Puerto Rican Military Personnel - 21st Century

21st Century

• Iván Castro, Captain, U.S. Army
  Castro, who is of Puerto Rican descent, is one of three blind active-duty officers who serves in the US Army and the only blind officer serving in the United States Army Special Forces.
• Ramón Colón-López, Chief Master Sergeant, U.S. Air Force
  On June 13, 2007, Colon-Lopez a pararescueman, was the first and only Hispanic among the first six airmen to be awarded the Air Force Combat Action Medal. He is the Commandant of the Pararescue and Combat Rescue Officer School
• Emilio Díaz Colón, Major General, Army National Guard PRNG
  Díaz-Colón is the second Superintendent of the Puerto Rican Police who once served as the Adjutant General of the Puerto Rican National Guard.
• Olga E. Custodio, Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Air Force
  Custodio made history when she became the first female Hispanic U.S. military pilot. She holds the distinction of being first Latina to complete U.S. Air Force military pilot training. After retiring from the military she became the first Latina to become a commercial airline captain.
• Hila Levy, 1st Lieutenant, U.S. Air Force
  In 2007 Levy became the first Puerto Rican Rhodes scholar.
• María V. Martínez, Command Sergeant Major, U.S. Army
  Martínez is the first Puerto Rican female to reach the rank of Command Sergeant Major in the United States Army. She serves as Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Director of the Army Diversity Office in the Pentagon, Washington D.C..
• Rafael O'Ferrall, Brigadier General, U. S. Army
  O'Ferrall is the first Hispanic and person of Puerto Rican descent to become the Deputy Commanding General for the Joint Task Force at Guantanamo, Cuba while simultaneously serving as Assistant Adjutant General (Army) and Deputy Commanding General of the Joint Force Headquarters at San Juan, Puerto Rico.
• María Inés Ortiz, Captain, U.S. Army
  Ortiz, who was of Puerto Rican descent, was the first United States Army nurse to die in combat during Operation Iraqi Freedom since the Vietnam War.
• Evelio Otero, Jr., Colonel. U.S. Air Force
  Otero led the establishment of the first ever U.S. Central Command Headquarters in Qatar. He founded the Polish and Colombian Joint Special Operations Commands while he was assigned to United States Special Operations Command.
• Hector E. Pagan, Brigadier General, U.S. Army
  Pagan is the first Hispanic of Puerto Rican descent to become Deputy Commanding General of the U.S.Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
• Lizbeth Robles, Specialist, U.S. Army
  In 2005, Robles was the first female soldier born in Puerto Rico to die in combat as an active soldier during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
• Maritza Sáenz Ryan, Colonel, U.S. Army
  Sáenz Ryan is the head of the Department of Law at the United States Military Academy. She is the first woman and first Hispanic (Puerto Rican and Spanish heritage) West Point graduate to serve as an academic department head. She also has the distinction of also being the most senior ranking Hispanic Judge Advocate.
• Marc H. Sasseville, Brigadier General, U.S. Air Force
  On September 11, 2001, then - Lieutenant Colonel Marc Sasseville {whose mother is Yita Joan Frontera Lluch from Yauco, Puerto Rico) was the acting operations group commander under the 113th Wing of the DC Air National Guard. He was one of four fighter pilots given the mission of finding United Flight 93 and destroying it however they could, even it meant ramming the plane.
• Frances M. Vega, Specialist, U.S. Army
  On November 2, 2003, Vega became the first female soldier of Puerto Rican descent to die in a combat zone during Operation Iraqi Freedom.