JERUSALEM — As the mother of a young woman who came to Israel after the Young Judaea year course and became a lone soldier (without her family in Israel) and spent two years in the army, I was very moved interviewing Alana Gaffen.
Gaffen, and her parents, Steve and Eileen, moved to Leawood when she was 2 years old. In April, her parents, former members of Congregation Beth Shalom, decided to join their family in San Diego.
Gaffen, who graduated from Blue Valley North in 2010, studied in Israel as part of the 2010-2011 Young Judaea Year Course. Near the end of her gap year stay in Israel, she attended a Yom HaZikaron program (Israel’s Memorial Day for soldiers). At the ceremony, she was inspired by stories of Holocaust survivors as well as watching the crowd of soldiers.
“I saw they were doing something really big, and I called my mom and dad and told them I wanted to join the army.”
Her parents were not enthusiastic about the idea. But Gaffen kept pushing it until they arrived at a compromise — she would return to the States to attend college for one year.
Gaffen attended Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., where she said she learned a lot, but she kept talking to her parents about joining the Israeli army. Finally she put her feelings in writing and sent her parents a letter. The Gaffens then agreed.
She started the process for Aliyah while in Washington and became part of the Garin Tzabar in San Francisco, a program that facilitates service in the IDF for children of Israelis and Jews not living in Israel.
She made the move to Israel in August 2012. Much to her surprise she found people from her Young Judaea year course on the same plane, making the trip very emotional. “We were very excited,” she says.
The young soldier first spent three months on Kibbutz Hatzerim (a kibbutz four miles west of Beer Sheva, founded in 1946 by the Israeli Scouts), learning Hebrew and preparing for the army.
Then she was sent to Mikveh Alon, an army base near Safed, specializing in education programs and geared for soldiers who lack Hebrew skills.
“It was hard getting used to studying,” relates Gaffen.
After three months of Hebrew training, she decided she wanted to be in Caracal Battalion, an intensive combat unit for women where men and women serve together, side by side.
“I wanted something physical and something challenging,” she says.
So she decided, “I will go to the border between Egypt and Israel,” explaining the battalion’s job is to defend Israel from smugglers, infiltrators and terrorists.
Rather than focus on the possible danger of her job, Gaffen says she looks at it as “as defending something you really love.”
She completed her basic training in mid-June and then she began a three-month general combat medic’s course. When she completes it, she will continue training with Caracal for four months, then she will go back to her original unit. When she completes it, she will continue training with Caracal for four months, then she will go back to her original unit.
Gaffen signed up for two years and because she is now 21, that is all that is required of her.
Regarding the training she has received the past six months, she says, “It’s a lot of hard work but an experience of a lifetime. It’s been really awesome.”
“Home is Kibbutz Hatzerim where I live in a caravan, like a small apartment, with two roommates. I also have a host family. I’m so in love with my kibbutz, it will be difficult to leave.”
How do her parents feel at this point?
“They are really proud of me because I’m following my dream. I definitely want to go home for a visit in November for Thanksgiving when all my family is together. It’s really an important time for my whole family and I’d also like to see my college friends and my friends in Kansas.”
What happens when the year and a half left is finished?
“I definitely want to get a college degree, but I’m not sure where I want to do it.”