One constant in almost all the informal wartime appeals was the fear that the sophisticated IDF (and therefore Israel) was in reality overwhelmed, vulnerable, ill-equipped, forced to choose between bullets or boots. And to many Jews an infantalization of the soldiers has crept into perceptions, that our soldiers, fresh out of high school, remain child-like, perhaps a remnant of the Gilad Shalit years when, captured without a fight, his image was that of a helpless little brother. That is not how Americans see the Marines.
Jonathan Mark, “Buddy, Can You Spare Some Socks?”, The Jewish Week (29 August 2014), 16.