What motivates someone to move halfway across the world to enlist in the IDF? Among the ranks of the Israeli Defense Forces are several thousand soldiers known as "Lone Soldiers," meaning they have no family in Israel supporting them. Many of these soldiers move to Israel from abroad, leaving their friends and family behind them to pursue their dream of IDF service. Between 2010 and 2013, I served as a lone soldier in a combat unit of the Israeli Defense Forces. In this podcast series, I interview former lone soldiers to learn about their motivations for enlisting, their experiences in the IDF, and how those experiences have shaped the rest of their lives.
Sean Ir - Dreams, Motivations, and the Reality of Finding Your Way in The IDF
On episode 2 of the Lone Soldier Podcast, I spoke with Sean Ir, whose journey to and through the IDF was unconventional. Sean was extremely motivated and strong, both mentally and physically, having grown up working 16 hour days in his father's bike shop. At 24 years old, after struggling for years to reconcile his career ambitions in the U.S. with his dream of military service in Israel, Sean ultimately made the decision to enlist. In the IDF, you are part of something bigger than yourself, and part of that reality is that the unit in which you ultimately serve is not up to you. Sean was not put into the special operations company that would have likely been a much better fit for a young man with his motivation and physical prowess, and we spoke in depth about how that impacted his experience in the IDF.We discussed the importance of serving for the love of service, rather than for glory, and the disappointments and triumphs of Sean's military service. We touched on Sean's experiences in the 2006 Lebanon war, and as the sharpshooter and lead navigator for his reserve unit's special operations company. Sean was one of the first 500 lone soldiers to enlist through Garin Tzabar. During the ten years he lived and worked in Israel he founded three mobility startups including Cellepathy, which addresses driver distraction and navigation. He now works for a leading tech company in NYC. I hope you enjoy! Note: The 78-pound weapon that Sean and I talked about during the podcast is the MK 19 automatic grenade launcher.
