After more than four decades devoted to service — from combat deployments in the Middle East to advocacy for wounded warriors — U.S. Army veteran Clay Rankin says his support for the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF) is a natural extension of a lifetime spent protecting others. Rankin, who grew up in Denver, Colorado, joined the U.S. military shortly after graduating high school in 1979. He served more than 25 years, including deployments during the Persian Gulf War and the Iraq War. During his service, he earned the Bronze Star for Valor for stopping a terrorist who was driving his vehicle into 15 U.S. soldiers. At one point in his military career, he trained with the IDF.
After the service, he served in a number of roles, including president of a security firm that specialized in high-profile criminal investigations in the Denver metropolitan area. Reflecting on his decision to enlist, Clay saw it as a calling. “The simplest way to put it is that God led me to do that,” Clay said. “He continued to use me as a protector of others and a servant to others. I’ve always loved and served God by loving and serving others.” During his military career, Rankin sustained traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries. He was told he might never walk, but he persevered through years of rehabilitation. He was the first mobility-impaired U.S. soldier to receive a service dog, his beloved Archie.
“I still have virtually no feeling from my waist down,” Rankin said. “If you ask me why I can walk, the only thing I can do is point to God, because I shouldn’t be able to, according to my doctor.” Today, Rankin continues his lifelong commitment to service as an advocate for fellow veterans and a judge in Hunt County, Texas.
“Everybody has a story, and God can use that story for His glory,” Rankin said. “You use your experience to let people know that the possibilities are limitless if He is involved.” His own experiences of service and recovery shape his deep respect for the soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces, whose mission to protect their nation mirrors the calling he felt during his own military service. “Once you remove the politics of it all, we’re just soldiers,” Rankin said. “We are simply people that God has gifted with the desire and ability to protect others.” FIDF is the sole authorized U.S. partner of the Israel Defense Forces, providing personal support and care for IDF soldiers, from hygiene kits and personal items, like socks and thermal jackets, to bereavement care and PTSD therapy.
“FIDF has a place in my heart because it takes care of the soldiers who stand in the gap between God’s people and those who would harm God’s people,” he said. “They have put themselves between the enemy and the people that they know and love, which is everyone in Israel.”
Looking back on nearly five decades of service, Rankin sees his support for Israel and its defenders as part of the same mission that guided him into the Army as a young man. “Israel is just another portion of my own community,” Rankin said. “Nearly 50 years of my life have been about serving others. This is simply another way to continue doing that.”
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