32 is My New Favorite Number- A Shorter Service For Israeli Soldiers?

Today the big hoopla on base was about the announcement last night by the Ramatcal and Minister of Defense- Army service is to be shortened by 4-8 months for male soldiers who joined from July-August '04 (Aug '04 Ad Matai!). That means me! Like I told Nadiv (the first person who told me about this) I'll believe it when I see it, and I have returned my uniform. Every newspaper seemed to have run something different and no one is quite sure of how this is really going to work. From what I understand, some people will receive 8 months off (non-required "jobniks") and some will get 4 months off (required "jobniks" [read:Me]), some may not get any (combat soldiers). The more time you have to do, the more monetary bonus you get. I think, and hope I will be doing 4 months less and maybe getting an added 500NIS for the last 4 months, but again, the law hasn't even passed yet.

With that said, I would just like to bring to attention the timing of this announcement. Although this was proposed in July '05, it's announcement, less than two months before elections raises some questions. How many votes will Kadima raise if Shaul Mofaz passes a law shortening compulsory army service? We are a pretty big army. It wouldn't buy my vote but if a certain party stopped this from passing, they would probably lose my vote. If this comes to a vote before elections, I think we can be pretty sure that my 36 will become 32. Halleluyah!