IDF to Train Women as Tank Commanders as Part of Integration Program

October 19, 2014

2 min read

In its latest effort to integrate women into the fighting force, the Israel Defense Forces announced last week it is planning to train women to serve as tank commanders in the armored corps.

Should the program take off, participants will undergo basic training at the school for armored divisions, followed by an eight-month specialized training course. They will then be eligible for positions that until now have only been open to men.

The announcement appeared on the IDF’s website this month. According to the statement, the female commanders would serve, in the event of an emergency, in a mixed-gender tank. The driver, gunner and loader would all be male.

Day-to-day, however, the female commanders would function as drill sergeants and combat instructors, at least initially. The service period would last three years for these women, just like their male counterparts.

“Cognitively, physiologically, mentally, women are as fit for the task as men,” Brig. Gen. Yigal Slovik, the outgoing head of manpower in the IDF Ground Forces, told the army’s website. “And yet, during generations of drafts, the IDF has missed 50 percent of quality manpower – there is no reason recruits can’t benefit from the best commanders human resources have to offer.”

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This is only one avenue for female integration being explored by the Ground Forces division. The next step, says Slovik, is to allow women to operate mechanical engineering equipment. “Today, women fly planes – why can’t they operate a D9 (armored bulldozer)?” he said.

According to Slovik, there is really nothing women can’t do in the army. At a recent military conference which included the participation of several western countries, including the US and France, it was determined that “there is no problem enlisting women into any military job except infantry. That they can do as well, but it requires more time to prepare physically,” Slovik explained.

Infantry participation demands an equipment redesign, since a man’s center of gravity is in his shoulders, and a woman’s is in her hips. For now, the IDF is focusing on areas in which women can serve immediately. It should be noted that religious soldiers will be able to continue serving in all-male teams.

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