Should the USA look into the Israeli model for national defense?

by Tom Barnes, USCG (Ret.)

The Israeli model for national defense essentially works like this.  All eligible males and females are in the reserves until middle age, starting at their eighteenth birthday.  Israel has a small cadre of professional officers and senior non-coms to form a nucleus of a national army, navy and air force in times of war. 

As I understand it, in times of peace, all reservists are expected to complete six weeks of active duty in their units each year, then they return to their jobs.  This acts as a force multiplier in times of war and gives Israel a Defense Forces capability many times larger than it would have if it merely relied on a professional army. Although I am not completely certain of this, I assume that the tax savings for the Israeli taxpayer is huge because a large standing army and navy is not required. 

Although I have no data available to support my contentions, I spent my Coast Guard career in personnel and reservists are a bargain for the taxpayer, dollar for dollar, compared to an active duty member.

We are now in a time of national economic crisis.  We are spending close to 3% of our GDP on defense issues each year.  Our allies traditionally spend about 1.5% of their GDP’s on national defense and have done this for decades. 

We need to get with the program and streamline the way we handle national defense along the lines of the cost saving techniques of our allies and friends.  Could the Isreali model work here?  The major outlay would be salary and benefits costs for reservists. 

As I understand it, in the Israeli model, active duty equipment is used and passed down the line each time a reserve unit activates for six weeks.  The reservists do not have their own heavy equipment although I am led to believe that they keep their small arms at home. 

Could this work here?  The savings in national defense outlay could be enormous if this was done correctly and with tight oversight.

CWO3 Tom Barnes, USCG (Ret.)