Finally, some changes to Shlav Bet!

From Jpost

Aug. 3, 2007 1:45 | Updated Aug. 3, 2007 15:34
IDF revamping 'Shlav Bet' for new olim
By YAAKOV KATZ

Under pressure from new immigrants and in an effort to encourage aliya and better utilize its human resources, the IDF is in the final stages of revamping its Shlav Bet program for immigrant men who join the army in their mid-20s and plans to begin tailoring jobs for those from Western countries, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

The new plan, the brainchild of OC Human Resources Maj.-Gen. Elazar Stern, is designed to better utilize immigrants who arrive in Israel at an age at which they can still serve in the IDF. The program is a joint effort with the Immigrant Absorption Ministry, which plans to advertise the initiative on its Web site and in target communities in the West.

In the meantime, the Post has learned of a group of new immigrants currently serving in Shlav Bet who, lamenting that they were wasting much of their time and could perform more useful service, sent a proposal including a number of key recommendations on Thursday to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and to IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi.

Shlav Bet is a service track designed for new immigrants aged 22 to 25. It consists of six months of military service including basic training, an optional Hebrew ulpan and then a course that trains the soldiers to fill a variety of positions - including as tractor drivers, tank mechanics, artillery operators and truck drivers. On average, the IDF holds two Shlav Bet drafts a year consisting of some 200 recruits.

Following the drop in the number of immigrants to Israel and a simultaneous increase in the number of immigrants coming from Western countries such as the United States, France and Great Britain, the IDF decided to revamp the program and instead of "throwing" soldiers into jobs while ignoring their degrees and work experience, the army will now work to find personally-tailored jobs for the new recruits.

"The makeup of new olim today has changed," a senior officer in the IDF Human Resources Department told the Post Thursday. "We are aware of this and are working to make the necessary changes so we can better utilize the soldiers and their skills."

In their own proposal sent out this week, the Shlav Bet soldiers bring two examples of soldiers who came to Israel highly motivated and with advanced degrees but spent their military service cleaning gardens in various military bases. One soldier had a degree in international relations from Oxford University and had worked in the British Parliament. He asked to serve in the IDF's Strategic Planning Division but instead spent months cleaning Northern Command headquarters in Safed.

"We came to Israel to serve in the army and contribute," a Shlav Bet soldier told the Post. "But instead we are doing absolutely nothing and we, as a human resource, are being wasted."

Fearing a drop in aliya numbers, the IDF is planning to interview all recruits for the next Shlav Bet draft, scheduled for December, prior to their enlistment and to try to find them jobs that suit their qualifications.

This week, the IDF signed up a new immigrant with an engineering degree from MIT to a three-year service in the air force. It does not, however, promise to replicate anything like that for Shlav Bet soldiers. And if a Shlav Bet recruit would like to serve in a more serious job according to his/her qualifications, he or she would need to sign on for an extended military service of at least one to two years.

Jobs will be found "according to the degrees and qualifications the recruits come with," an officer said. "We are looking for people with degrees in exact science, engineering and international relations. If someone comes with a degree in fitness or sports, we may not be able to make use of that."

Breakfast

This morning while walking though the mall in Be’er Sheva, I passed one of my favorite shwarma stands. Since it was 8:45am, they were just setting up, putting out the salads and preparing for a bust day in the mall. Since I was hungry, and would probably miss lunch at the base, I decided to grab a quick bite, perhaps a pita with some salads. The owner of the shwarma joint, recognizing me, shouted out a cheery “good morning!” and the usual follow-up “what can I get you?”. I told him I was thinking about something light, maybe a pita with salad, and he gave me a dirty look. “Listen soldier,” he said “when I was your age in the army, I would eat meat the second I woke up till the second I went to bed”. I explained that not only was it a bit early to be eating roasted shwarma, but I was afraid if it was undercooked, it would kill me. He explained that a real man ordered shwarma in the morning and had it grilled, making sure it was perfect to eat. My manhood having been called into question, I took him up on his offer and had a wonderful, if slightly burnt shwarma for breakfast. I guess this is another small step to being a true Israeli….

Shlav Bet considerations

I am going to eventually get around to writing down everything that happened during Shlav Bet, but it seems that I never have any time these days... I have recently gotten a bunch of emails from guys thinking about going to shlav bet, wondering what the options are, etc. If you're considering it, wondering what its like, or have any questions, get in touch with me, I am happy to help you get on your adventure or put you in touch with someone that can. There are tons of people doing everything and anything in the army right now, with the right hookup, you can get sorted out.

Some things to think about...

