About the Book

Disillusioned with Ivy League post-graduate life, 24-year-old Joel Chasnoff makes real on his dream of giving back to Israel (and of being a badass gun-toting soldier) and voluntarily enlists in the Israeli Army. What follows is a hilarious coming-of-age tale in which Chasnoff takes readers into the barracks, over, under, and through political fences, and face-to-face with the absurd reality of life in the Israeli Army.

The lone American in a platoon of 18-year-old Israelis, Chasnoff finds himself caught in a twilight zone-like world of baby-faced officers, diabolical sergeants, and teenage Israeli mama’s boys who feign injuries to get out of guard duty and claim diarrhea to avoid kitchen work. And all while Joel’s relationship with his tough-as-nails Israeli girlfriend (herself a former drill sergeant) crumbles before his very eyes.

With equal parts irreverence and vulnerability, irony and intimacy, Chasnoff blends an on-the-ground portrait of life in one of the world’s most high-profile militaries with a poignant, thought-provoking look inward at a young man coming into his own.