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In general, I think that the notion of a professional army is appropriate. the primary concern that I have is the relative size of forces. If the Arab countries surrounding Israel has an estimated 40 million trained combatants, and Israel has a professional army of 3 million, then there is a significant imbalance of forces. In the past, the difference was made up by Israel's reserves. If those reserves do not exist, or if, as in 1948, they consisted mostly of untrained survivors from the Shoah, I am concerned about their ability to "do the job".

I do understand the value of forces which are "mechanized", whether as drones or as intelligent missiles, but if the opponents mass a large group of "cannon fodder" on the border and charge, there will be a problem.

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Excellent review. As a US Military veteran I think the professional Military here works pretty well here. I think it would work well in Israel IF the salaries, benefits, and pensions were excellent (not just above average) for the active duty officers enlisted and reserve. Yes the money matters even to the most patriotic.

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