14 | AUGUST 4 • 2022
ON THE COVER
shows. At 10 years old, I decided
I wanted to become a detec-
tive. This desire later evolved
to become a K-9 handler and
then developed into wanting to
become a police officer,
” Rachel
said.
She did become a dog handler
of sorts. “I didn’t do a party for
my bat mitzvah because I’m not
a party girl. I got a dog instead.
I was like, I’
d much rather have
a dog that lasts, you know 13-15
years, than a party that lasts less
than a day.
”
Apparently just getting a dog
wasn’t enough. One of Rachel’s
mitzvah projects was volunteer-
ing with the Farmington Hills
Police canine unit. “I helped
clean up the area reserved for
training,
” she said, showing a
willingness early on to accept
some of the not-so-glamorous
roles in police work.
Rachel’s burgeoning desire to
serve would grow during her
high school years at the Frankel
Jewish Academy. She was active
in the Police Explorer program
in the Sterling Heights Police
Department until February of
this year and, since 2020, con-
tinues to serve in the Oakland
County Sheriff’s Cadet Unit.
YOU’RE IN THE ARMY NOW
Aside from a history of watch-
ing crime shows and devoting
her spare time to working in
local police departments, it was
a trip to the mailbox at the end
of Rachel’s junior year in high
school in 2020 that would, at
least for the near term, take her
in a slightly different direction.
“I got a promotional mail-
ing from the Michigan Army
National Guard,
” she said, “I had
never heard of them before, but
after looking them up I thought
it was the absolute perfect thing
for me.
”
There is no wait-and-see with
Rachel. She was ready to enlist
immediately, but there was one
caveat — being just 17 years
old at the time, she would need
parental approval to begin the
process.
“When Rachel said she wanted
to join early and asked would I
sign,
” said her father, Adam, “I
said absolutely.
” And while his
approval came with a natural
fatherly reminder of the perils
she might face, there was no
hesitation in his approval. “I don’t
pick out professions, and I don’t
push, and I don’t nudge, and I
don’t persuade,
” Adam said. “
All I
care about is that’s she’s happy.
”
Rachel’s mother, Leeat, was
equally supportive, and her
daughter’s decision was not
totally unexpected. “She’s known
what she’s wanted and is very dis-
ciplined in her morals and what
she wants and sees as the right
way of living,
” she said. “I have
to say, this is her life, and this is
what she wants to do, and I’m
extremely proud. I always say, my
peacock feathers are pluming.
”
Even Rachel’s grandmother,
Beverly Baker, wife of the late
Morris, wasn’t caught off guard
by her granddaughter’s decision
to enlist. “Rachel is so unique,
so focused and so patriotic that
I’m never surprised by anything,
”
Beverly said.
WORTH THE WAIT
The enlistment approval process
into the Michigan Army National
Guard began for Rachel when
she met with a recruiter in June
2020. A rare, but frustrating
number of bureaucratic hurdles
and a couple of health-related
blips over the next five months
temporarily slowed her progress,
but she remained steadfast in her
desire to see the process through.
Word finally came on Oct.
29, 2020. Rachel was leaving the
Frankel Jewish Academy for the
continued from page 13
TOP: Pfc. Rachel Baker with her father, Adam, at her Aug. 12, 2021
basic training graduation at Fort Leonard Wood U.S. Army Installation
in Missouri. ABOVE: Pfc. Baker with her father, Adam, mother, Leeat,
and brother Daniel at her basic training graduation.