In a significant change to the military’s screening system, the IDF has decided to introduce a new medical profile - Profile 70 - Kan Reshet Bet reported for the first time today.
The new fitness classification will fall between Profile 64, which generally does not permit combat service, and Profile 72, which is defined as a combat profile. The long-awaited change is expected to allow more candidates for military service to serve in combat roles.
The new profile was developed following extensive staff work by the Medical Corps in cooperation with the IDF Manpower Directorate. It will apply to candidates for military service who report for their initial IDF screening in the near future and will not apply to soldiers who have already enlisted and are currently serving.
The move will allow prospective recruits who until now were classified as Profile 64 due to various medical conditions to be screened for a wide range of combat and operational positions that were previously unavailable to them, including roles in the Artillery Corps, Air Defense Array, Air Force and other units.
The decision was made after the IDF found that every year, hundreds of people with Profile 64 received medical exemptions allowing them to serve in combat positions that officially required a profile of at least 72.
The severe shortage of combat soldiers was one of the main reasons for the dramatic change to the IDF’s medical profile system. The IDF has been seeking ways to expand the pool of candidates eligible for combat service, and instead of relying on hundreds of individual exemptions each year, it is now creating a new level of medical fitness that will open combat service to additional recruits.
Currently, the IDF’s main medical profile classifications include Profile 21, which signifies unfitness for military service; Profiles 45 and 64, which are non-combat profiles; and Profiles 72, 82 and 97, which permit combat service in accordance with the requirements of each unit. Profile 70 is intended to create a new intermediate category - and increase the number of candidates able to serve in combat roles.