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Armored Corps PR campaign raises recruitment success By Amos Harel Tags: armored corps, PR campaign  The Armored Corps of the Israel Defense Forces has a new method to persuade new inductees to join its ranks. Recently the corps began allowing new enlistees to serve in the same platoon during basic training and for the duration of their service with their high school classmates. The draft of November 2008, which began this week, included 107 Armored Corps recruits who signed up with their buddies: 38 soldier pairs, seven trios, one quartet and a set of "sextuplets." The current crop of recruits is particularly large, part of the Armored Corps' plan to add one company to every battalion. Senior corps officers point to several initiatives that have increased the corps' popularity among new recruits after a number of years in which new soldiers voted with their feet - into the IDF infantry. In November 2007 only 30 percent of recruits listed the Armored Corps as their first choice. Prior to the corps' marketing efforts, this rose to 35 percent for the current draft, with about 40 percent listing the corps as their second or third choice. After the introduction of the new marketing methods, however, 69 percent of the November 2008 draftees listed the Armored Corps as their first choice. One new means of persuasion was to send senior Armored Corps officers to the homes of draftees who did not put the corps on their list of preferred units for a talk with the prospective recruit and his parent. Advertisement The Officer-in-Chief of the Armored Corps, Brigadier General Agai Yehezkel, hopes that in the August 2009 draft the percentage of inductees for whom the Armored Corps is their first choice will be 100 percent. Next year the corps will begin inducting soldiers by brigade - each soldier will be able to ask to serve in a particular brigade, such as the 7th Brigade, the 188th Armor Brigade ("Barak/Lightning") or the 401 Armor Brigade ("Ikvot HaBarzel/Iron Tracks"). just as infantry soldiers can request to serve in the Golani, Givati or Nahal brigades. Yehezkel placed increasing the number of recruits to the corps high up on the corps' yearly plan. From now on, the number of new recruits enlisting will be added to the parameters by which company and battalion commanders are evaluated. Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi visited the Induction Center at Tel Hashomer Sunday and heard about the improvement in the Armored Corps' recruiting numbers. The Armored Corps has suffered from low popularity among new recruits for about 20 years. (The corps is more popular with soldiers who are already serving and want to make a switch.) During both intifadas, as well as in routine security operations in South Lebanon (prior to the withdrawal in 2000), media attention, and with it the popularity of the corps to new recruits, focused on the infantry at the expense of the Armored Corps and other units. The Second Lebanon War probably also played a role in the lack of interest in the Armored Corps. Even though a relatively large number of soldiers in the corp were awarded medals, mainly for demonstrating bravery in rescuing wounded soldiers, reporters focused more on the large numbers of casualties suffered by the corp during the battle of Wadi Saluki. At the same time, an incorrect impression was formed, according to which tanks today are more vulnerable than in the past. The truth is just the reverse: Despite the great improvement in the quality of antitank weapons available to Israel's enemies, the rate of penetration of the tanks in the Second Lebanon War was the lowest of any of Israel's wars. On the other hand, the Armored Corps found it difficult to dispel the justified notion that deployment was flawed during the war and that tanks suffered losses without being used effectively for offensive measures. To a large extent the Armored Corps' public relations effort has focused on these issues. Eighteen-year-olds may not be known for requesting detailed explanations about their chances of being hurt in the next war according to the unit they choose to serve in, but the public mood has a direct effect on enlistees' motivations. The corps' latest "campaign" underscores the power and the resilience of the tank as well as its contribution to any future IDF offensive operation. It is a difficult public relations exercise, especially when one realizes that the most famous Armored Corp soldier in the country in recent years is abducted soldier Gilad Shalit. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Spy chain Iran: We smashed espionage network linked to Israel. Poultry dilemma Will U.S. Jews have kosher Turkey this Thanksgiving?   1.   Armored Corps 20:42  |  David 25/11/08   2.   IDF Armored Corps has more records than any other.. 22:06  |  Tom 25/11/08

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