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player ready...Jose Rivera spent 14 years rising through the ranks to become a sergeant first class in the Army.
But to his younger sister Carmen Rodriguez, Rivera will always be the mischievous partner who helped her scare the chickens at the family farm in Barranquitas, Puerto Rico, she said.
Rivera, 34, was killed Nov. 5 when his patrol came under rocket-propelled grenade and small arms fire in Mahmudiyah, Iraq, 20 miles south of Baghdad, according to the Department of Defense.
Rivera was born in Puerto Rico. At age 9, Rivera’s parents separated and he and two of his sisters moved to New York, settling in the Bronx. Rivera graduated from Walton High School before moving back to Puerto Rico to go to college. After graduating with an associate’s degree, Rivera enlisted in the Army in 1989.
“He loved what he did,” his sister said. “We all say he loved what he did. It gave him … not that he lacked it, but it gave him a lot more discipline. The military molded him into a better man.”
By the time he was sent to Iraq, Rivera had become a platoon sergeant for Company D, 3rd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division based at Ft. Bragg, N.C., and a husband and father of three.
“He had the weirdest swing in golf and softball, but could hit the ball far and straight every time,” said Sergeant 1st Class William Paul, who met Rivera when they were privates in 1992. “He was hard to beat because he was so talented at everything.”
Rodriguez said the last time she spoke with her brother was Oct. 29, right before the birth of her first son, Marcos. Rodriguez named Rivera godfather.
Rivera will still be Marcos’ godfather. “That I will keep in honor to him,” she said.
Helping hand: Capt. James Shull was born with a sense of duty. His father, Joseph, recalls his 5-year-old getting ready for school even when his parents overslept. But it was Shull’s two-year mission to the Philippines for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that taught him to take responsibility for the world at large. He was 19.
“He gave away almost everything he had while he was there,” his father said.
Shull, 32, of Ft. Riley, Kan. died Nov. 17 of a non-hostile gunshot wound while with the Army in Baghdad.
“He always liked serving,” his father said. “It’s that sense of service you get from the military that you’re out doing something for your country.”
Born in 1971 in San Gabriel, Calif., James graduated from high school in Kirkland, Wash.
Following his mission, he graduated with an associate’s degree in criminal justice from Ricks College, a junior college in Rexburg, Idaho, run by the Mormons. There, he met his wife, Alice. They married in 1993 and had three children.
In 1996, Shull graduated from Washington State University in Pullman with a degree in criminal justice. Unable to find a job, he enlisted in the Army.
Commissioned as a second lieutenant, Shull served for a year in Korea. Shortly after moving his family to Ft. Riley, he left for Iraq.
At his memorial, Shull’s comrades recalled that he was always lifting weights, reading scripture or working.