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Combined Joint Task Force - Horn
U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Ricardo Ortiz, Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa CJ-3 admin NCO, sets the ball during a pick-up volleyball game at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, Feb. 9, 2025. Ortiz was highlighted in CJTF-HOA’s Human of HOA feature and shared his story about leadership through volleyball. “Volleyball is a big stress reliever, especially on deployments…you need to surround yourself with positive individuals.” (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Joseph Bartoszek)
Photo by: Airman 1st Class Joseph Bartosze
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Combined Joint Task Force - Horn
U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Ricardo Ortiz, Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa CJ-3 admin NCO, poses with an old photo of him at the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Vicenza, Italy, at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, Feb. 6, 2025. Ortiz was highlighted in CJTF-HOA’s Human of HOA feature and shared his story about leadership through volleyball. “While in Italy, I saw many different types of leadership, and because of that I was able to take bits and pieces to figure out what type of leader I want to be,” said Ortiz. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Joseph Bartoszek)
Photo by: Airman 1st Class Joseph Bartosze
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Combined Joint Task Force - Horn
U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Ricardo Ortiz, Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa admin NCO, prepares to serve the ball at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, Feb. 6, 2025. Ortiz was highlighted in CJTF-HOA’s Human of HOA feature and shared his story about leadership through volleyball. Playing volleyball has been a building block in Ortiz’s career. It has taught him valuable lessons in communication and teamwork. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Joseph Bartoszek)
Photo by: Airman 1st Class Joseph Bartosze
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Combined Joint Task Force - Horn
U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Ricardo Ortiz, Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa CJ-3 admin NCO, serves the ball during a pick-up volleyball game at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, Feb. 9, 2025. Ortiz was highlighted in CJTF-HOA’s Human of HOA feature and shared his story about leadership through volleyball. “Volleyball is a big stress reliever, especially on deployments…you need to surround yourself with positive individuals.” (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Joseph Bartoszek)
Photo by: Airman 1st Class Joseph Bartosze
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Combined Joint Task Force - Horn
U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Ricardo Ortiz, Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa CJ-3 admin NCO, plays in a pick-up volleyball game at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, Feb. 9, 2025. Ortiz was highlighted in CJTF-HOA’s Human of HOA feature and shared his story about leadership through volleyball. “Volleyball is a big stress reliever, especially on deployments…you need to surround yourself with positive individuals.” (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Joseph Bartoszek)
Photo by: Airman 1st Class Joseph Bartosze
Photo 6 of 7
Combined Joint Task Force - Horn
U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Ricardo Ortiz, Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa CJ-3 admin NCO, poses with an old photo of him at the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Vicenza, Italy, at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, Feb. 6, 2025. Ortiz was highlighted in CJTF-HOA’s Human of HOA feature and shared his story about leadership through volleyball. “While in Italy, I saw many different types of leadership, and because of that I was able to take bits and pieces to figure out what type of leader I want to be,” said Ortiz. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Joseph Bartoszek)
Photo by: Airman 1st Class Joseph Bartosze
Photo 7 of 7
Combined Joint Task Force - Horn
U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Ricardo Ortiz, Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa CJ-3 admin NCO, poses with a volleyball at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, Feb. 6, 2025. Ortiz was highlighted in CJTF-HOA’s Human of HOA feature and shared his story about leadership through volleyball. Playing volleyball has been a building block in Ortiz’s career. It has taught him valuable lessons in communication and teamwork. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Joseph Bartoszek)
Photo by: Airman 1st Class Joseph Bartosze
CAMP LEMONNIER, Djibouti – Featured in Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa Humans of HOA is U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Ricardo Ortiz, CJTF-HOA CJ-3 admin NCO, who learned about leadership through volleyball.
Playing soccer in high school, Ortiz has been surrounded by sports his whole life. In 2009, Ortiz sacrificed his scholarship to Arizona State University to enlist in the U.S. Army to financially support his family, who was struggling with the recession.
Ortiz left for boot camp Jan. 4, 2010, and started his Army career in Vicenza, Italy, home of the 173rd Airborne Brigade.
“While in Italy, I saw many different types of leadership, and because of that I was able to take bits and pieces to figure out what type of leader I want to be,” said Ortiz.
Ortiz explained how It made him open his eyes while seeing good leaders and mentors shaped the foundation of him wanting to become a great leader. Being stationed at the 173rd Airborne Brigade also equipped Ortiz with different skills and hobbies, making him branch out of his comfort zone.
“While at the 173rd, I became very invested in playing different sports to go out and meet people,” said Ortiz. “One sport in particular was volleyball.”
Playing volleyball has been a building stone in Ortiz’s career. It has taught him valuable lessons including communication and teamwork.
“Just because you have a couple of bad games, doesn’t mean you get to quit,” said Ortiz. “Volleyball teaches you to keep going even if you have bad days.”
Playing with a variety of different branches of the military in a deployed environment helped Ortiz with work and volleyball because of the cohesive environment and variety of people.
“Volleyball teaches you a lot of lessons that apply to the military,” said Ortiz. “Such as if you don’t communicate, your whole team falls apart. If everyone at your work isn’t on the same page, nothing will happen.”
Ortiz applied the teamwork lessons he learned from volleyball to work with a variety of CJ sections and approved over 300 travel requests to ensure accountability across all of CJTF-HOA.
One specific communication skill Ortiz learned was how to ask for help. He explained how working with admin, if you never ask for help, you won’t learn how to effectively do your job.
“Volleyball taught me a variety of communication skills but primarily that to win the game or complete the mission, you need everyone to be helping each other,” said Ortiz.
