Halutz enlisted in 1966 at the age of 18, and became a combat pilot in 1968. He flew 40 sorties in F-4 Phantoms during the War of Attrition (beginning in 1970), and later became an instructor in the Air Force Flying School in Hatzerim. In the Yom Kippur War, as a pilot in the reserves, he flew another 40 sorties, downing three enemy jets. In 1982, he returned to active duty in the Air Force, being promoted in various capacities until finally being named Air Force Commander in April 2000. He amassed 4,000 hours of flight time.
Halutz is credited with having introduced important changes in the Air Force, including usage of unmanned drones, increased cooperation with the ground forces, organizational changes and reducing training accidents. During 2.5 consecutive years under his command, not one Air Force craft crashed.
Controversies in his career included the targeted killing of arch-terrorist Saleh Shehadeh in Gaza in 2002, in which 14 civilian Arabs were also killed. Left-wing groups widely criticized him for seeming to make light of the civilian deaths; he had said that all he felt when he dropped a bomb was "a slight jilt of the airplane, but it passes after a second." The groups attempted, unsuccessfully, to prevent him from being named Deputy Chief of Staff.
In 2005, Gen. Halutz was viewed critically from the right for assuming the post of Chief of Staff just weeks before the unilateral withdrawal from Gush Katif and northern Shomron began, and for executing and overseeing the expulsion.
Then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Sha'ul Mofaz had essentially fired Halutz's predecessor, Moshe Yaalon, in that they did not extend his term by the customary one year. It was considered an open secret that it was Yaalon's criticism of the Disengagement that led to his early departure. Despite this, Halutz assumed the post with alacrity, knowing that this was to be the army's main mission in the coming months.
Ex-Ground Forces Commander Maj.-Gen. Yiftah Ron-Tal, in fact, said upon his retirement last October that there was a clear link between the IDF's execution of the Disengagement from Gaza and its poor performance during the Lebanon war.
Ron-Tal said the army's active participation in the expulsion of the Jews of Gush Katif and northern Shomron harmed its readiness for the war in Lebanon. He called at the time for the resignation of both Halutz and Olmert, saying they should take responsibility for the war's failure.
"In June and July of 2005," Ron-Tal said, "the army was sufficiently ready to defeat Hizbullah - but the army dedicated most of its time to training for the Disengagement, at the expense of training [for war]. The army was not unable to fight at all, but during the first few days of warfare they had to remove rust... Was the army supposed to deal with Disengagement? It's not the army's job to expel Jews, which was something that was not in consensus, and as a people's army, it should not have had to do this."
At one point before the Disengagement, Gen. Halutz threatened to close the hesder yeshivot on the backdrop of refusals to carry out Disengagement-related orders. "We will not tolerate refusers," he said, emphasizing, "I am targeting my statement mainly at the leaders of the hesder yeshivas and pre-army colleges. You cannot have a dual system and call on people to refuse orders and at the same time enjoy the conditions the IDF offers the hesder yeshivas. This will not go on if this phenomenon becomes common."
After the Lebanon War this past summer, Halutz was briefly but sharply criticized for having spoken to his banker about selling investments - just three hours after Hizbullah terrorists kidnapped two soldiers and kicked off the war.
But criticism of the way he ran the IDF during the war itself was the most hard-hitting. Reservists who fought in the war waged a countrywide campaign blaming the army, and Dan Halutz at its head, for colossal failures in planning, intelligence, faulty decision making, poor equipment provisions and inadequate rescue efforts.
Halutz specifically was faulted for relying too heavily on air power to defeat the well-entrenched terrorists.
Despite this, his most recent army decision - to resign - has been greeted with praise. Likud MK Yuval Shteinitz and National Union MK Effie Eitam, for instance, both praised Halutz for providing an example of assuming personal responsibility for failure.
Halutz is credited with having introduced important changes in the Air Force, including usage of unmanned drones, increased cooperation with the ground forces, organizational changes and reducing training accidents. During 2.5 consecutive years under his command, not one Air Force craft crashed.
Controversies in his career included the targeted killing of arch-terrorist Saleh Shehadeh in Gaza in 2002, in which 14 civilian Arabs were also killed. Left-wing groups widely criticized him for seeming to make light of the civilian deaths; he had said that all he felt when he dropped a bomb was "a slight jilt of the airplane, but it passes after a second." The groups attempted, unsuccessfully, to prevent him from being named Deputy Chief of Staff.
In 2005, Gen. Halutz was viewed critically from the right for assuming the post of Chief of Staff just weeks before the unilateral withdrawal from Gush Katif and northern Shomron began, and for executing and overseeing the expulsion.
Then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Sha'ul Mofaz had essentially fired Halutz's predecessor, Moshe Yaalon, in that they did not extend his term by the customary one year. It was considered an open secret that it was Yaalon's criticism of the Disengagement that led to his early departure. Despite this, Halutz assumed the post with alacrity, knowing that this was to be the army's main mission in the coming months.
Ex-Ground Forces Commander Maj.-Gen. Yiftah Ron-Tal, in fact, said upon his retirement last October that there was a clear link between the IDF's execution of the Disengagement from Gaza and its poor performance during the Lebanon war.
Ron-Tal said the army's active participation in the expulsion of the Jews of Gush Katif and northern Shomron harmed its readiness for the war in Lebanon. He called at the time for the resignation of both Halutz and Olmert, saying they should take responsibility for the war's failure.
"In June and July of 2005," Ron-Tal said, "the army was sufficiently ready to defeat Hizbullah - but the army dedicated most of its time to training for the Disengagement, at the expense of training [for war]. The army was not unable to fight at all, but during the first few days of warfare they had to remove rust... Was the army supposed to deal with Disengagement? It's not the army's job to expel Jews, which was something that was not in consensus, and as a people's army, it should not have had to do this."
At one point before the Disengagement, Gen. Halutz threatened to close the hesder yeshivot on the backdrop of refusals to carry out Disengagement-related orders. "We will not tolerate refusers," he said, emphasizing, "I am targeting my statement mainly at the leaders of the hesder yeshivas and pre-army colleges. You cannot have a dual system and call on people to refuse orders and at the same time enjoy the conditions the IDF offers the hesder yeshivas. This will not go on if this phenomenon becomes common."
After the Lebanon War this past summer, Halutz was briefly but sharply criticized for having spoken to his banker about selling investments - just three hours after Hizbullah terrorists kidnapped two soldiers and kicked off the war.
But criticism of the way he ran the IDF during the war itself was the most hard-hitting. Reservists who fought in the war waged a countrywide campaign blaming the army, and Dan Halutz at its head, for colossal failures in planning, intelligence, faulty decision making, poor equipment provisions and inadequate rescue efforts.
Halutz specifically was faulted for relying too heavily on air power to defeat the well-entrenched terrorists.
Despite this, his most recent army decision - to resign - has been greeted with praise. Likud MK Yuval Shteinitz and National Union MK Effie Eitam, for instance, both praised Halutz for providing an example of assuming personal responsibility for failure.