Service cultures and collective military action: Successful joint operations by the Israeli Air Force and Special Operations Forces

A military organization is a complex construct of elements which ought to function effectively together. But how can such a collective action be successful given the immense diversity of organizations, branches and roles? A number of topics are normally identified in the literature as having an effect on collective action: unit cohesion (Ben-Shalom, Lehrer and Ben-Ari, 2005); discipline and shared drills (King, 2006); or gender integration (Titunik, 2000). In this chapter we draw lessons from a case study of successful collective action between military services differing from one another in their organizational culture. We show how similarities in the service cultures of Israeli Special Operations Forces (ISOF) and Israeli Air Force (IAF) foster collective action. The secrecy of special forces and their privileges in clothing and equipment are well known in the Israel Defense Force (IDF) as well as in other militaries. Yet this ‘showoff’ conceals deeper principals of military professionals who are highly notable among the ‘citizen soldiers’ army of Israel (Cohen, 2008). SOF in the IDF adhere to a rigorous selection system and long training, resulting in higher levels of professionalism than regular ground forces. These characteristics foster cooperation with members of the air force who are marked by similar characteristics.