Original Manuscript Tunnel Operations in the Israel Defense Forces: Adapting the Warrior Ethos to Post-Heroic Conflict Nehemia Stern 1 , Uzi Ben-Shalom 1 , Niv Gold 2 , Corinne Berger 1 , Avishai Antonovsky 3 , and Dvir Peleg 1 Abstract This study presents an empirically grounded account of tunnel combat operations in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) within the context of “post-heroic” warfare. Cur- rent scholarship on “post-heroism” has viewed the technological and professional standards of contemporary military conflicts as distancing the individual combatant from the modern battlefield. Little attention has been given however to the ways in which soldiers themselves experience and adapt to post-heroic conditions. Findings based on in-depth semistructured interviews with 17 IDF tunnel combatants show these soldiers actively reinterpreting the strategic importance placed on distancing the warrior from the battlefield. This exploratory article suggests that an individual “warrior ethos” still resonates amid the professional and technological contours of post-heroic (underground) conflicts. By presenting a novel account of contemporary tunnel warfare from the perspective of the combatants themselves, this research sheds new light on the different personal dimensions that impact post-heroic military operations. 1 Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Ariel University, Israel 2 Clinical Branch, Department of Mental Health, Medical Corps, Israel Defense Force, Israel 3 Mental Fitness Branch, Department of Mental Health, Medical Corps, Israel Defense Forces, Israel Corresponding Author: Nehemia Stern, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Ariel University, Ariel 40700, Israel. Email: nastern26@gmail.com Armed Forces & Society 1-21 ª The Author(s) 2020 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/0095327X20924040 journals.sagepub.com/home/afs