Once again, the IDF is fighting to preserve inflated pensions for career officers and NCOs. Leaked recommendations from the Locker committee, a team examining Israel’s defense budget under Gen. (res.) Yohanan Locker, has reportedly left IDF officers shaken.

A Facebook page, launched by career officers and NCOs to combine their protest efforts, illustrates the difficult conditions forced on career officers and their families. “I just wanted dad to come see me dance,” says one five-year-old girl, “and then it was the day of our final recital, and dad didn’t come.” IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot recently sent a memo to all career officers and NCOs promising that he “will not support action against career personnel who decided to devote their lives to Israeli security and ensuring the country’s existence.”

The time has come to put an end to the IDF’s emotional terrorism – extortion even – which uses manipulative rhetoric founded on a distorted worldview.

There is no altruism in this world. People do not devote their lives to causes in which they have no interest and from which they expect no gain. It’s against human nature. Individuals serving as career officers or NCOs do so because they believe it is the best way to fulfill their needs. It’s what gives their lives satisfaction and meaning. The army allows them to live the lives and exercise the values that they believe to be right. It fuels their egos. It makes them feel important. And, yes, they like the salary that goes with it.

A father serving in the career force, who spends much of the time away from home and sees his children only rarely, chose to put his career before spending time with his family. A woman who decided to start a family with such a man is not entitled to any special restitution for doing so, financial or otherwise. It is her choice and she is responsible for it. It is what makes her feel good, from ideological reasons and, of course, psychological ones as well. Someone who decides to share her life with a man who spends most of his time away from home is more than just an enthusiastic Zionist.

A person does not devote his life to ensuring the existence of the country. Day after day, hour after hour, he loves the adrenaline, the danger, command, and the military way of life. Perhaps he also loves the fact that he is free of having to deal with the household, his children and his spouse on a day-to-day basis. Raising children is difficult. It’s tiring. Perhaps military service is easier than domestic service.

Nevertheless, most career officers and NCOs are not in combat roles. They work in offices. They are the kind of people who are simply attracted to military service. They find it interesting. It pays for them to be there. Maybe they’re obtaining skills that will allow them to earn a good salary later as civilians. Perhaps they simply like uniforms, black coffee and killing time. Maybe hierarchy makes them feel safe. It’s impossible to know.

But one thing is clear: They aren’t devoting their lives to Israel’s security. They aren’t worthy of glory and praise. Like most creatures, their existence is a dull affair. They get up in the morning, go to work, come home; or maybe they linger at work and go to meetings because they’d rather not go home, after which they tell their children that they’ve devoted their lives to Israel’s security.

Either way, altruists deserve a good pension. They are truly exceptional. All the rest are just getting rich on our dime.