development and maintenance of SITB. In the current study, we aimed to examine the association between PMIEs and SITB among combat veterans and explore the moderating roles of intolerance of uncertainty (IU) in this association. A volunteer sample of 191 Israeli combat veterans was recruited during 2017. Participants completed validated self-report questionnaires in a cross-sectional study. Results indicated that two separate measures of PMIEs, the Perceived Perpetration by Oneself and Others subscale of the Moral Injury Events Scale (MIES) and the Causes subscale of the Moral Injury Questionnaire (MIQ-Causes), were positively associated with higher levels of SITB. Moreover, beyond the contributions of reserve duty, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and depressive symptoms, MIQ-Causes scores significantly predicted current SITB. Importantly, under low and average levels of inhibitory IU, significant positive effects were revealed for the MIQ-Causes on current SITB, R² = .34. Although veterans exposed to PMIEs are more prone to SITB, even years after their release from military service, their IU may temper the link between experiences of PMIEs and SITB.

Michael Asher Weingarten

Michael Asher (“Micky”) Weingarten was professor of family medicine at Tel Aviv University and a key founder of the new Bar-Ilan Faculty of Medicine in Safed in Galilee. Micky was...

Veteran Patient Satisfaction: A Causal-Comparative Study

Telehealth technology is a 20th century innovation for delivering healthcare services with tremendous benefits in mitigating barriers to obtaining healthcare for many people, including veterans of the United States military. Researchers have identified healthcare access and indirect cost factors at patient and societal levels as gaps needing further investigation with the use of telehealth technology. However, the existence of significant differences in patient satisfaction experiences between active duty, reserve, and retired military veterans who have used telehealth technology requires further research. The purpose of this non-experimental quantitative causal-comparative research study was to examine the differences in patient satisfaction with telehealth technology experiences of active duty, reserve and retired military personnel. Using the Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire as a data collection instrument (N = 99), significant differences were found in aspects of patient satisfaction between active duty members, reserve duty members, and retired personnel.

Resource loss and gain following military reserve duty in Israel: An assessment of conservation of resources (COR) theory.

Resource loss and gain following military reserve duty in Israel: An assessment of conservation of resources (COR) theory.

Felix Frolow (1947-2014).

Felix Frolow (1947-2014).

Survey on reserve officers cardiopulmonary resuscitation and the effect of training

Objective Research to reserve officers and soldiers on cardiopulmonary resuscitation （ CPR） knowledge and skills before and after training .Methods A self-designed questionnaire for respondents in knowledge and skills of CPR before and after training .Results 25.3% respondents lack of knowledge on CPR Before the training, 45.2% of them gain CPR knowledge main channel obtained from television , newspapers.8.9%from professional books,20.5%from listen to others, 17.1%master skill properly, 100%cluld judgment the loss of consciousness and cardiac arrest properly , 98.6% determine respiratory arrest, 94.5%breathing and heartbeat stopped treatment measures ,73.3% basic skill of CPR,72.6% implement artificial respiration, 87.7% press accurately parts of the heart , 87.7% the depth of the sternum chest compression.146 reserve officers aware of knowledge about CPR knowledge training after all were higher than before the training, the differences were statistically significant （P〈0.05） .Conclusions Through training, reserve duty＇s CPR knowledge and skills can be improved .Thus enhance success rate to protect people＇s lives and safety at a crucial moment . Key words: CPR; Cognitive; Training; Reserve duty

A Longitudinal Comparison of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Depression Among Military Service Components

The purpose of this study was to longitudinally investigate PTSD and depression between Reserve, National Guard, and active duty continuously and dichotomously. The study consisted of Millennium Cohort Study participants and used self-reported symptoms. Repeated measures modeling assessed PTSD and depression continuously and dichotomously over time. A subanalysis among only recently deployed personnel was conducted. Of the 52,653 participants for the PTSD analysis, the adjusted PCL-C means were 34.6 for Reservists, 34.4 for National Guardsmen, and 34.7 for active duty members, respectively. Of the 53,073 participants for depression analysis, the adjusted PHQ-9 means were 6.8, 6.7, and 7.2, respectively. In dichotomous models, Reservists and National Guardsmen did not have a higher risk of PTSD or depression compared with active duty members. Among deployers, Reservists and National Guardsmen had higher odds (odds ratio = 1.16, 95% confidence limit [CL] [1.01, 1.34] and OR = 1.19, 95% CL [1.04, 1.36], respectively) of screening positive for PTSD, but not depression. Although Reserve and National Guard deployers had modestly increased odds of PTSD compared with active duty members, overall there were minimal differences in the risk and symptom scores of PTSD and depression between service components.

How I shot the war—ideology and accountability in personal Israeli war documentaries

ABSTRACTThe article deals with personal documentaries made in recent years by a number of Israeli film-makers during their reserve service. The films under discussion were made during the Al-Aqsa intifada, which broke out in late September 2000, and the second Lebanon war (July—August 2006). The wide spreading of digital video cameras enabled film-makers positioned in the West Bank and Lebanon to document what they saw and felt. Hence, a ‘new’ point of view was presented—not the official one (associated with military correspondents and IDF film units), but that of the regular soldier, who is not necessarily committed to the official perspective and discourse. Indeed, one could argue for the viewer's ‘right to know’, which the documentarists' camera guarantees. As documenting soldiers in the occupied territories, as well as Lebanon, they are able to show us what the institutionalized practices usually conceal. This article therefore asks how this public ‘right to know’ coexists with one's own accountability. Is filming the documentarists' way of dealing with themselves being part of the atrocities of an oppressive system? At the centre of the following analysis are Yariv Mozer's My First War (2007), a personal documentary shot during the second Lebanon war; Yaniv Berman's The Alfa Diaries (2007), which documents the director's company on reserve duty in the occupied territories in the years 2002–2006; and Lior Geller's Heavy Twenty (2004), which is mostly shot inside a tank stationed at an outpost overlooking the Palestinian city of Qalqilya, whose commanding officer is the director.

