The autistic young men and women can sit for hours in front of electronic maps spotting the minutest changes. This rare ability eludes most non-autistic soldiers.

Officers from the Nahal Infantry Brigade convened for a week of special training at the IDF Northern Command Base in the lead up to a five-month training period for the brigade’s soldiers. From the freshest platoon commander right up to Brigade Commander Colonel Yehuda Fuchs himself, the Nahal officers learned how to teach their soldiers to fight in shrubland, underground, with explosives and deep in urban terrain.

Israel's Garin Tzabar program, which supports 'lone soldiers' who have no family in Israel, recently welcomed close to 360 young women and men from around the world into its care.