"As you can see we were running out of things and the line of people waiting was... VIEW ORIGINAL
FORT GEORGE G. MEADE, Md. -- When Hurricane Maria struck the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, on Sept. 20 it left a swath of destruction throughout the island and left an indelible impact on the entire population of more than 3.4 million American citizens.
For one Soldier, the opportunity to make a difference in the place he calls home was a calling he could not ignore.
Sgt. 1st Class Rafael Ortiz, a cybersecurity noncommissioned officer with the 781st Military Intelligence Battalion and a newly minted Red Cross team leader, used his personal leave time to cover his 21-day deployment with the Red Cross to assist others during this humanitarian crisis.
"My family -- parents, grandmother, sister, uncles, aunts, etcetera -- live in Puerto Rico. Immediately after the hurricane a lot of people were doing fundraisers. I felt that I could be more useful by going myself as volunteer," said Ortiz. "So, I sent a lot of applications to different organizations to become a volunteer to go to Puerto Rico. The Red Cross was the first one that responded to my application. I went through an interview process, then a deployment briefing, and finally I received my assignment."
When Ortiz first arrived in Puerto Rico on Oct. 13, his initial responsibility was reunification. His job was to assist the people outside the Commonwealth with reconnecting with their family members on Puerto Rico.
While an important job, Ortiz asked to be moved to a section called bulk distribution because he wanted to be close to the people.
"For 16 consecutive days I was the team lead of a group that went out with a truck to distribute food, water, hand sanitizer, tarps, and other items to different municipalities," said Ortiz. "We visited 13 municipalities (sometimes more than once)."
Ortiz said while his Red Cross team had a direct impact on over 18,000 people, it still wasn't enough -- He wanted to do more.
"I saw a little bit of everything. I saw people with no power, water, food, jobs, home… I saw others in better conditions. (Today) most of the island is in bad shape, especially the inside of it. In the mountains, the situation is bad," reflected Ortiz. "One of the things that I will never forget is when we ran out of items at the distribution site. I had to tell about 400 people that we didn't have any more food, water, and etcetera. It broke my heart…It happened almost everywhere we went. Some people left crying."
Two memorable events Ortiz says have marked him for life were his visits to the municipalities of Utuado and Aguas Buenas.
"Utuado was the worst affected area. After I went there the first time I asked to be sent again," said Ortiz. "The need in Utuado is big. During my third time there, people immediately knew who I was. They were so happy to see us back. The second memory is the visit to an orphanage in Aguas Buenas. We had some food and water left so I asked the local police if they knew of a place where what we had was needed. They took us to an orphanage and we left everything there. Those kids marked my life."
Ortiz said, regardless of the ongoing humanitarian crisis, the people of Puerto Rico have a good attitude.
"The people were smiling and thankful for the assistance," said Ortiz. "They understand it will take hard work and a long time for things to get back to normal; however, they take one day at a time. The best way to describe the people there is with one word -- resilience."
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