I have heard of soldiers standing at attention but this is ridiculous.
Like other ministries, the Defense Ministry periodically publishes tenders in the daily press through the Government Advertising Bureau. One such tender recently published seeks 1,200 tablets of 100 mg. sildenafil citrate, the active ingredient in Viagra, to be used by Israel Defense Forces soldiers suffering from erectile dysfunction. The tender is signed by the Medical Corps, so the tablets are not meant for anyone other than IDF soldiers, such as Defense Ministry employees or people being served by the Rehabilitation Branch. Nor, apparently, is this the first time the ministry has sought price quotes for Viagra to be supplied to the military.
In 2005, an article appeared in the Hebrew journal Aviation and Space Medicine, published by the Aerospace Medicine Research Center, about a decision by the Israel Air Force to forbid their pilots from taking Viagra before flying, out of concern it could affect their color perception. The researchers recommended that no pilot should fly within six to eight hours after taking the drug.
The Defense Ministry responded that due to privacy issues, it could not comment.
A previously published study by Israeli researches has demonstrated that the drug Cialis (from the same family of Viagra ) effectively deals with altitude sickness. According to results of a study conducted on 51 Israeli tourists climbing Mount Kenya or Kilimanjaro, those who incorporated Cialis in their treatment against altitude sickness reported suffering less from the effects of their high climb. According to details of the study, published in the Journal of Travel Medicine, more of those taking Cialis managed to reach the summit of the mountain.
I guess the IDF ran out of gum.
