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Steinhardt How to reach us see page 10 guest column IDF: Choose Tank Crew Members Based On Capabilities, Not Gender A fter facing various legal pressures, the IDF’ s new Chief-of-Staff, Aviv Kochavi, recently decided to reinstate a pilot program that would test the possibil- ity of integrating female tank crews into the Armored Corps. The pilot’ s goal was to train all-female tank crews and ultimately deploy them to the Jordanian and Egyptian borders. Of the 15 women in the pilot, 13 completed the training, four of whom also became tank commanders. Although deemed successful upon completion in 2018, the pilot’ s con- tinuation was put on hold, as its next phase would require more funds and resources that were unable to be allocated. (Haaretz, 2020) The announcement of the pilot launch in 2017 was controversial and immediately became a “hot topic” in the media, as well as in my social circle. As a former Lone Soldier who served in the IDF as a tank shooting instructor, and someone who has fired tank cannons and taught soldiers shooting techniques, I felt an enormous amount of pride. While my friends who served as tank instructors felt empowered, many voices across the country were outraged. Aside from the concerns over immodesty from ultra-Orthodox leadership, male soldiers and officials claimed that women lacked the level of physical fitness needed to fulfil the duties of a loader or to conduct frequent tank main- tenance routines. Most frustrating of all, many claimed that the integration would lower the morale and motivation of the male soldiers in the unit, and that soldiers would feel emasculated if women could work the job with them. Despite the great strides that the IDF has made over the past few decades to include females in various combat units — such as accepting women as pilots in the Israeli Air Forces’ Flight Academy for the past 22 years (Israeli Air Force, 2017), these reactions were alarming. Women have been serving as tank instruc- tors since 1976. From the get-go, they have been the most knowledgeable about the tank and have had to first do or simulate what- ever it was that they would teach to others. Today, a male soldier in the Armored Corps is trained by a female instructor from his first day on base, through his advanced training, throughout commander school, and even in officer school. Alongside his commander, it is the (female) tank instructor who teaches him to be a skilled and successful tank crew member. When I was selected to be a tank instruc- tor along with 30 young women in 2013, my service began with an intensive three-month basic training. After learning the “101s” of dozens of technical tank topics, my friends and I underwent screening in order to be assigned to the specific profession that was most fitting to our capabilities. I spent another nine months training as a simulator instructor and became fluent in topics such STEPHANIE HORWITZ SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS Stephanie Horwitz COURTESY OF STEPHANIE HORWITZ continued on page 10