While looking for a pic to support my planned smart ass comment about needing “hot pics” to go with your story I happened upon this article…it’s behind a paywall but you get the idea.
The female-only Israeli army role leading too many to suicide
Last month, a female solder serving as a “tatzpitanit” – a role now given only to women that entails hours of closely monitoring surveillance cameras – was hospitalized after attempting suicide.
The military said her
suicide attempt had nothing to do with her work and that she was unknown to its mental heath services. It further said that the attempt had taken place while the soldier was home on a weekend leave.
But it was not an unusual case. Soldiers and commanders working in the military’s monitoring apparatus describe grueling conditions for soldiers in this role, leading to a considerable number of suicide attempts. The conditions, they said, result in part from sleep deprivation, shortages of food and services on their base, disrespectful treatment, and arbitrary, harsh punishment.
“Not many people know about the attempted suicide attempts among these observers,” says one
female soldier who served in the role before being demobilized recently. “The military stifles this, arguing that these are attempts to get transferred, but where I was there were quite a few attempts over a very short period.”
The distress is apparent in social media posts written by these
observers. “I had very high motivation, but I lost that day by day,” wrote one. “I suffer every day, I cry all the time, don’t sleep and don’t eat. I reached a point where I was given mental health leave.”
The nature of the job and the working conditions have led to a situation in which many draftees have no interest. Military figures obtained by Haaretz show that last year, 1,400 candidates were found suitable for the job, but over 900 were already uninterested before their conscription, ignoring it when it was presented to them as an option based on their skills.
