It's a time of exploration, independence, hardship and excessive flirtation... the Israeli army. While well known to anyone in the Middle East, very few watching the regular sensational news clips of Israeli bombings, arrests or checkpoint conflagrations realize that these soldiers are, in fact, largely teenagers.
Mandatory for all Israelis, female and male alike, the army is an age-specific period in the lives of almost all Israelis signifying the last stage of the teenage years.