Israeli Soldiers Dress as Civilians

Israeli Soldiers Wear Street Clothes Camouflage

Upon crossing the border out of Jordan and into Israel, one startling observation shook me up: almost all of the soldiers at the Israeli border were wearing street clothes. They were typically young men — who were probably doing their conscription duty — with very large machine guns, t-shirts, khaki shorts, and sandals.

They looked as if they were going to Beach Party Saigon ’68.

The soldiers were dressed as civilians.
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At first, I thought that this may have been done to calm the nerves of the tourists crossing the border. The only people who cross this border are foreigners on vacation — no trucks, no goods, no nothing except Europeans and Americans and large groups of Asians in matching tour hats venture across this fence between the Arab/ Israeli worlds.

Then I saw soldiers in the same low key garb in the streets of Eilat.

Then it hit me: there is no better camouflage for a soldier in an urban setting than casual looking street clothes.

In a city, a t-shirts, khakis, and cool-dude sunglasses are a much better defense than combat boots and camo gear.

To be readily identified in Israel as a soldier is to stamp a big flashing target upon your back.

I would not want to be a target.

Over top of the sparkling water of the Red Sea, in between the happy faced tourists lounging on the beach, and within the sky high resort hotels, Israel is still a war zone.

Israeli Soldiers Dress as Civilians