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The man inside the tank. Not enough food?
Photo: AFP

8 soldiers refuse maintenance orders over 'food shortage'

Eight combatants with Ordnance Corps strike in protest food shortage on base; sentenced to, detention. IDF says 'aware of the problem'

Eight combatants of the Ordnance Corps have been complaining for weeks that they were not being supplied with sufficient amounts of food. Feeling malnourished, they decided to protest by refusing their officers' orders. 

 

Last week, the soldiers informed their commander – a lieutenant colonel – that they would not be performing the necessary maintenance to the battalion's tanks until they were properly fed. They were promptly written up, tried for insubordination and sentenced to two weeks detention.

 

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Now, the soldiers are demanding that their sentence be annulled since they can no longer endure such horrific conditions.

 

"The problem started a few months ago," one of the soldiers told Ynet, "when our battalion was stationed in the Golan Heights. At the base we had only a few meals, consisting of food that is hardly fit for human consumption. After a while, just as the food supply showed some improvement, we moved to the Yishai Camp near Jerusalem, and the problems returned." 

 


חדר אוכל צבאי. "הבעיה מוכרת" (תמונת ארכיון)

Mess closed for no reason? (Archive)

 

"In some occasions the mess was simply closed for no reason. We would just go without food," the soldier said.

 

In other occasions, the supply would be meager. "We're not nitpicking. More often than not, many of us brought food from home or had to buy food in advance so that we wouldn't starve."

 

Another soldier in the battalion complained that "It's absurd, because officers and commanders are well aware of the situation but are nonetheless completely mishandling it. This is happening in the Armor Brigade in which the IDF is investing the most resources in equipment, but not in the soldiers – those who take care of the equipment."

 

The IDF Spokesperson's Unit commented: "We are aware of the food problem at the Yishai camp. The appropriate IDF bureaus are handling the problem." According to IDF officials, the food problem does not grant the soldiers the right to strike and they were therefore denied leave.

 

 

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פרסום ראשון: 09.03.12, 13:14
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