IDF Operations Officer Says Reservists Will Keep Carrying the Load

An exclusive interview with senior officers from the IDF Operations Directorate says reservists should expect no relief soon, even after the recent U.S.-Iran understandings and the uncertainty about what comes next. The conversation centered on Lt. Col. M., a 41-year-old mother of four from Be'er Ya'akov, who has served in the system for 23 years and has held her current post for nearly two years.

M. said her job is to make sure every fighter gets what is needed at the front, from ammunition and transport to helmets, weapons and vests. “We have been managing a war for 2.8 years,” she said, describing the effort to move forces between fronts and maintain readiness across the IDF, from village defense units to frontline combat soldiers.

She said any transfer or redeployment of forces is done only on the political level, but her staff can immediately identify where troops, equipment and standby units would come from if a new emergency broke out, such as on the Egypt border. The directorate is divided into four sections covering force structure, readiness, equipment and resources. One example she gave was the 25 “David” battalions established near their homes, armed and ready to deploy within four hours.

Asked about reservists, M. acknowledged that the army broke earlier promises to keep reserve duty under 60 days. “We committed to stabilize the reserve-duty graph if the operational situation remained, but it changed, and that was no longer valid, so we broke the contract because that is what the State of Israel needs and what the army needs to fulfill its mission,” she said. She added that there are “no good news” for reservists yet, and that the next stage is still being planned as the army tries to avoid wearing down forces on alert, with Jordan and the West Bank cited as major ongoing challenges.