page_title: Israeli Ground Forces
section_title: Uniforms
hierarchical_section_title: Israeli Ground Forces / Ranks, uniforms and insignia / Uniforms
caption_attribution_description: עברית: צבעים של מדי צה"ל English: IDF uniform colors
context_page_description: The Israeli Ground Forces are the ground forces of the Israel Defense Forces. As part of the military wing of the Israeli security forces, the ground forces have no civilian jurisdiction within Israel. The commander is the General Officer Commanding with the rank of Major General, the Mazi, subordinate to the Chief of General Staff.
  An order from Defense Minister David Ben-Gurion on 26 May 1948 officially set up the Israel Defense Forces as a conscript army formed out of the paramilitary group Haganah, incorporating the militant groups Irgun and Lehi. The Ground Forces have served in all the country's major military operations—including the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, 1956 Suez Crisis, 1967 Six-Day War, 1973 Yom Kippur War, 1976 Operation Entebbe, 1982 Lebanon War, 1987–1993 First Intifada, 2000–2005 Second Intifada, 2006 Lebanon War, and the Gaza War. While originally the IDF operated on three fronts—against Lebanon and Syria in the north, Jordan and Iraq in the east, and Egypt in the south—after the 1979 Egyptian–Israeli Peace Treaty, it has concentrated in southern Lebanon and the Palestinian Territories, including the First and the Second Intifada.
context_section_description: The Israel Defense Forces has several types of uniforms:
  Service dress (מדי אלף Madei Alef – Uniform "A") – the everyday uniform, worn by everybody.
  Field dress ( מדי ב Madei Bet – Uniform "B") – worn into combat, training, work on base.
  The first two resemble each other but the Madei Alef is made of higher quality materials in a golden-olive while the madei bet is in olive drab. The dress uniforms may also exhibit a surface shine
  Officers / Ceremonial dress (מדי שרד madei srad) – worn by officers, or during special events/ceremonies.
  Dress uniform and mess dress – worn only abroad. There are several dress uniforms depending on the season and the branch.
  The service uniform for all ground forces personnel is olive green. The uniforms consist of a two-pocket shirt, combat trousers, sweater, jacket or blouse, and shoes or boots. The green fatigues are the same for winter and summer and heavy winter gear is issued as needed. Women's dress parallels the men's but may substitute a skirt for the trousers.
  Headgear included a service cap for dress and semi-dress and a field cap or "Kova raful" bush hat worn with fatigues. IDF personnel generally wear berets in lieu of the service cap and there are many beret colors issued to IDF personnel. Paratroopers are issued a maroon beret, Golani brown, Givati purple, Nahal lime green, Kfir camouflage, Combat Engineers gray. Other beret colors are: black for armored corps, turquoise for artillery personnel. For all other ground personnel, except combat units, the beret for men was green and for women, black.
  In combat uniforms the Orlite helmet has replaced the British Brodie helmet Mark II/Mark III, RAC Mk II modified helmet with chin web jump harness (used by paratroopers and similar to the HSAT Mk II/Mk III paratrooper helmets), US M1 helmet, and French Modèle 1951 helmet – previously worn by Israeli infantry and airborne troops from the late 1940s to the mid-1970s and early 1980s.
  Some corps or units have small variations in their uniforms – for instance, military policemen wear a white belt and police hat, and paratroopers are issued a four pocket tunic (yarkit/yerkit) worn untucked with a pistol belt cinched tight around the waist over the shirt.
  Most IDF soldiers are issued black leather combat boots, certain units issue reddish-brown leather boots for historical reasons — the paratroopers, combat medics, Nahal and Kfir Brigades, as well as some Special Forces units (Sayeret Matkal, Oketz, Duvdevan, Maglan, and the Counter-Terror School). Women were also formerly issued sandals, but this practice has ceased.
caption: IDF uniform colours
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