Table Of ContentTRANSITION TO ADULTHOOD DURING MILITARY SERVICE
SUNY Series in Israeli Studies
Russell Stone, Editor
A publication from the Center for
Study and Documentation of Israeli Society,
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Transition to Adulthood
--during-
Military Service
The Israeli Case
Amia Lieblich
STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS
Published by
State University of New York Press, Albany
© 1989 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced
in any manner whatsoever without written permission
except in the case of brief quotations embodied in
critical articles and reviews.
For information, address State University of New York
Press, State University Plaza, Albany, N.Y., 12246
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lieblich, Amia, 1939-
Transition to adulthood during military service :
the Israeli case I Amia Lieblich.
p. em. - (SUNY series in Israeli studies)
Bibliography : p.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-7914-0146-4. - ISBN 0-7914-0147-2 (pbk.)
I. Draft-Israel-Psychological aspects--Case studies.
2. Teenage boys-Israel--Case studies. 3. Men-Israel-Psychology--Case
studies. 4. Soldiers-Israel-Psychology--Case studies.
5. Psychology, Military--Case studies. I. Title. II. Series.
UB345.175L54 1989
355.2'2363'095694-dc 19 89-30041
CIP
1098765432
Contents
Acknowledgments Vll
Introduction IX
PART 1: Personal Accounts
I. DAVID 3
2. ALON 15
3. YOCHANAN 29
4. GAD 41
5. EITAN 55
6. DANNY 61
7. IOO 71
8. GIL 83
PART II: Routes and Issues of Psychological Development
9. COURSES OF MILITARY SERVICE DURING PEACETIME 99
10. PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF PARTICIPATION IN WAR 123
II.
PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT DURING MILITARY
SERVICE 149
Conclusion TRANSITION TO ADULTHOOD IN THE
MILITARY CONTEXT 181
References 197
Index 213
Acknowledgments
The list of people I wish to thank is long. From the first stages of
planning the project to the final editing of the book, I was lucky to receive
help and support from my family, colleagues, assistants, institutions and
friends.
The idea of studying the psychological effects of mandatory military
service in Israel was encouraged by many professionals, both from the mil
itary and the academic systems in Israel. Professors and administrators of
the Hebrew University were helpful in announcing the call for volunteers
for the study in classes and through the bulletin boards. The Hebrew Uni
versity recognized the importance of the project by awarding me the Bird
Prize for Outstanding Research, which provided the funding for paying the
participants for their time, and several students for their aid in transcribing
the tapes. For this stage of the research special thanks are due to Yoav
Rinon, who performed most of the transcriptions and organized the project
with great enthusiasm and warmth.
Further financial aid toward the completion of the study was granted
by the Sturman Human Development Center of the Department of Psychol
ogy, the Hebrew University, and by the Israeli Schocken House, which pub
lished a Hebrew popular version of the same study, titled in Hebrew The
Spring of Their Years. The Department of Psychology at UCLA, chaired at
this time by Dr. Bert Raven, provided me with the necessary services for
working on and typing the first drafts of the study during my sabbatical
year in 1986.
Many of my colleagues read parts of the draft at different stages. The
complete book was criticized in a most constructive manner by Anat Ninio
from the Department of Psychology, and by Victor Azarya and Baruch
Kimmerling from the Department of Sociology at the Hebrew University.
The bibliographical work and the analysis was greatly aided by Meir Per
low, who also helped in improving my style in English. Hadas Weisman of
the Department of Psychology provided valuable insight into some of the
developmental processes studied in the book. Finally, Miriam Mantel per
formed the linguistic editing and helped in bringing the manuscript to its
present form.
viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Needless to say, this project would not have been possible without the
honest disclosure of the participants who were willing to be interviewed by
me about their military service and war experience. Their outstanding will
ingness to open up to a stranger, and to talk about their painful as well as
happy memories, has been a deep learning experience for me, for which I
want to thank each one of them.
Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to the members of my
family who, used as they were to my obsession with work and writing,
have still been exceptionally supportive in the present project. My children
Maty and Eliav were both patient with and proud of their busy mother. My
own personal concern with the process of transition to adulthood during
military service grew from my observation of and participation in the
changes which took place in the life of my eldest son, Yuval, who served in
the Infantry at the time of the research. This book is dedicated to the mem
ory of my husband, Israel, a great admirer of the Israeli military force, who
died in September 1986, while I was starting to write this book.
Jerusalem, October 1988.
