IDF officers put on doody duty
Company commander suspected some recruits of using diarrhea outbreak as excuse to call in sick
A diarrhea outbreak that struck the Golani Brigade’s training base gave rise to a bizarre order by a company commander, demanding that after relieving themselves in the bathroom, all soldiers must have their excrement inspected immediately.
The commander’s directive, soldiers told Channel 2 news, arose from suspicions that some of the company recruits may have not in fact been inflicted with the uncomfortable bowel illness at all but were instead simply using the purported outbreak as an excuse to gain an easy sick day.
“The company commander gave an order to all junior officers that anyone who goes to the bathroom, before he flushes the toilet, must show his ‘output’ so the commander may decide if it’s diarrhea and if he should see a doctor,” one soldier explained during an interview with the station. “I know that some of the officers and commanders said they would not do that, and the company commander responded that if they were not willing to do it, he would do it himself,” he said.
“The situation is such that we must always wait at the entrance to the bathroom stall for the company commander to show up.”
A number of soldiers reported feeling greatly shamed by the invasive orders, while some even admitted to hiding an actual medical condition lest their poop be peeped upon. The soldiers said that one soldier in the company complained about bowel problems yet after a careful examination, the commander concluded that the contents in the toilet used by the soldier were not diarrhea-related and that the soldier was lying.
“No man should meddle with my s**t,” an angry soldier told the interviewer. “We are fed up with this humiliating treatment which would be disrespectful even to cattle.”
An IDF spokesman who was approached by the news station did not comment on the specific case but chose to address the outbreak itself instead. “Every soldier who complained of feeling sick was directed to medical personnel and was fully attended in accordance with his condition,” the spokesman said.
The report added that another IDF medical official claimed most cases of soldiers complaining of diarrhea turned out to be false.