02-03 Military

I never thought, back in 1995, that talking to a young female officer in the Israel Defense Forces would be so memorable. We were in the Tel Aviv railway station surrounded by young men and women in IDF uniforms.
We were passing time and when I asked her if she spoke English, I found out she was a graduate in language studies and fluent in Hebrew, Arabic and English. She said she had recently completed her officer training in an IDF Reconnaissance Company.
She quickly showed me her engagement ring with the story of a fiancée she met while in basic training. She had done her two years of compulsory training, but her boyfriend had to do three years and was still in basic training. They did translation work, questioned prisoners, scouted out areas of possible combat. Basic army stuff.
We got into a real discussion about women in the armed services. I said I could understand women pilots, women in intelligence and that kind of thing but not in combat roles. Surely women did not have the physical strength. She said I would be surprised how strong some women are and that there are women in combat roles, not unlike the photos.
What she said that really surprised me was how the army integrated immigrants into Israeli society. The newcomers while learning Hebrew, learn technical and social skills, and make lifelong friends. They become Israelis.
It should be no surprise to anyone that a nation that does the most research and development relative to its size than any nation in the world would be in the forefront in producing and selling military hardware. And they are. But assume what you can discover via Google is only half of the story.
The real story is that Israel has been recipients of massive economic support from the US for almost 50 years, mostly in the form of sophisticated things like planes, tanks and missiles. They learned to modify and improve this US technology, which over time had helped them build their own defense industry.
And in terms of size, they are one of the largest in the world selling high tech military hardware to Russia, China, India and even the US. They are light years ahead of their Arab neighbours.
And, no matter whether you are looking at an Israeli combat tank, helicopter, fighter airplane, submarine, ballistic missile or anti-ballistic missile, assume they are employing the best technologies in the world.
Also assume they have intelligence-sharing agreements with all the major western powers. Israelis have been participating in all types of international forums for 70 years. As a society they are learners.
In the photo we have the Israeli MERKEVA tank that can hit targets too far away to be seen. The coordinates are probably given to them from an Israeli plane, adapted from the famous F-15 American fighter.
No one wants to talk about it, but assume they also have atomic weapons and the mobile missile technology to deliver them anywhere in the Middle East if they were under attack.
Probably the most important thing I learned from the young officer in the train station is that things happen so fast in Israel because there is so little rigidity in their system. She said any of her subordinates are free to criticize her and anyone can talk to anyone.
Nothing like the rigid rules and departmental jealousies found in governments and big business all over the world.
So, you combine a system of highly trained people capable of operating the world’s most sophisticated military hardware with a military establishment and government uninhibited by structure and you have a military superpower.
But looking into the future, surely politics will become more important than economic, technological and military power if they want lasting peace with their Arab neighbours.
The Arab nations in the region really need Israeli technology and know-how. But who will tell them?