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Southfield, MI 355 3496 - GRAND OPENING SPECIALS • Pants Shortened $5 • Zipper $6 • Skirt Shortened $7 • Coat Shortened $22 557-5770 our Old Fur Can Be Styled Into A Zip In And Out All Weather Poplin Coat GRobert 6Alann Custom Tailoring & Alterations Men's and Women's Clothes Glizth MAGIC STITCHES ALTERATIONS 28470 Southfield Rd. South of 12 Mile Rd. Mon. Fri. 9 6 pm Sat. 9-4 pm - - I Advertising in The Jewish News Gets Results Place Your Ad Today. Call 354-6060 The IDF Trains Delinquents in Khaki NECHEMIA MEYERS Special to The Jewish News R ecently appointed Israel Army Chief of Staff Ehud Barak has created a storm of protest over his plans to eliminate many military units and ac- tivities in a desperate effort to balance a severely strain- ed defense budget. One endangered program involves special training for ill-educated delinquents and near delinquents; it has al- ready been reduced in scope by 50 percent, and the cost- cutters would like to scuttle it altogether. - Thith to be told, the Israel Defense Force doesn't need the teen-age troublemakers, but they need the IDF, for it is almost impossible for a young man to get a decent job in this country without evidence that he has done military service and been granted an honorable discharge. When the participants in this program arrive at their special Galilee training camp, they are immediately divided into two groups. Those who are functionally illiterate go into a five- month program which places equal stress on basic edu- cation and military skills. Others, with the equivalent of a grade school education, spend just three months at the camp, mostly learning to be soldiers. Naomi, who worked with these young men when she was in the Army some years ago, says that it is more difficult to change their at- titudes than to teach them skills. "They come from slum neighborhoods where their friends believe that only suckers serve in the Army, and, often enough, their families are hardly functional." Helping to solve the prob- lems of her charges was more than just a job for Naomi, it was something in which she invested her heart and soul. So, for example, when one of the boys ran away from the camp, she used her once-in-three-weeks leave to go to his home and plead with him to return. Once the basic training period is completed, the sim- Nechemia Meyers reports from Rehovot, Israel. plest thing would be to send the boys to wash dishes in Army kitchens or to sweep floors in Army offices. In- stead, the IDF invests substantial sums in teaching them a specific skill that can later be used in civilian life. Those with a very limited education are taught carpentry or metal work; the top few learn how to operate heavy mechanical equip- ment, because they are capable of reading instruc- tion manuals. Not every young man taken into this special pro- gram manages to finish it. About a third drop out along the way. But two-thirds complete their three years of military service and then go on to earn an honest living in civilian life — instead of The Israel Defense Force doesn't need the teen-age troublemakers, but they need the IDF to get a decent job in Israel. ending up, in all probability, as drug addicts or criminals. The strongest supporter of this scheme is Agriculture Minister Raphael .(Raful) Eitan, who, when he was Chief of Staff, gave it an enormous push. "It is in- conceivable," he declared, "that the Army should ig- nore the social problems of the State. Instead of being dropped," he added, "the program should be expanded because it today encom- passes • only one-quarter of those who could benefit from it." Trainee Avraham agrees. He himself had enormous trouble persuading the Army to take him in because he had been convicted several times for assault and battery. But he finally managed to do so. "Today," Avraham says proudly, "I'm just not the same person I was a few months ago. Who would have believed then that I would allow someone to shout at me and order me around without busting him in the mouth. Until I was called up," he explained, "I used my fists to gain respect. Now I get respect with my uniform." ❑