IDF wives forum: Partners reserve service caused family emotional, financial harm

The forum, which started as a Facebook community of female family members and partners of reservists, is a civil organization that includes over 15,000 active members, the organization said.

By EVE YOUNG NOVEMBER 18, 2024 15:44

SOME MAY feel overwhelmed because a spouse is serving in the IDF reserves (Illustrative). (photo credit: Juliane Liebermann/Unsplash)

The vast majority of spouses of reservists who have served in the Israel-Hamas war, and who are members of the IDF Reservists’ Wives Forum reported that they or their families suffered emotional harm due to their partner’s reserve service, a new poll by the forum found.

The forum, which started as a Facebook community of female family members and partners of reservists, is a civil organization that includes over 15,000 active members, the organization said.

The poll, released on Sunday, was conducted among 2621 members of the forum – 2,380 partners (and exes) of reservists who have served in the war, 168 reservists, and 73 people who were both in IDF reserves and the partner of a reservist.

Some 37% of respondents reported that they or members of their families suffered emotional harm from reserve duty (theirs or their partners) to “a very great degree,” 31% reported they suffered this harm “to a great degree,” 22% “to a medium degree,” and 9% said it harmed them “a little.”

Just 2% reported that reserve service did not harm them at all.

IDF reservists simulate operational and logistical preparedness in northern Israel, September 27, 2024. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

Impacting service

This harm has impacted motivation to serve, according to the poll. Of those who said they experienced harm, 16% said this harm hurt their motivation to continue reserves service to “a very great degree,” 22% said it hurt this motivation to “a great degree,” and 28% said it hurt this motivation to “a medium degree.”

The poll also examined the impact of reserve duty on respondents’ work and financial situations.

Some 18% reported that their employment was harmed to “a very great degree,” with 21% saying this harm was to “a great degree” and 26% saying reserves caused “a medium degree” of harm to them professionally.

Touching on the financial impacts of reserves service on their families, 16% of respondents said that reserves caused them “a very great degree” of financial harm, 19% said it caused them “a great degree” of financial harm, and 27%, a moderate degree of financial harm.

Just 18% said that reserve service caused them no financial harm at all.

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The poll also looked at the impact of bills that would excuse the ultra-Orthodox population from IDF service on respondents’ motivation for doing reserve service, finding that 77% said this would hurt their motivation to some degree.

Some 38% said these bills would hurt their motivation to a “very great degree,” and 17% said it would hurt their motivation to “a great degree.”

“The troubling data highlights the urgent need to expand support for reservist families and, above all – the critical need for additional recruits to join the security forces,” said forum head Chen Arbel-Marinberg.

“Reservist families are proud to repeatedly answer the call of duty with great honor, but over time, the price of our partners’ absence from home becomes increasingly heavy [and] unbearable.

We must not reach a point where reservists are forced to choose between their personal home and the national home. The government must establish a recruitment framework for all and focus solely on this direction.”