1. Figure out what interests you and what your options are
2. Think about how much time you can commit, is doing whatever they offer you for six months a better idea than signing on for longer to do something you want to do?
3. Are you interested in being a combat soldier, tomech lichimah (combat support) or jobnick? See here for the differences.
4. Do you want to learn more Hebrew and try to become more Israeli or find a job where you can use your English (or other) language skills?
   
5. Try to arrange interviews even before you get into the army
6. Everything is possible, but at what type of commitment? Are you willing to put in the time needed to do something different?
   
7. Try to stay positive, smile, and embrace your experience, its going to be a great experience once you get through the bureaucratic mess, putting the right spin on things is the only way to get the most out of the short time youre going to be in the army.
   
8. Do you speak enough Hebrew, or do you need an ulpan? (before or during the army...)
9. Being even a bit older and more mature than the average soldier gives you a big advantage, make sure the army knows it.
10. How often and what type of millium (reserve duty) will you do?
11. Will you be using your education/background in your army service? Do you want to get into a special unit?
12. Do you have religious considerations? Do you know what the options are? What types of options would you consider? (this topic is a whole conversation on its own)
13. How do you feel about serving close to home vs somewhere more interesting
    

All the best in the army, its an amazing experience!

Shalom from Gaza

Sidney and Ofir in the Shekem (canteen)

Waiting for some service in the shekem (canteen) - Check out the pin

Waiting for the bus to get home at Tzomet Ashkelon

Web surfing

I ran out of things I wanted to see on the "interweb" today. Desperate to find a new site with endless hours of idiotic fun, I quickly found http://www.randomwebsite.com/ a site that sends you somewhere, anywhere, when you click the pipe smoking icon. As their site proclaims, "How often do you find yourself on the internet looking at the same boring pages? You know there is something out there but you don't know where to look"

A sampling of the sites I found myself visiting today:

1. http://despair.com/viewall.html
   A website of professional despair
   
2. http://www.rinkworks.com/stupid/
   Computer stupidities
   
3. http://www.kurtnoble.com/
   The least designed web site of a web design company
   
4. http://www.washington.edu/home/maps/southwest.html
   A map
   
5. http://democracynow.org/
   "democracy" now
6. http://www.cognex.com/
   Cognex - featuring the new checker 200 inspection sensors

So much out there, so little time...

Tel Zaharah 2007

Erin bugged me to write something in my blog because it really has been so long, so here goes. After the last six months in the army, its finally come time for my first vacation week. Every four months, every soldier is entitled to a week off, and I suspect most spend it at home sleeping. Since I recently signed up to be in the army for at least a couple more years (more about that later), I had to fit my usual summer pursuit, archeological excavation, into a week instead of a couple months as I had originally planned. Today is the first day at Tel Zaharah 2007, which will one day translate into another T-shirt in my growing collection. I have always heard that the sign of a true Israeli is the large and varied ripped, stained and stretched T-shirt collection one amasses over the span of camp, army, or this and that. It sometimes seem that you can get a T-shirt for anything, I guess in a way it’s a lot like boy scout badges for tying your laces and walking across the street.

All in all, the dig was a lot of fun, but I spent way to little time out in the sun this summer...

Army notes (good things to know if youre going to Shlav Bet or the IDF)

The guys in the previous and current shlav bet programs doing the ABC course only do 2-3 days of training in the place of miluim (reserve duty) every few years. I was in the Dec 06 program, which just finished a few days ago. We had options such as APC repair, ABC cleanup (with a week after basic training of shooting a MAG to upgrade to 03 from 02), heavy truck driver (over 15 tons), D9 driver (tractors and other equipment) for the homefront command and combat engineering, and general repairman. The APC course ended up getting canceled because not enough people were interested.

Every draft has slightly different courses and activities, depending on the needs of the army, the current budget and several other factors, you may get sent to a couple temporary postings after basic training, or go straight to a course. Like everything in the army, you hurry up and wait, and something usually happens with five seconds to spare.

They will try to pressure you to take a course on the spot and make up your mind, dont go for it, ask people and find what you want to do, then insist on getting that. After a while someone will probably end up helping you. There are unlimited opportunities in the army, with a million different jobs offering a wide range of possibilities. Its important to keep an open mind and remember that even the worst job, done in the best possible way with professionalism is recognized. For every job, someone has to do it, so it might as well be you doing your best.

Also, a couple more things.

1. Army food is generally good, depending on where you are located. Just remember that the army is a once in a lifetime experience, stay positive, and you may even come to enjoy breakfast food for dinner. Every base has a slightly different way of doing meals, but for the most part, the food is varied, tasty and fresh. I could not understand how people complain about army food after living on my base for a couple months, the food there is excellent. After broadening my horizons a bit more and visit more bases around the country, I realized I was relatively lucky to have cooks who actually care if the food tastes like mass produced sawdust.
   
