Twins Danielle and Ariel Shulman were born in the U.S. coastal city of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. They grew up together, shared the same friends and the same love of the ocean. And now the 20-year-olds are serving together in one of the Israeli Navy's Snapir Units, which conduct maritime patrols and protect the country's ports, as well as execute special underwater tasks. The twins' parents, Amnon and the late Orna Shulman, left Israel 26 years ago and began a new life in the U.S., where they became parents to two sets of twins and two more daughters. Ariel and Danielle are the babies of the family. Seven years ago, Orna Shulman died of a heart attack in her sleep, at age 45. "After my bar mitzvah, a few months before mom died, I was in the car with her and she told me about Israel and our family [here]," Ariel says. "The conversation stayed with me and my twin sister and I knew that what we wanted to do was make aliyah and serve in the army." The twins have an adoptive family on Kibbutz Magen, near the Gaza border. "Danielle arrived in Israel a year after me, in the middle of Operation Protective Edge, [and went] straight to the kibbutz, which was in the middle of all the bombings," Ariel recalls. Kibbutz Movement Secretary General Nir Meir says that "the kibbutzim belonging to the movement will continue to serve as a warm home for lone soldiers." Zvika Levi, who heads the Kibbutz Movement's Lone Soldiers Program, said, "I salute the twins for their sacrifice and willingness to serve and contribute."
