The Israel Defense Forces has begun overhauling its induction process in what will streamline long-standing procedures and make new recruits more control, Israel Hayom has learned exclusively.
Brig. Gen. Eran Shani, who heads the IDF Personnel Directorate's Human Resource Planning and Management Division, told Israel Hayom that the rollout of the revamped system has already begun, in anticipation of the big wave of recruits this summer. "This is not just a technological revolution, it is a conceptual revolution," he said.
Shani said that the number of people staffing the dedicated service centers for new recruits has increased from 80 to 120, on top of the 30 automated operators. According to Shani, a caller should expect to wait an average of 30 seconds, much less than the wait for customer service representatives of large corporations in Israel. He notes that the call center receives about 7,500 to 8,000 calls per day.
The revamp means that would-be draftees can now contact the various processing centers via phone and email, as well as through a smartphone app. According to Shani, "Within a few weeks, every teen will be able to send us a text message and he or she will get a response via text message." He also said that rather than have each corps run a separate call center, the IDF will have a unified center to handle all requests by new draftees.
"About half of the would-be draftees don't arrive for the initial screening [what is known as the 'first draft notice'] at the scheduled time; some of them are our finest sons, who may end up becoming pilots, but this [not showing up] is just part of our culture," he said, adding that some of them also fail to produce the necessary documents, which only complicates the draft process.
The new system will allow recruits to schedule their arrival at the processing online as if they were setting a doctor's appointment. "The IDF will allow them to decide when to arrive; our goal is to turn them into the best fighters, so why not let them arrive when they want?" Shani said. The new recruits would also be able to fill out some of the enlistment forms online rather than in person at the processing center, including the personal details page (currently they can submit some medical forms online). The new system will also make it possible for schools to send their senior class – en mass – to the processing center rather than have each student arrive individually. This has already been introduced as a pilot program in several schools, with success. "Some 98 of students who are called up this way arrive [at the time set], this shows how serious they are," Shani said.
Shani said that the teens will get their first draft notices, which are usually just for preliminary checkups and various aptitude tests, later than before to allow high school students to better prepare for their first screening day. "People just press Enter and Enter just to get the screening day over with and then go to the beach, but this hurts them in the long haul, they don't realize the repercussions this could have," Shani said. "They then beg to have another evaluation but we can only rarely accommodate such a request," he continued. "Those who feel they are not ready because they got up on the wrong foot that day, should not do the test that day, but once you show up – you have one shot; it is touch and go," he said.
The IDF has in recent years begun informing new recruits about the unit they would join well ahead of their actual conscription, with various unit representatives arriving at their homes to explain about the upcoming service they would enjoy. As a result of this new approach, the number of recruits who refuse to join their units on their draft day has dropped significantly. "The number used to be in the triple digits, now it is down to a handful," Shani said. Shani said that the massive reform has its share of detractors, both inside the IDF and among veterans. "People have turned to me and asked why the IDF invested millions of shekels on such a project, others are convinced that we have gone off the deep end, that we are too focused on gauging what draftees think; but I believe we are now in a different era; our teens are different, they are exposed to social media; they subscribe to values that are no different than those of previous generations, but their lives are more intense, they want immediate answers – and therefore we cannot engage in the same discourse as before; there is a straight line between the level of service we provide and the degree to which our troops are willing to serve in combat units and in general. We must not live in a disconnect," he said.
Shani said that he was not concerned by the figures showing that teens' motivation to join a combat unit are at the lowest level in a decade. "Most recruits who are found suitable for combat service, go on to do serve in combat units; only a small percentage of them go on to intelligence or cyber units, and only if they have exceptional qualities."
He further attacked parents for trying to have their sons join noncombat units. "This just boggles my mind; who is going to be a company commander? Those who are less smart and those who are not good?" he asked rhetorically. He stressed that "just because the motivation for combat service has gone down, doesn't mean recruits end up avoiding combat service, and it doesn't mean that I would not assign them to combat units. The IDF is not a video-on-demand or reality show. At the end of the day, the military has one job – to protect the country and safeguard its citizens."
Shani also spoke about the hot-botton issue of integrating ultra-Orthodox men in the military. Under a decadeslong arrangement, the Defense Ministry issues a de facto waiver to ultra-Orthodox Jews who reach draft age, essentially waiving their mandatory service. Shani said that the government's goal of drafting some 3,000 ultra-Orthodox men per year on a voluntary basis is "challenging and almost impractical." Shani said that despite not being able to meet this goal, he is "looking at the glass half full." He noted that the IDF has introduced new programs that are tailor-made for haredi recruits and "we increased the number of haredi soldiers tenfold in a decade." He noted that there were also more haredi men in the Intelligence Corps. "We don't make any distinction between religions or ethnic groups; we want parents to know that when they send a haredi son to the IDF he will not become secular, and that a haredi recruit would tell his yeshiva classmates that military service is compatible with being haredi. I believe the number of haredi recruits will increase significantly over the coming years, regardless of any particular legislation, because of ongoing trends in the haredi world."
