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16 July 7 • 2016 C hana Shear's path from American immigrant to sole recipient of the Outstanding Soldier Award in the Israel Defense Forces Homefront Command is one no one would have pre- dicted. She received her commendation from the head of the Homefront Command at a ceremony at a military base in Ramle in central Israel on May 24, just days before she turned 21. Her path is unusual because Chana comes from a religious family and, at the time her family made Aliyah in 2008, religious Jews of eligible age were exempt from military service. Born in Detroit to a Canadian father and American mother, Chana grew up in West Bloomfield, attending Bais Yaakov school in Oak Park. Just age 13 at the time her family made aliyah, Chana found it chal- lenging adjusting to her new life in Ma'ale Adumim (a major Jewish settlement in the Israeli-administered West Bank just out- side of Jerusalem). "It was really hard; I was depressed for about six months," she recalls. "Then I started going out, and I joined Bnei Akiva [a historic religious Zionist youth group]. That really helped." Though Israeli policy at the time of the Shears' immigration stipulated that eli- gible, of age olim (immigrants) complete some form of military service, as religious Jews, Chana and her siblings, Hadassah and Moshe, were exempt from such ser- vice. So when Chana turned 16 and many of her peers began the process of military placement, she began researching cam- puses and enrolled in Tel Aviv's Bar-Ilan University. After just one year, she decided to cancel her religious exemption and enlisted in the IDF. "I wanted to work in intelligence and cryptography; I had no intention of doing combat," she recalls. She cites an unlikely source for her sudden shift in direction. "My family had recently gotten me into NCIS." Say no more. Agent Ziva David, a beloved character in the popular TV series, is a former Mossad officer whose thick Sabra accent, proclivity for botch- ing American idioms and ninja-like Krav Maga skills paint the picture of an exceed- ingly formidable woman. Like Ziva, Chana sought to work in Israeli intelligence. Unfortunately, her triple citizenship (American, Canadian and Israeli) disqualified her from serving in the cryp- tography unit to which she had been assigned. She chose combat instead. SEARCH AND RESCUE After completing the requisite month of basic IDF training, Chana was assigned to one of the IDF Homefront Command's search-and-rescue teams, one of the most elite, non- special forces units in the army. Israel's search-and- rescue teams are dispatched in the event that civilians or military personnel are taken captive, and its vet- eran officers are often sent abroad to provide humani- tarian assistance after disas- ters, as occurred during last April's deadly earthquake in Kathmandu, Nepal. Chana was trained in the nuances of search-and-rescue tactics, such as how to recover people stuck under collapsed buildings. In addition, she was prepared for the contin- gencies of chemical warfare and became a certified grenade launcher. Following the completion of basic training, Chana and her unit were assigned to guard the famous Allenby Bridge border crossing between the West Bank and Jordan. Her unit was responsible for the day-to-day security of areas and buildings in the nearby Jordan Valley, a region marked by elevated topography of great strate- gic significance to Israel's administration of the West Bank. Describing her experi- ence, Chana says, "It was awesome and crazy. I had really awesome experiences that I would never have had if I hadn't joined the army. It definitely matured me and also informed my politics." After her placement at the Jordanian border, Chana was promoted as an assis- tant in her company and sent to Gush Etzion, one of the most popular Jewish settlement blocs in the West Bank. Situated immediately north of Jerusalem, Gush Etzion is notable as a hotbed of Jewish-Arab tensions and, recently, for a spate of terrorist attacks. It was the epicenter of last year's so-called "Wave of Terror," sometimes referred to as the "Third Intifada," where numerous lonewolf Palestinian citizens took to stab- bing Israeli civilians and soldiers. In the battle against terrorists, Chana and her unit were on the front lines, sometimes in "life-or-death situations." Chana recalls when one of the soldiers in her unit was stabbed, and she was sent to guard the terrorist, who had been shot and taken to the hospital. In other instances, she and her unit would go into Arab villages to apprehend terrorists. Such perilous situations only strengthened the Zionist convictions planted early on by her mother. "You know, you actually have kids throwing rocks at you … You're in the middle of Shabbat dinner at base, and you have to get in your car and drive out because 17-year-old kids are bored and start throwing firebombs at cars. "When you see that stuff," she says, "you kind of realize it's not exactly what the world sees or what the news reports." With her army service completed, Chana, who earned the rank of first ser- geant, is focused on her job search, mostly in the financial sector, and intends to save money to travel extensively. Eventually, she'd like to continue working for Israel's security, preferably in the Mossad (Israel's intelligence agency) or the Shin Bet (Israel's internal security service). She has this advice for young Americans considering serving in the IDF: "I think the army is a really good experience that everyone should have … It really builds you as a person, but you have to come prepared. A lot of Lone Soldiers from America come and think it's badass, but this is the army, not a day camp." Hard though it was, it seems Chana's own journey to earning an Outstanding Soldier Award was never truly that unlikely. "I just love adventures," she says. * metro » Shear Grit Former Detroiter chooses IDF combat service despite religious exemption. Noah Arbit | Special to the Jewish News At the IDF ceremony in Ramle, Chana Shear, center, was named Outstanding Soldier for the Homefront Command. She is with a fellow soldier and her mother, Miriam. Chana Shear on guard at the Allenby Bridge border crossing between the West Bank and Jordan