I was wondering after seeing this picture. you can clearly see a soldier with long dreads.. so can anyone explain to me why this Israeli soldier is allowed to have it long? is it for religious purposes or what?
The driver appears to have long hair by certain military standards. He does not have dreads rather a 'normal' style not associated in some parts with a religiion.
don't think we're talking about the driver here...;-)
We are in many ways because although not as long as the dreads his hair is a decidely non-military length by most standards. That would appear to confirm that there are few if any rules about the shaven heads so beloved of the military.
I mean the guy shaking his head.. you know the one with really long hair. not the driver.
i dunno but there awosme dreads.....is it me or does the driver look like bill gates? lol :P
I dont know about israel, but most other military would never let you have long hair, and they dont buy the religious stuff. Its like you have no right once you are a soldier. But then maybe the person could be a Naserite (cause israel has lots of jews)
So... anyone know why? anyone? maybe someone here from Israel perhaps. it just surprises me to find a soldier from one of the most professional hi-tech militaries in the world to have long dreads instead of the regulation shaven heads.
If you look at the guy in the jeep, he has short hair to our standards, but to military standards, that is worth a few weeks of latrine duty :)
Have a nice day,
Georges in Montreal
The picture that sticks out in my mind is one from National Geographic that was published when I was a teenager... so this must have been in the 80s. It showed two Israeli soldiers, one with hair in a ponytail and an automatic weapon. Either that was a guy, or a very male looking female, but I could see nothing to indicate that it was anything other than a guy, and I was definitely doing a double-take. IIRC, the caption said nothing about the hair. Perhaps it's allowed because the soldier might be a Nazarite. Google might have an answer on "isreali military+"long hair".
Doing just that showed someone called Gabby Wolf who was given repeated 14 day sentences for refusing an induction haircut. I also found some odd references to a volunteer organisation that assists the IDF, so maybe the picture is of the latter.
The more salient question is why anyone would want to join them. I don't think the soldiers themselves are happy about what they are doing right now. I know I'm not. I'm sure that the regular army of the Lebanon could use a few volunteers.
n/t.
Ditto, not the place. A topic this volatile could change the whole tone of this board.
I think it's resonably fair to say, whatever side you may take in the broader sense, that anyone who escalates a hostage crisis into destroying the infrastructure of an entire country, with mutliple deaths, hundreds wounded and half a million people displaced from their homes, posseses the critical judgement and common sense of an amoeba. That is not an endorsement of Hezbollah, merely a statement that Ehud Olmert is a loose cannon. Make of that what you will.
They are drafted, Israel requires ALL to serve in the military, man or women.
well yes nearly all of israel. jews and druze men are drafted while druze women, arabs, bedouins and other ethnicities may only volunteer.
In fact members of hard-line conservative religeous groups are not drafted either, apparently in the belief that they would cause too many incidents, i.e. be over-zealous. Ironic, but true.
Maybe they are voulenteers in a lower grade army where the hair regulations aren't as strict as in the real Israel military force. In the Swedish army you're allowed to have long hair as long as you agree to put it up in a net during the exercises. I have a friend who did his military service with dreads and the officers where fine with that. They were a real pain in the butt while wearing a helmet though. lol
They are reservists, who do not have to cut their hair.
You can have a beard, or moustache upon entering the Israeli army, but you better go in with one, or grow it on leave.
There was a spot on Israeli military reservists on CBS 5. They showed a guy with beautiful long dreadlocks about mid back length. Israeli citizens serve 3 years in the military, and remain in the reserves for an additional 25 years.
Here is the link. It should work by copying and pasting.
http://cbs5.com/national
Enjoy
Absalom