After 32 months of service: IDF considers reducing release leave for combat soldiers

Combat soldiers in the IDF who are expected to be discharged in December claim they were told they will not receive all the vacation days they accumulated, along with their release leave, due to a manpower shortage. The Personnel Directorate insists they should receive all the days, and its head, Maj. Gen. Dado Bar Kalifa, instructed units to implement the order and recruit personnel.

Combat soldiers in the IDF who are due to be discharged in December claim they were told they will not receive all the vacation days they accumulated, along with the standard release leave prescribed by regulations, due to a manpower shortage. Last year, because of the war, soldiers accumulated unused vacation days. Following an exposé in Maariv, the head of the Personnel Directorate, Maj. Gen. Dado Bar Kalifa, made a precedent-setting decision to carry over those days as entitlement for the current year. This past year was also a year of combat, and the soldiers were unable to use their vacation time. A source in the Personnel Directorate says the current decision by its head is different, and he instructed that all soldiers be granted the full days they accumulated, in addition to release leave. The source further stated that the head of the Personnel Directorate instructed units to implement the order and recruit personnel to fill the ranks. The IDF Spokesperson has not yet responded.