In Israel, almost all non-Arab Israeli citizens over 18 are conscripted into the army. Typically, men serve for three years and women for two.
There are also many young Jews from the Diaspora who go to Israel for the express purpose of joining the army. These volunteers are known as hayalim bodeim, the Lone Soldiers.
Joel Chasnoff, a standup comedian in New York City, is one such Lone Soldier. At 24, the Ivy League graduate left his home and made aliyah. He joined the Israeli army, and though he wanted to become a paratrooper, he was inducted into the 188th Armoured Brigade.
The 188th Crybaby Brigade: A Skinny Jewish Kid from Chicago Fights Hezbollah (Simon and Schuster) is Chasnoff’s wry, at times irreverent, account of his stint in an Israeli armoured brigade.
Written with lots of sophomoric humour, as well as serious insightful commentary, The 188th Crybaby Brigade is half MASH, half Full Metal Jacket and takes us through Chasnoff’s basic and advanced training and his stint in a patrol unit in Lebanon.
One of the main reasons Chasnoff decided to leave everything and serve in the Israeli army was his belief that as a Jew he had to do his bit for the State of Israel.
Chasnoff had an Israeli girlfriend, Dorit, and since he believed one day he’d get married and live in Israel, he felt that if he didn’t do his stint in the army, as Israelis did, he would feel like a freeloader.
Ironically, back home in America, everyone encouraged him to go to Israel and join the army. In Israel, everyone he met thought he was crazy.
But a few weeks into basic training, as he’s on leave and strolling through a market with a rifle slung around his shoulders, he takes great pride that he doesn’t have to feel guilty about taking without giving back; that he’s earned the right to call Israel home.
As with MASH and other army movies, Chasnoff pokes fun and highlights the inane absurdities of army life, such as learning to put up a tent in the dark or being offered combat rations with chocolate spread in tin cans stamped “Kosher For Passover 1985.”
One time in Lebanon, Chasnoff’s tank fired three rounds and ordered an artillery strike against a poor hapless dog they mistook for a Hezbollah guerrilla.
Chasnoff has a witty, sarcastic bent. He sees the army as an alternate universe ruled by aliens who tell him to do one thing, make him do another, and yell at him for doing that and not the first thing.
But, like MASH, The 188th Crybaby Brigade has a serious side to it. As a 24-year-old in a world populated with 18-year-olds, and as an American, Chasnoff can never fit in. Yet as an outsider, Chasnoff is in a unique position to offer interesting commentary on the state of the Israeli army.
He is bewildered, for instance, that he, a skinny American kid, is one of the best soldiers in the platoon. He is disturbed that inductees can wave medical-excuse permits to shirk long hikes and physical activities, as if this was grade school physical education.
He can’t believe that there is a 10/4 snack rule in place. Twice a day, every day, the recruits stop whatever they are doing, sit in a circle and eat snacks as though they are in kindergarten.
What happened to the army he idolized as a kid, he wonders? “If a skinny, lactose-intolerant Jew from the suburbs is the strongest soldier in your platoon, how safe can Israel be?”
The 188th Crybaby Brigade provides an interesting take on basic training in the Israeli army. It offers serious, thoughtful and insightful commentary mixed with juvenile and sexual humour and the colourful sort of language only Israeli soldiers can dream up.
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Lone Soldiers by Herb Keinon (Devora Publishing) is a more serious look at the unique plight of the Lone Soldier.
Keinon interviews 14 of these soldiers from the Diaspora and tells us their stories. Who are they? What brought them to Israel? What motivates them?
They are a huge mix from all over the world, including the United States, Russia, the Dominican Republic and Ethiopia. Four of the 14 are women.
Yaniv, a former police officer and martial arts instructor from Toronto, is a unique case among unique individuals.
We are not entirely sure what he does. His last name is classified because he works in a special counter-terrorist unit. At 31, Yaniv is almost older than everyone else in his unit. His fellow soldiers call him Grandpa. He stands out physically as well. He is more than six feet tall and rippled with muscles. He trains instructors and soldiers involved in anti-terrorist combat martial arts, particularly the Israeli mix called Krav Maga.
He talks about what it was like growing up as an immigrant in Toronto at a young age. He moved to Canada from Israel after spending some time in France. His father also did security work, which Yaniv cannot talk about.
Although he spent some time in Israel in his 20s and even did some basic training, he decided to return to Israel and commit to a minimum of two years in the army during the Second Lebanon War.
It is estimated that about 35 per cent of Lone Soldiers are female and one-third are religious, and 60 per cent serve in combat units. At least five were killed in the Second Lebanon War in 2006.
With a foreward by Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak, this 160-page, fully illustrated glossy book provides an interesting and informative look at the motivations behind the phenomenon of the Lone Soldier.
