Ivan recently retired from the Air Force, after 26 years, at the rank of Chief Master Sergeant. At his last assignment he was the Squadron Superintendent of the 58th Rescue Squadron, Nellis AFB Las Vegas where he trained, supervised and managed the employment of 75 Pararescuemen and Combat Rescue Officers in order to integrate and synchronize combat search and rescue and personal recovery expertise across full spectrum combat operations for Air Combat Commands and Joint Forces areas of responsibility as the sole CSAR capable force. In addition, he maintains an operational readiness status as a fully qualified Pararescueman. Ivan is a native of San Antonio, TX, and enlisted in the Air Force in September of 1996. After Basic Training he served as a Tactical Air Control Party (TACP) until Septemberof 1998. In October of 1998 he entered the Pararescuetraining program and graduated two years later as a qualified Pararescueman. Since 2000, his previous assignments include bases in Pope AFB, Moody AFB, RAF Mildenhall, Lackland AFB, Hurlburt Field and RAF Lakenheath. As a Team Leader, Sergeant Ruiz maintains qualifications as a senior aircrew member, aircrew instructor/evaluator, master parachutist, military freefall and rescue jumpmaster, combat dive supervisor, rescue team leader and nationally certified paramedic. He has supported numerous combat rescue and humanitarian operations around the world. Prior to assuming the Squadron Superintendent position at his las duty station, he served as the Squadron Superintendent at the 57th Rescue Squadron, RAF Lakenheath, United Kingdom.
