Filipina Is a Sergeant in the Israeli Army

Staff. Sgt. Joana Chris Arpon

Staff. Sgt. Joana Chris Arpon isn’t Israeli, or even Jewish. Her service in the Israel Defense Forces is personal. Arpon, 20, the daughter of Filipino parents who came to Israel to find work, said she enlisted as a combat soldier because an Israeli army team rescued her grandmother in the aftermath of the 2013 typhoon that devastated [Leyte towns in the Philippines], reports the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.