Who Is a Lone Soldier? | Ron for Lone Soldiers

Under IDF regulations, a lone soldier is a soldier in compulsory service (or a pre-enlistment candidate) who has no family support in Israel and who meets one of the criteria set out in the IDF General Staff Orders. The status is intended to provide a financial, emotional and logistical safety net for soldiers who cannot rely on their parents' home during their service.

A lone soldier receiving a laptop from the association ahead of starting his studies

The military definition covers two main groups:

Soldiers whose parents live abroad

New immigrants and volunteers: Young people who immigrated to Israel on their own in order to enlist, while their parents remained abroad.
Parents who emigrated: Soldiers whose parents left Israel and moved abroad during their service or before it.
Parents on an official posting: Soldiers whose parents are posted abroad on official duty for a continuous period of six months or more.

Soldiers with no family support in Israel (“lone soldier due to exceptional circumstances”)

Estranged from their parents: Soldiers who have no contact at all with their parents, for a range of reasons (such as a deep family rift or a difficult social background).
No functioning family support: Soldiers who are in some contact with their parents, but where for established reasons (financial, medical or psychological) the parents cannot provide them with a home and support, and the soldier cannot live with them. This category includes, among others, young people from the ultra-Orthodox community who have been cut off from their families after leaving religious life.
Orphans: Soldiers who have lost both of their parents.
Foster-care graduates: Soldiers who lived with a foster family or in welfare frameworks until the age of 18 and are not supported by their biological parents.

A lone soldiers' gathering at Ron's home

Since it was founded, Ron for Lone Soldiers has supported hundreds of lone soldiers every year: from direct financial assistance, through appliances, furniture and clothing, to laptops handed out to lone soldiers before and after their discharge from the IDF, so that they can begin studying at institutions of higher education.

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