Humboldt Park Marine strives to make better life for family

Photo By Cpl. Katherine Keleher | Sgt. Ivan Vega-Pacheco, the fire control team chief for 2nd Platoon, Supporting Arms Liaison Team Chuck, 2nd Air-Naval Gunfire Liaison Company, calls in a command over a radio while standing guard at Combat Outpost Shukvani. Vega-Pacheco, from Chicago's Humboldt Park, has been a radio operator in the Marine Corps for nearly six years.  

CAMP LEATHERNECK, AFGHANISTAN

05.10.2011

Story by Cpl. Katherine Keleher 

Regional Command Southwest

CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan - Every Marine joins the Corps for their own reasons, and Sgt. Ivan Vega-Pacheco is no different.

Vega-Pacheco was born in Puerto Rico. When he was nine, he and his family moved to Chicago’s Humboldt Park, the only officially recognized Puerto Rican neighborhood in the United States, where he graduated from Roberto Clemente High School in 2005.

“I joined the Marine Corps because I had a kid when I was in high school,” explained Vega-Pacheco, a fire control team chief with 2nd Platoon, Supporting Arms Liaison Team Chuck, 2nd Air-Naval Gunfire Liaison Company. “I got married and tried doing different jobs. It didn’t work, so I went ahead and joined the Marine Corps. I joined for the benefits and to do something better for myself.”

After four deployments, Vega-Pacheco knows what sacrifice means.

“I’m ready to get home and spend time with the kids,” explained Vega-Pacheco, who has three children ranging from seven-years-old to 11 months. “It’s pretty hard for them. This is my fourth deployment in less than six years, so if I’m not deployed I’m in the work up.

“One thing I tell my kids, as they’re growing up now, is this is a sacrifice. I’m gone for a while, but at the end of the day it’s going to be good for them.”

Regardless of the time spent away from his wife, Eulalia Vega, and their children, Vega-Pacheco is proud to serve his country and provide a good life for his family.

He said, “I think I am the way I am because of the way I grew up. I grew up very poor in Puerto Rico, and then growing up in Chicago was the same way. My brothers, cousins, uncles, a lot of them didn’t really try that hard to progress in their careers, and progress in life. I didn’t really want to do that same thing for myself. I wanted to go ahead and do something more for myself and my family. That’s why I am who I am right now.”

Before he was with 2nd ANGLICO, Vega-Pacheco was assigned to 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, which is where he learned the skills he now uses every day.

“With 1/8 my first deployment was Charlie Company. I was the radio operator,” he explained. “My third deployment to Iraq, I was part of the [Fire Support Team]. It’s the same concept of what I’m doing now, and it’s why I came over to 2nd ANGLICO.”

Vega-Pacheco left 1/8 with high regard, earning himself a Navy Marine Corps Achievement medal after each of his deployments.

Now, at Combat Outpost Shukvani, Vega-Pacheco works to make sure the Marines and Georgian soldiers on the ground have the air and fire support they need.

“It can be fun. It all depends on the enemy and the situation out there. Our job is to find targets, execute and take them out.”

While Vega-Pacheco was formally trained by the Marine Corps on how to be a radio operator, he has spent the last six years of his career going above and beyond what is expected of someone in his line of work.

“I’m a hard worker. I do my job and more. I can’t stand just sitting around not doing anything,” he explained. “I like to push myself, cross train, learn everybody else’s job, learn my job, excel. I think that’s what makes me who I am. I just go beyond the normal.”

Going above and beyond what is expected of him does not go unnoticed by his fellow Marines.

Capt. Ramon E. Pattugalan, the officer in charge of Fire Power Control Teams 5 and 6, as well as a Joint Terminal Attack Controller, with 2nd Plt., SALT Chuck, 2nd ANGLICO, has known of Vega-Pacheco and his meritorious ways since before the two men even shook hands.

Pattugalan, of Fontana, Calif., was deployed with Battalion Landing Team 1/8 and he knew of young Vega-Pacheco. Later in 2009, when Pattugalan got to work more with 1/8 in Iraq, he was on his way to an outpost when he met Vega-Pacheco face-to-face for the first time.

“He expressed some interests in trying to come over to 2nd ANGLICO,” explained Pattugalan, a graduate from the United States Naval Academy. “We came back and 1/8 came back a couple months afterward. He was able to get orders to come over to us.

“I have nothing but good things to say about him. He is definitely a meritorious Marine. Everything that he has done as a sergeant has pretty much far exceeded what his initial roles and responsibilities are as a radio chief for SALT.”

With over two years out of the last six spent deployed, Vega-Pacheco is more than eager to get back to being a husband and father while progressing through his career as a Marine in Jacksonville, N.C.

“I’ve got plans ahead of me. I want to go to college and to get an education,” he said. “But now it’s definitely time to give the kids some time back.”

• Date Taken: 05.10.2011
• Date Posted: 05.10.2011 13:00
• Story ID: 70177
• Location: CAMP LEATHERNECK, AF