Colorado Lost A Good Soldier this Week

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

I've been waiting for a press release before sharing this so as not to step on the family.

Can't say I knew him well enough to be called his friend but his loss is felt all the same:

At first glance, Master Sgt. Robert Orta looked like the tough soldier he was.

  Once you got to know him, though, his friends said Orta was a compassionate, caring and loving husband, father, friend and fellow soldier.

 "He had a tough facade, but Robert was a very dedicated father and husband. He was the most passionate man you'll ever meet. A great friend and great person," said Doug Busch, a longtime friend of Orta.

  Another friend, Randy Kennedy, said Orta was "a true person who believed in God first, then family and country."

  Orta, 37, died Monday in a multi-vehicle accident on La Veta Pass. The accident occurred when the vehicle Orta was driving went out of control on the icy highway while trying to pass a pickup truck hauling a trailer, and was struck broadside by an oncoming semitrailer about 16 miles east of Fort Garland.

  Orta lived in Pueblo West with his wife, Heather, and children Lexi, 11, Rhett, 10 and Cade, 5.

  A full-time soldier in the Colorado National Guard's 157th Infantry Division, Orta was on his way to Alamosa where he was helping to set up a new guard unit at the time of the accident.

  A passenger in Orta's vehicle, another National Guard soldier, Sgt. Arnold Harp, 32, of Colorado Springs, also was killed in the accident.

  Orta was a military brat but spent his high school years in Pueblo. He graduated in 1991 from Park Hill Christian Academy.

  He enlisted in the Army reserves in 1992 and crossed over to the active duty Army in 1994. He became a member of the Texas National Guard before joining the Colorado Guard in 1998.

  Orta  was  a  recruiter for  the National Guard in Pueblo and Canon City for several years before he was deployed to Afghanistan in 2007. He returned from Afghanistan in April 2008, and had been a platoon sergeant with the 157th Infantry unit based in Pueblo.

  Orta held the rank of sergeant first class but posthumously was promoted to the rank of master sergeant.

 Orta married his high school sweetheart, Heather, in 1997, and his friends said his life centered around his family.

  "We would go to camping trips together and on outings where he would not only teach the kids skills but also show them how much their lives have been blessed," said Busch.

  Kennedy said Orta would make special dates with each of his children, including an annual Valentine's Day dinner with his daughter, Lexi.

  Orta had coached his children's soccer teams, had been a past assistant coach at Pueblo West High School and worked with the youth sports programs at Park Hill.

 He was an active member of Park Hill, where he had recently become a deacon.

 In addition to his wife and children, Orta is survived by his father, Andrew Orta of Trinidad; mother, Joy Lee of Texas; and two brothers.

  A memorial fund for Orta's children has been set up at Pueblo Government Agencies Federal Credit Union, 720 N. Greenwood Ave. Arrangements are being handled by Imperial Funeral Home.

http://www.chieftain.com/news/local/article_4c0586c6-3244-11df-8158-001cc4c03286.html

 

[Eupher]

God speed, MSG Orta. Your mission is complete. 

[Airwolf]

RIP. May GOD bless and keep you and your family and friends.

[IassaFTots]

Then good night, peaceful night,
Till the light of the dawn shineth bright;
God is near, do not fear -- Friend, good night.

RIP.

[DixieBelle]

RIP and Godspeed.