Last update - 00:00 24/12/2007
Study: Soldiers' performance in combat not related to profile assessments
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent
Israel Defense Forces soldiers with low military profile assessments at the beginning of service are just as likely to perform well under combat conditions as those with high assessment scores, according to a recent Ground Forces study.
The survey compared the initial assessment of soldiers during induction to their commanders' reviews of their performance during fighting in the Second Lebanon War. The study affirmed two basic IDF assumptions: that it is very difficult to predict how soldiers will act during wartime and that the initial assessments were not an accurate predictor of performance under fire.
The researchers the survey used data gathered in two tests conducted by the army on new recruits. The first tested their psychological and technical capabilities at the army recruit center, and the second correlated information obtained in the first with their recruits' educational backgrounds and an interview with an army official. Both scores affect recruits' assignments and the positions offered to them in the course of their military service. A low-scoring recruit is less likely than a high-scoring one to be accepted for officer's training or to made a non-commissioned officer.
Early assessments of combat soldiers who participated in the war were correlated with hundreds of questionnaires circulated among commanders in Armored Corps, Infantry, sappers and artillery units. Commanders were asked to review the performance of the soldiers under their command with regard to parameters such as responsibility and initiative. Comparing the two revealed no correlation between soldiers' performance in combat conditions and their test scores.
The survey also compared the performance of soldiers who participated in military actions in the West Bank with their early assessment scores. Though service in the territories differs greatly from participation in a war, mainly involving contact with civilian populations at roadblocks, researchers still found no correlation between soldier assessments and their performance, much like the results relating to the war in Lebanon.
Links between soldiers' performance and their test scores were found, however, among those who participated in army training courses, where soldiers with higher IQ scores and better education tended to be more successful than others.
A battalion commander told Haaretz that his experience during the war taught him not to judge soldiers' performance at times of crisis based on their performance during periods of calm. Quiet soldiers who rarely stand out are usually those that displayed equanimity and initiative during the war, he said.
"To stand up, storm [a position], lead others, cope under pressure and perform at times of uncertainty, these qualities are very difficult to see in soldiers in advance," an IDF source said. "In many instances, it turns out the complacent, quiet ones are those who thrive under pressure."
A similar survey conducted by the U.S. Army yielded almost identical results. The Head of the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Prof. Colonel Tom Kolditz, interviewed U.S. soldiers and Iraqi POWs who participated in the fighting in Iraq in 2003 and found a disparity between their "normal" leadership skills and those they displayed in life-threatening situations.
His interviewees said they had particular respect for low-ranking commanders who fought in close quarters with their subordinates. Subjects' responses to Kolditz's question regarding the type of commander they would prefer to serve under in wartime were very similar to those given by IDF soldiers to the same question. Both said the most important quality in their commanders is that they be able to extricate them safely from difficult situations.
"We don't care if our commander is ugly, cruel or has bad breath," soldiers said, "As long as they can get us out of a tight spot safely."
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