For those Freepers who don't know what that is, or who haven't yet been cured of the old stereotypes of Jewish weakness, read this article:
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2001/12/israeli-counterterrorism-200112
I would not want to be on the wrong side of a furious Israeli soldier's rifle. I would even less want to be the target of someone in the Sayeret Matkal, given that I might never even know who or what had “taken me out,” and might think up until my death that the Sayeret Matkal operative wasn't someone I had any reason to be concerned about.
I know more about the South Korean Special Forces than I know about the IDF’s units, but there are obvious similarities in what is publicly known about their approaches, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if some of the things I admire about the way the South Koreans are trained to operate are a direct result of Israeli training.
Dynamite comes in small packages... ;-)
The average Israeli soldier is no mercenary nut case who loves guns and warfare, the opposite is true. The average “Matkal” fellow is no 6 foot 5 inch HULK brute who is looking to “kick a**”, no, he is usually a modest Jew who knows that he has no choice but to defend his people and land from repeated Arab killers.
There is no love of warfare here, we're all conscripts, no volunteering so we want to get in, do the job and go back to our families. Nobody in Israel is a Rambo type butt-kicker but due to NO CHOICE, we do it well.
There is also something called “Purity of Arms”, a moral code of conduct in warfare and in clashes that make us THINK before firing. The moral imperative is very high here even though the press makes us look like we are every bit as cruel as the Syrians, who eat the hearts of their victims, no, were not Arabs BUT...having been provoked we can be nuttier than them.