Army Staff Sgt. Juan L. Rivadeneira

Died November 13, 2010 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom

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27, of Davie, Fla.; assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.; died Nov. 13 in Zhari district, Kandahar province, Afghanistan, when an insurgent suicide bomber detonated a vest bomb and struck his unit. Also killed were Cpl. Jacob R. Carver and Spc. Jacob C. Carroll.

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8 Fort Campbell soldiers killed in Afghanistan

The Associated Press

FORT CAMPELL, Ky. — Eight Fort Campbell soldiers were killed over the weekend in two separate attacks in Afghanistan.

Three soldiers were killed in Kandahar province on Saturday when a suicide bomber detonated a vest bomb in southern Afghanistan, the military said Tuesday. They were 27-year-old Staff Sgt. Juan L. Rivadeneira of Davie, Fla.; 20-year-old Cpl. Jacob R. Carver of Freeman, Mo.; and 20-year-old Spc. Jacob C. Carroll of Clemmons, N.C.

They were assigned to Company B, 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division.

Five soldiers from 1st Brigade Combat Team were killed in a separate attack Sunday in eastern Afghanistan, Fort Campbell spokeswoman Kelly DeWitt said Tuesday. The military did not release details on the attack or their names.

Rivadeneira joined the Army in May 2003 and arrived at Fort Campbell in May 2009. He is survived by his wife, Melissa Rivadeneira and son, Juan A. Rivadeneira of Germany; and mother, Yenni S. Rivadeneira of Venezuela.

Carver joined the Army in September 2008 and arrived at Fort Campbell in February 2009. He is survived by his mother, Rosa M. Carver, and father, Arthur F. Carver, of Freeman, Mo.

Carroll joined the Army in January 2009 and arrived at Fort Campbell in June 2009. He is survived by his mother, Cole M. Masear of Archdale, N.C.; and father, Jackie C. Carroll of Clemmons, N.C.

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Always upbeat, even in the face of danger

The Associated Press

Juan Rivadeneira was always smiling, the kind of person you couldn’t keep down, and he was a fast learner, his former commander said.

“If someone needed help, he was the one to pick them up,” said Army Maj. Robert Rossi, who was the soldier’s company commander in 2005 and 2006 in Iraq. The comments, made at Rivadeneira’s burial, were reported by The Sun-Sentinel newspaper.

Rivadeneira, 27, of Davie, Fla., was killed by a suicide bomber Nov. 13 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to Fort Campbell, Ky.

He and his wife, Melissa, had a son, 2-year-old Juanito — “little Juan.”

“Baby I love you so much and I will always do,” his wife wrote in an online memorial post. “I promise you to be strong and always take care of our lil jr.”

Nick Brown, a Fort Carson, Colo.-based soldier who had served with Rivadeneira, echoed Rossi’s sentiments.

“From our days in Baghdad when you showed me what it was to be a Soldier to the laughs and beers we shared in Alaska you were truly the best of men,” he wrote.

Rivadeneira joined the military in 2003 and graduated from Davie High School.