IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 1061-10
November 17, 2010

DOD Identifies Marine Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

Staff Sgt. Javier O. Ortiz Rivera, 26, of Rochester, NewYork, died November 16, 2010, while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.  He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

For additional background information on this Marine, media representatives may contact the 2nd Marine Division public affairs office at 910-449-9925.

Sergeant Ortiz-Rivera enlisted in the Marines right out of high school and planned to make the Marines his career. He was serving his second deployment to Afghanistan, and had also been to Iraq once.

Sgergeant Ortiz-Rivera leaves a wife and three small children in North Carolina where he was stationed in the U.S. His children are two boys, ages three and five, and a seven-year-old girl.

A cousin, Leslie Rivera, says "it's going to be really hard. They adored him and he adored them, so this is going to be a very hard time for them, for his wife, and for all of us here."

Sergeant Ortiz-Rivera's older brother Orlando flew to North Carolina to comfort the family.

Their sister, 22-year-old Glory Ortiz, a State University of New York of Binghamton student says Sergeant Ortiz-Rivera was like a big brother to everyone in the family, even his cousins. And about serving, "it's what he always wanted to do. Yes, he was worried about being there. But he knew he had to go. It was his job. He cared a lot about his guys there, making sure their families were OK, and making sure they were OK before they left for Afghanistan. He was very caring about his guys."

Sergeant Ortiz-Rivera last visited his family in Rochester in August. The family here is not sure about funeral arrangements yet.

ORTIZ-RIVERA, JAVIER ORLANDO
SSGT   US MARINE CORPS
AFGHANISTAN
DATE OF BIRTH: 09/07/1984
DATE OF DEATH: 11/16/2010
BURIED AT: SECTION 60  SITE 9485
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

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