Excerpts from a great article on the Myrtle Rising blog:
At a base hosting 300 servicepeople, one girl was in charge of Culture & Recreation.
She sat in her office all the livelong day watching movies and texting on her cell phone while dressed in official IDF uniform.
Only once, during the 6 months my son was there, did she fulfill her duty: She showed them an American movie.
Yet in Israeli society and according to some of the more befuddled leaders, this is considered military service and she is commended for upholding her “share of the burden.”
…
Another IDF serviceman sat in his office all day in some kind of human resources position. Apparently, if one of servicepeople had a problem with something, they could turn to him.
How often do you think a group of only 300 people who went home every week or two needed his services?
Right. Hardly ever.
… there is something in the IDF called shavua-shavua (week-week).
This means that for 1 week, you are on an army base, then the next week you work at a pizza parlor or waiting tables in a restaurant, then the next week you are on base again, then the week after that, you’re back to pizza and waiting tables.
And this continues until you are officially discharged from the IDF.
Now, why would the IDF institute something like shavua-shavua?
Because there are way too many people for certain jobs.
…
Years ago, a young woman told me of her IDF service, which consisted of her & 4 other girls gazing at the same radar screen on the off-chance that they might spot something suspicious. (Occasionally they did, but it was almost always a false alarm.)
She was embittered about it because it had been clear to her that while you might need 2 radar-gazers, you certainly do not need 5 per screen.
And so she spent her service doing this useless busy-work while subjected to standard military discipline if she didn’t do her useless busy-work according to protocol. (Plus, I think there was also lots of coffee-bringing involved.)
We have written about the IDF”s poorly-hidden Hidden Unemployment problem in this definitive article.