Their Story
Remembering Ricardo Cerros Jr..
The Defense Department says a 24-year-old soldier from Salinas was killed in a firefight in Afghanistan.
Pentagon officials say Army Spc. Ricardo Cerros Jr. was mortally wounded by small arms fire Saturday when his unit attacked insurgents barricaded in a compound in Afghanistan's Logar province.
The Army Ranger was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.
The Monterey County Herald reports that Cerros graduated from Everett Alvarez High School in Salinas and University of California, Irvine before enlisting in the Army in July 2010.
His battalion commander, Lt. Col. David Hodne, says “Cerros was incredibly talented and a well-respected member of this battalion.”
Cerros is survived by his father, mother, stepmother, brother, sister and stepbrother.