2. My giyus in shlav bet had people ranging in age from 22-28, from all over the world, my team of 20 came from 15 countries. Its really interesting spending a considerable amount of time with people who the only language you have in common is Hebrew. Its also great practice for being in the real army, where people may not speak English at all.
3. People in the army love speaking English, always tell people youre working on your Hebrew and want to learn, that way you may actually learn some of the army slang
4. Always be friendly with everyone, particularly if they work in the kitchen. Its good to know the people with access to food, and be on good terms with all the people who can really help you out on a daily basis, or make your life miserable. Having a friend explain the endless paperwork can often save hours, and lots of pointless running around the base.
5. If youre in shlav bet, and ever feel the urge to say AD MATAY?! (until when, the moaning cry of soldiers with a couple years left to go) be prepared to justify yourself seeing as you'll be out of the army in a few months, and most everyone else in a couple years. A good sense of humor goes a long way to bridge the cultural divide and make people laugh instead of wanting to kill you for complaining.
6. Ask someone who has been in the army how to tie your boots before your first day, its a bit confusing, and no one at bakum has time to explain how to do it properly. Just remember that your boots should never have X's, they are always laced in straight lines.
7. Make sure to bring lots of extras, just get a huge 90L backpack and throw it all in. Having an extra elastic for your boots or a backup brush and polish can really come in handy.
   

Shlav Bet specific tips (accurate as of my draft):

1. You can work in lots of places, even without signing on for more time, its not easy, but it sometimes works. Before going in to the army, speak to people, find out what you might be interested in, and start going to interviews even before you go in. Making contacts is critical to your army success, as well as to life in general in Israel. Its always good to introduce yourself, ask names, make friends and build the contacts you will need at some point.
   
2. The D9 (tractor, backhoe, earthmover, etc)- Homefront command course is ONLY training, you are never in an actual unit. You do basic training, wait two months sweeping streets or doing something on some base, then go to your course for a couple months, and then finish. Only in miluim do you get assigned to a unit (maybe) or just come in for excersizes every couple years
   
3. The medic course is usually not offered without signing up for more time, the artillery course is sometimes offered, but you dont work on the artillery itself, just as a support soldier (since you only do 02 basic training, and artillery soliders need 03)

There are three kinds of soldiers in the army

1. Combat - For artillery and field intel: Training 03 and above 3+ months in basic training minimum. For infantry : Training 05 and above 5+ months in basic training minimum.

2. Jobnicks - Basic training 01 to 02 which takes a week to a month

3. Combat support troops (tomchei lechimah) - Basic training 02 which takes a month to five weeks. The basic training is the same as a jobnick soldier, but you get sent to a more dangerous area (with a small bonus for danger pay). Support troops do regular jobs in addition to a lot of guard duty, patrols, and operational support. I heard that combat soldiers think you're an idiot if you are support solider because you're really a jobnick and jobnicks think your crazy for being a combat solider. All in all, it can be a very interesting setting for an otherwise boring job.

Good luck in the army, it can really be a great time and a lot of fun!

Passover Army Update

It’s been a long while since I last wrote anything; I seem to remember always being a lot less tired, and having a lot more energy to write things down. It seems that these days I spend most of my free time passing out, counting the hours till I have to get up again and go back at it. Memories get turned into a grey blur, if it was not for my journal, I would start forgetting most of it. That being said, I think the last few months have generally been an amazing experience, and I am sure I will get all the stories down eventually.

I have been enjoying my Passover miracle, I was meant to get one day of vacation, and somehow it turned into nine whole days of being off. I don’t know how it happened, but as the first real vacation I have had in the army, I am really enjoying it, matza or no matza.

After leaving basic training twenty or so pounds lighter and slightly more clued in to the Israeli mentality. It turns out that a contributing factor to all the laid back hippy elements in Israeli society stem from cultural rebellion to having repressed those few years while serving in the army. Judging by the guys coming in for reserve duty a few years after their service, most leave the daily shave and frequent haircut far behind them.

I was temporarily assigned to a base near Gaza to wait the two months until my course opened. We were offered a number of courses, and not really knowing if there was an advantage to being a truck driver over something else, I picked chemical warfare. It sounded interesting, and in the worst case scenario, at least we would have our space suits.

After meeting several people on my temporary base and interviewing with a number of officers, I sort of fell into the role of army chaplain. I found it to be a great job which helped me learn a lot about the army, and interact with soldiers from all over the army.

I decided to stay on the base and take a course from the Rabbinate instead, so I will now be there till the end of my service, which should be early this summer.

More when my brain works again.