One morning, an ordinary American teenager woke up, reported to induction offices and enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces. A month later, he stood in the middle of the Negev Desert in an olive green uniform with a vest upon his shoulders and a rifle strapped to his chest. He now had a stake in the most ancient war ever waged. But for all its significance, he found himself as no more than a foot soldier caught between politics and the realities of the front line. Without family, without a childhood home, he was called “Lone Soldierâ€. These are his stories.