Army sergeant trains paratroopers for action

Though Long Beach — along with the rest of the country — will celebrate the many veterans who have previously served in the Armed Forces on Friday, the city also boasts former and current residents in active duty, including a Bronze Star recipient in the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division.

Randy Rivera, 36, son-in-law of City Council President Len Torres, has served in the military for nearly two decades, and has been deployed to Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Iraq and Afghanistan during that time. The Army announced last week that 1,700 soldiers in the 82nd Airborne would be sent to Iraq this winter to assist the country’s security forces against Islamic State fighters, and Rivera has been training paratroopers to prepare them for deployment missions such as these.

Though Torres said he is proud to have a decorated soldier in the family, he, his daughter, Rachel, and grandchildren are stricken with anxiety each time Rivera faces possible deployment.

“Every time the news comes up, we’re frightened, but he is a highly trained soldier and paratrooper and he trains others, so that good training we hope will keep him safe,” Torres said. “…He’s such a good kid and he truly is a hero.”

Rivera grew up in Brooklyn, but moved to Long Beach as a seventh grader in 1991 with his brother, Jon Masa, and grandmother, Sabrina Blando. Rivera met Torres’ daughter — and future wife — when he was 15, and though Rivera originally had dreams of becoming a New York City police officer, he enlisted in the Army when he turned 17. He shipped off to Fort Bragg, N.C. in 1998, where he now lives, and joined the 82nd Airborne, which specializes in parachute assault operations.

“My grandfather was in the Navy during Vietnam and he was a big influence on me,” Rivera said. “Once I joined the Army and I saw what kind of community it was, I just stood in and felt at home. Initially I did it for adventure and service to country.”

Rivera, who began on the private level in the 82nd Airborne, currently serves as a first sergeant, and is a senior-rated jumpmaster with 49 jumps, to date. He has most recently been training paratroopers to jump out of aircraft and quickly position howitzers, or canons, in order to aid foot soldiers during an airfield seizure, which is training necessary to be deployed.

While the air training is important for preparation, Rivera said operations during deployments are very different. In 2008 and 2009, he spent much of his time on the ground in Baghdad, where he helped apprehend detainees who were planting improvised explosive devices.

In 2012, he was deployed to Afghanistan, and during a 10-hour convoy, his group of soldiers was hit with multiple IEDs and ambushed. Rivera helped his men eliminate the enemy, mend the damaged vehicles and keep moving, and would later earn a Combat Action Badge for his actions. He was also awarded the Bronze Star — granted to members of the Armed Forces for heroic achievement — for his overall service during that deployment.

“Taking people to combat and bringing them home safe is probably the most fulfilled I’ve ever been in any job or position,” Rivera told the Herald. “Like having that group of people that you took and trained, deployed, then brought them home and brought them to their families safely.”

Paul Gillespie, head coach of Long Beach High School’s wrestling team from 1978 to 1998, met Rivera through coaching his brother, Masa, who later became a three-time All-American wrestler at Hofstra University. Gillespie lauded the two foster kids for what they have been able to accomplish in life.

“To see Randy do what he did is truly, to me, an amazing thing,” Gillespie said. “…It’s a great story of a boy that really turned it all around and really made a huge success of himself and is helping this country. You can’t ask for more than that.”

Gerry Snell, co-founder of Long Beach Waterfront Warriors, said his organization often sends supplies to troops that have soldiers from the area each December as part of their Holiday for Heroes event, and arranged an airdrop for Rivera while he was in Afghanistan.

The items included toiletries, books, magazines, electronics, candy, socks, and handy wipes, as well as apparel from community events, Snell said, like shirts from the annual Michelle O’Neill volleyball tournament and sweatshirts from the city’s popular Polar Bear Plunge to let him know Long Beach was behind him.

“This community is unique in that people are so gracious with their generosity,” Snell said. “They’re just looking that it goes to the right place, so when we know individuals that we’ve met…that to us is the best.”

Active soldiers like Rivera help highlight the bravery of those who previously served, said Torres, as Long Beach — which was declared a Purple Heart City in May — will honor veterans during a ceremony at 10:30 a.m. in Kennedy Plaza on Nov. 11.

“I’ve learned to respect those vets who have been able to come back in one piece,” Torres said, “and [the city] has developed a sense of connection with the local vets.”

He hopes to display Rivera’s Bronze Star in the lobby at City Hall, and noted that veterans and active members in the Armed Forces make up about 1 percent of the American population, adding that more has to be done for them and their families, who go through a lot in supporting their loved ones.

“This is where all 99 percent depend on that 1 percent for our freedom and the kind of life that we have,” Torres said. “I have learned a whole new dimension of feeling about veterans that I’ve never had before, and it’s because of Randy.”