In Israel, the name “lone soldier” is given to recruits who have made aliyah alone, leaving other family members behind, and to those native-born Israelis who are either orphans or are no longer connected to their parents. Many of these lone soldiers who have recently made aliyah come from Russia and the Central Asian stans. Of the 177,000 soldiers in the regular army , 7,000 are “lone soldiers,” in Hebrew chayalim bodedim, who lack the family support of the other soldiers, and when on leave, go home not to waiting relatives but to an empty apartment. The IDF provides special financial help, arranges social gatherings for the lone soldiers, gives them one month leave each year to visit family abroad, one day of leave each month to run errands, coupons to buy food for Hanukkah and Rosh Hoshanah, and other benefits which can be found described here.

But it’s a difficult life.

More about one of them, Simon Shlomov, who died this month defending his new country, Israel, from those who would destroy it, can be found here: “New Immigrant Soldier Falls in Gaza Battle,” by Troy O. Fritzhand, Algemeiner, February 19, 2024:

The latest soldier to fall in the war in Gaza was a new immigrant from Kazakhstan, it was reported on Monday [February 19]. Known as a lone soldier, Master Sergeant Simon Shlomov, 20, immigrated while still in high school as part of a program that allows teenagers to move and start a life in Israel.

The lone soldier label applies to recruits who serve with no parental support in Israel. This includes Israeli natives who are orphans or have no ties to their parents, constituting some 48 percent of all lone soldiers. The rest include recruits who made aliyah while their parents live abroad.

The head of the program that he participated in, Yoram Panias, told Israeli media “It is simply incomprehensible that Shlomov was killed in Gaza. We are all shocked and pained here, and above all we cannot digest the heavy disaster that has befallen us. Simon came to Israel as a lone soldier, he arrived to us to study in the village and we immediately fell in love with him. He smiled, always helped everyone, and above all he wanted to succeed. His father came to Israel and all the money he saved from hard work at our farm in the village and from working on vacations in hotels in Eilat, he would send to his mother in Kazakhstan.”…

A “lone soldier” in the IDF, Simon Shlomov had much too short a life, but in every respect a noble one.