Army Sergeant First Class Elis Barreto Ortiz

Army Sergeant First Class Elis Angel Barreto Ortiz, 34, of Morovis, Puerto Rico, served as a maintenance-control sergeant with Company H, 82nd Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He was killed on September 5, 2019, when a Taliban suicide bomber detonated a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device outside the US Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Following a military tradition established by his father, SFC Barreto Ortiz entered the Army in August 2010. He completed Airborne School at Fort Benning in 2017 and joined the 82nd Brigade Support Battalion in January 2018. Afghanistan was his second deployment. He was posthumously promoted from staff sergeant to sergeant first class.

SFC Barreto Ortiz enjoyed playing electric guitar, working on automobiles and spending time with his children. His wife remembered him as “incredible, smart, funny and always ready to help.”

SFC Barreto-Ortiz was survived by his wife and three children.