HILLSDALE, N.J.—When Shane Svorec was handed a Blue Star Service Flag bearing two stars, she found herself staring at them and holding back tears.
The two stars represent her daughters: Lainey, now in her fourth year serving in the U.S. Navy Reserve, and Destiny, a U.S. Army private first class working as a horizontal construction engineer.
American Legion Post 162, serving Hillsdale, Woodcliff Lake and Old Tappan, presented the two-star banner to Shane and Rich Svorec at its Oct. 3 meeting, recognizing a Hillsdale family with two daughters currently serving in the U.S. military.
“Being honored as a Blue Star Family is a meaningful and special honor,” Shane told Pascack Press on Oct. 6. “Touched by the nomination and moved by the presentation of the flag, I held back tears as they handed it to me, and I stared at the two stars.”
For the Svorecs, those stars continue a family history of military service spanning generations.
Shane is the granddaughter of an Irish immigrant who served in the U.S. Army and, after meeting her Canadian grandmother, also served in Canada’s Black Watch. Shane herself was born on a U.S. Army base in Germany—her dad served—and other members of her family have served. Rich’s grandfather served in the Navy during World War II.
Yet military service was never a path Shane and Rich steered their children toward.
“We took all three of our children on college tours and never encouraged them to serve; we’re simply proud Americans who always taught our children to be grateful for our freedom and to thank the brave,” Shane said.
So it came as a surprise when Lainey enlisted first, followed by her younger sister Destiny.
Sisters serve
Lainey Svorec, an Aerographer’s Mate Third Class, or AG3, has completed three years in the Navy Reserve and is pursuing an officer program while hoping ultimately to make the Navy her career, her mother said.
She is assigned to Whidbey Island in Washington state and travels there frequently. This past summer alone, Shane said, Lainey served at four bases in four states, attended advanced “C” school in Mississippi and accepted an additional training opportunity at another base.
Lainey also was named Blue Jacket of the Quarter and recently was nominated for the honor again.
“She loves her position in the Navy and hopes to make a career out of it,” Shane said.
Destiny’s Army journey will be familiar to Pascack Press readers. We profiled her in July 2025 after she completed basic combat training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. Then 18, Destiny had distinguished herself during training, earning a sharpshooter qualification and completing the Army’s demanding 96-hour Forge field exercise before moving on to advanced individual training as a horizontal construction engineer.
Now Pfc. Destiny Svorec is working in that field, continuing her training and remaining on active standby, her mother said.
Shane said she is especially proud to see Destiny succeeding “as a strong, very capable woman in a predominantly male field.”
The Svorecs’ third child, Jack, has taken to a different kind of service-oriented discipline — and a different kind of sky. He is attending college in Alaska while pursuing his commercial pilot’s license. Already a licensed private pilot, he flies regularly.
“You can’t beat those views!” his mother said.
‘Love and recognition as a military parent’
Blue Star Service Flags are traditionally displayed by families with immediate family members serving in the U.S. armed forces, with each blue star representing one service member.
For Shane, who has long supported service members and organizations assisting military families, receiving one herself brought a different perspective.
“As a long-time advocate for those who serve and a supporter of various organizations that assist service members and their families, it was the first time I felt such love and recognition as a military parent,” she said.
“Both Rich and I are extremely grateful to have been honored as a Blue Star Family and will hang our flag with pride!”
And while their daughters’ decisions to enlist were unexpected, Shane said what she sees in them now echoes the values she learned from the generations before them.
“Seeing their sense of duty, pride, and willingness to defend and protect our great country fills us with pride,” she said.