The Swiss Armed Forces as a Model for the IDF Reserve System—Indeed?

Among military personnel who were present at the birth of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and among researchers, there is a widespread opinion that the influence of the Swiss armed forces can be seen in the system according to which the IDF was constructed after the War of Independence. That is, armed forces based on the model of a militia. A comparison between the IDF and the Swiss armed forces reveals that in Israel, as in Switzerland, the concept of a fighting nation was adopted; that is, universal conscription to compulsory service and the obligation of reserve duty for discharged soldiers, and that it is indeed possible to identify the influence of Swiss military organization in the organizational contours of the reserve service within the IDF. But a fundamental difference can be seen between the two armed forces. In contrast to the militia-type armed forces in Switzerland, the IDF was structured as a small regular army that included regular combat units as well as reserve forces comprising most of the ground forces. This difference between the IDF and the Swiss armed forces is rooted in Israel's geostrategic circumstances, the military threats it faces, and its need to ensure wide security margins, that is, an appropriate level of readiness and preparedness.

Breaking the spell: Have cell phones transformed reservists’ timeout?

Military reserve service in Israel and the use of cell phones seem to be mutually exclusive. As citizens drafted annually for a limited period, soldiers on reserve duty constitute a unique community on timeout from which family are excluded and during which social status is laid aside. This state of things, I argue, has been challenged by the invasion of the cell phone with its capacity to cross over physical and symbolic boundaries, thereby polluting the air with voices from the hinterland. In this article I introduce a model according to which the affordances of a new technology redefine the embedded traits and constraints of the ‘timeout’. Working in combination with the identity discourse of the participants and the cultural meanings of timeout, cell technology challenges the traditional understanding of reserve duty as a timeout period. I show how the cell phone has polluted the heretofore secluded space of reservist time by reintroducing differences in status, culture and nationality into the isolation, equality and fraternity of miluim (reserve duty), and how participants read this new situation, and sometimes contest it.

Other Issues with Defibrillators

Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota. bloomfield.eric@mayo.eduTo the Editor: I read with great enthusiasm the updated advisory on the management of cardiac implantable electronic devices.1In March 2006, I was a lucky person who survived an out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrest while on Air Force Reserve duty. Now I have a Medtronic (Minneapolis, MN) automatic implantable cardioverter-defibrillator.I would like to add a few points:

Construct a path model on coping styles, personality and mental health about female reserve duty soldiers in parade training

Objective To analysis the relationship among coping styles,personality and mental health of female reserve duty soldiers in parade training,and built a path model on them.Methods Coping style questionnaire ,self check list(SCL-90) and Eysenck personality questionnaires were administered to 264 female reserve duself-blame( r=0.194) effected mental health directly.Self-blame(r=0.230) ,retreat( r=0.197) and illusion( r = 0.322) predicated mental health indirectly by the mediation of neuroticism.Conclusion Coping styles can influence mental health directly,and neuroticism is a mediation variance between coping styles and mental health. Key words: Parade training; Female reserve duty soldier; Personality; Coping styles; Mental health

Relevant factors of job burnout on female reserve duty soldiers in parade training

Objective To explore the relevant factors for job burnout of female reserve duty soldiers in parade training.Methods Maslach burnout inventory-general survey(MBI-GS),Eysenck personality questionnaire (EPQ),coping pressure style questionnaire,self rating social adaptation and will power test were conducted in 380 female reserve duty soldiers in parade training.Results ①The results showed that the score of the job burnout in female reserve duty soldiers in parade training was in middle level.The scores was 12.83±5.28:5.86±3.90;23.28±6.18,respectively.②There were some relevant factors of job burnout and the significant correlation existed between job burnout of female reserve duty soldiers and coping pressure styles,personality,social adaptation and will power(P<0.01).③These factors could significantly predict job burnout(Standardized βwas 0.264,0.186;0.331,-0.161,-0.206,-0.144;0.391,0.179,0.199,-0.164).Conclusion To prevent the job burnout of female soldiers,it should be taken seriously about building up of their character,improving social adaptation and enhancing their will power. Key words: Parade training; Job burnout; Coping styles; Female reserve duty soldiers

Non-combat military service in the United States and its effects on depressive symptoms among men

A large body of research has established that combat has negative effects on the mental health of soldiers, resulting in PTSD and a wide range of related mental health problems. However, very little research examines what effects non-combat military service may have on the mental health of men. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79) we show that men who serve on active duty, and do not see combat, are less likely to experience depressive symptoms than their nonveteran and reserve duty counterparts, although this effect tends to dissipate after discharge from the military. We suggest several mechanisms through which active duty military service may act to reduce the likelihood of developing depressive symptoms.