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Gina Cavallaro is an American journalist and author who has covered the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Cavallaro's career in journalism began in San Juan, Puerto Rico, with WOSO, the island's only English-language radio station. She then became a reporter and editor at the English-language daily newspaper, The San Juan Star . After serving for one term as the press secretary for Rep. Carlos Romero Barcelo from Puerto Rico she went to work for the Army Times , which is owned by Gannett Company, as a deputy news editor in 2001 and became a full-time staff writer in 2002.
At Army Times, she covered U.S. military operations in Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan, Germany and dozens of Army posts in the United States. She embedded with the U.S. military in Afghanistan and Iraq several times. In 2005, she befriended 20-year-old Spc. Francisco Martinez in Iraq, who was assigned as her escort. He was later shot and killed on patrol by an enemy sniper. She witnessed his death and was traumatized by the loss. [1] She later wrote of him in her book, Sniper: American Single-Shot Warriors in Iraq and Afghanistan. [2]
She co-wrote Sniper with former Army Ranger Matt Larsen, whom she later married. [3] The foreword is written by the 31st Vice Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. (Ret.) Richard A. Cody, architect of the Asymmetric Warfare Group and former commander of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. The book is a collection of stories and impressions from dozens of snipers – soldiers and marines, including Rangers and Special Forces Soldiers—who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In 2010, Cavallaro became a senior writer at Marine Corps Times . She and Matt Larsen lived together in Zambia for a year before their marriage. She worked as a writer for the Millennium Challenge Corporation, a federal foreign aid agency, in the Congressional and Public Affairs office. In March 2017, Cavallaro became senior staff writer for ARMY magazine, a monthly publication of the Association of the U.S. Army.
United States Army Garrison Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico, is a United States Army installation in Puerto Rico. It is located in the metropolitan area of the capital, San Juan.
The 75th Ranger Regiment, also known as Army Rangers, is the U.S. Army's premier light infantry unit and special operations force within the United States Army Special Operations Command. The regiment is headquartered at Fort Benning, Georgia and is composed of a regimental headquarters company, a military intelligence battalion, a special troops battalion, and three Ranger battalions.
The recorded military history of Puerto Rico encompasses the period from the 16th century, when Spanish conquistadores battled native Taínos in the rebellion of 1511, to the present employment of Puerto Ricans in the United States Armed Forces in the military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Embedded journalism refers to news reporters being attached to military units involved in armed conflicts. While the term could be applied to many historical interactions between journalists and military personnel, it first came to be used in the media coverage of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The United States military responded to pressure from the country's news media who were disappointed by the level of access granted during the 1991 Gulf War and the 2001 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan.
Lieutenant Colonel Teófilo Marxuach,, was the person who ordered the first shots fired in World War I on behalf of the United States on an armed German supply ship trying to force its way out of the San Juan Bay. Marxuach ordered hostile shots from a machine gun and a cannon located at the Santa Rosa battery of "El Morro" fort, in what is considered to be the first shots of World War I fired by the regular armed forces of the United States against any ship flying the colors of the Central Powers, forcing the Odenwald to stop and to return to port, where its supplies were confiscated.
Richard Arthur "Dick" Cody is a retired United States Army general who served as the 31st Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army from June 24, 2004 to July 31, 2008. He retired from the Army on August 1, 2008.
Two of the least-known roles played by Puerto Rican women and women of Puerto Rican descent have been that of soldier and that of revolutionary. This is a brief account of some the Puerto Rican women who have participated in military actions as members of either a political revolutionary movement or of the Armed Forces of the United States.
Matt Larsen is a former United States Marine, United States Army Ranger and Black Belt Magazine Hall of Fame combatives instructor. He is known as "The Father of Modern Combatives", credited with the creation of the United States Army's modern combatives doctrine and the establishment of the U.S. Army Combatives School. Larsen is also a Evolutionary Psychologist specializing in Combat Psychology, and is currently the Director of Combatives at the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Captain María Inés Ortiz was the first American nurse to die in combat during Operation Iraqi Freedom and the first U.S. Army nurse to die in combat since the Vietnam War. The United States Army named the Forward Operating Base Prosperity clinic after her.
David William Barno is a retired lieutenant general of the United States Army. He was commander of Combined Forces Command-Afghanistan from 2003–2005.
Puerto Ricans and people of Puerto Rican descent have participated as members of the United States Armed Forces in every conflict in which the United States has been involved since World War I.
The Battle of Shok Valley, also known as Operation Commando Wrath, was a joint U.S.-Afghan raid designed to kill or capture Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the leader of Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin (HIG) in the Shok Valley of Nuristan Province of Afghanistan on 6 April 2008. Ten soldiers belonging to U.S Army special forces and their combat cameraman were awarded the Silver Star for bravery, the greatest number of such awards for a single battle since the Vietnam War. In 2018, Special Forces medic Ronald J. Shurer's Silver Star was upgraded to the Medal of Honor for his actions during the battle. In 2019, Special Forces weapons sergeant Matthew O. Williams's Silver Star was upgraded to the Medal of Honor for his actions during the battle. In addition SrA Zachary Rhyner, ODA 3336's attached Air Force Combat Controller, was awarded the Air Force Cross.
The Sangin Sniper was one, possibly two, mercenary snipers employed by the Taliban insurgency who killed one and wounded two U.S. troops and killed one British Army Engineer, in the town of Sangin in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan during the War in Afghanistan in August 2010.
The 65th Infantry Regiment, nicknamed "The Borinqueneers" during the Korean War for the original Taíno Indian name for Puerto Rico (Borinquen), is a Puerto Rican regiment of the United States Army. The regiment's motto is Honor et Fidelitas, Latin for Honor and Fidelity. The Army Appropriation Bill created by an act of Congress on 2 March 1899, authorized the creation of the first body of native troops in Puerto Rico. On 30 June 1901, the "Porto Rico Provisional Regiment of Infantry" was organized. On 1 July 1908, Congress incorporated the regiment into the Regular Army as the Puerto Rico Regiment of Infantry, United States Army. On 14 May 1917, the regiment was activated and additional men were assigned, with the unit being sent to serve at Panama. On 4 June 1920, the regiment was renamed 65th Infantry. During World War II, the regiment saw action throughout Europe, especially France and Germany, participating in Naples-Foggia, Rome-Arno and Rhin. Several Purple Hearts were awarded posthumously to members of the 65th Regiment.
The 21st Special Tactics Squadron is one of the special tactics units of the United States Air Force Special Operations Command. It is garrisoned at Pope Field, North Carolina.
The recorded history of Puerto Rican women can trace its roots back to the era of the Taíno, the indigenous people of the Caribbean, who inhabited the island that they called "Boriken" before the arrival of Spaniards. During the Spanish colonization the cultures and customs of the Taíno, Spanish, African and women from non-Hispanic European countries blended into what became the culture and customs of Puerto Rico.
Yasser Salihee (1974–2005) was an Iraqi doctor and journalist from Baghdad. After the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, he published in newspapers throughout the United States, and was known among colleagues for mixing medical and journalistic work. In 2005 Salihee began an investigation of torture and killings by Iraqi Interior Ministry commandos known as the Wolf Brigade. Salihee was killed by a U.S. army sniper on 24 June 2005 while approaching an unmarked checkpoint.
Stephen J. Townsend is a United States Army four-star general who served as Commander United States Africa Command from 26 July 2019 to 8 August 2022. He previously commanded the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command from March 2018 until June 2019 and XVIII Airborne Corps from May 2015 until January 2018.