SSG Emil Rivera-Lopez

25 August 2017, Yemen

160th SOAR

A native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Staff Sergeant Emil Rivera-Lopez died on 25 August 2017 in an MH-60 helicopter crash off the southern coast of Yemen.

Rivera-Lopez enlisted in the Army in 2006 as a UH-60 Black Hawk Helicopter Repairer. After graduating from Green Platoon as the Distinguished Honor Graduate in July 2013, he reported to 3rd Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia. He served as an MH-60 Maintainer and Squad Leader for Company D before being reassigned in 2014 to Company C, where he was a Section Sergeant and MH-60 Crew Chief. Rivera-Lopez deployed multiple times in support of Operations ENDURING FREEDOM and INHERENT RESOLVE.

SSG Rivera-Lopez was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, supporting overseas contingency operations, at the time of his death.