Review by Martin Koenigsberg
When I saw this book at the Thrift Store (Charity Shop), I thought it would help me understand the present Lebanon situation (this review is written in October ’24 with an Israeli incursion happening there now) and improve my understanding of the Israeli Army. It is a memoir of a young American Jew who wants to do his bit to help the homeland, going over at the advanced age of 24 to join the IDF. Joel Chasnoff , a writer and comedian takes us through his experiences from induction through basic, to assignment to an armoured regiment, to service in Lebanon watching Hezbollah in the early 2000s. I learned a lot about IDF basic and intermediate training, but the authors focus is on irony and comedy, so whilst I really enjoyed the book, I did not find any political, military or social solutions to the problems of the middle east in its pages.
Chasnoff is a good writer with a nice touch around the many ironies and inconsistencies of Israeli military and civilian cultures. He’s also adept at explaining how Hebrew as a command language is used both formally and informally. It’s more about trying to survive training- and then deployment – and get home to his tough Israeli girlfriend Dorit. His relationship is a constant backbeat to story, providing more than a few emotional swings to the narrative. I think general audience readers will find this one of my reads they enjoy the most, as it is more about humanity than militarism.
There are a lot of adult themes, and some graphic injury passages , so this book is for the Junior Reader over 13/14 years. For the Gamer/Modeler/Military Enthusiast, this is not really that useful. The Gamer, may find their way all through to deployment, only to find the descriptions of the ambush groups sent out each night into Lebanon insufficient for gaming needs. The modeler will get a lot of diorama ideas- but not guidance from photos or any colour help. The Military enthusiast is probably the winner here, as this might pass for the Israeli “Good Soldier Svejk”, but there is almost no tactical or strategic information, it’s more about culture and the man versus the organisation theme. A good read – but more comedy and nonfiction than military history.
