page_title: Hispanic and Latino Americans
section_title: After Vietnam
hierarchical_section_title: Hispanic and Latino Americans / Notable contributions / Military / After Vietnam
caption_attribution_description: English: Vice Admiral Antonia C. Novello, M.D., M.P.H., Dr.P.H. (USPHS); 14th Surgeon General of the United States
context_page_description: In the United States, Hispanic and Latino Americans are Americans who are descendants of people from Spain and Latin America. More generally, these demographics include all Americans who identify as Hispanic and/or Latino. As of 2018, the Census Bureau estimated that there were almost 60 million Hispanics living in the United States.
  "Origin" can be viewed as the ancestry, nationality group, lineage or country of birth of the person or the person's parents or ancestors before their arrival in the United States. People who identify as Spanish or Hispanic may be of any race. As one of the only two specifically designated categories of ethnicity in the United States, Hispanics form a pan-ethnicity incorporating a diversity of inter-related cultural and linguistic heritages. Most Hispanic Americans are of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Salvadoran, Dominican, Guatemalan, or Colombian origin. The predominant origin of regional Hispanic populations varies widely in different locations across the country.
  Hispanic Americans are the second fastest-growing ethnic group by percentage growth in the United States after Asian Americans.
context_section_description: Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez – top commander of the Coalition forces during the first year of the occupation of Iraq, 2003–2004, during the Iraq War
  Lieutenant General Edward D. Baca – in 1994, became the first Hispanic Chief of the National Guard Bureau
  Vice Admiral Antonia Novello, M.D., Public Health Service Commissioned Corps – in 1990, became the first Hispanic (and first female) U.S. Surgeon General
  Vice Admiral Richard Carmona, M.D., Public Health Service Commissioned Corps – served as the 17th Surgeon General of the United States, under President George W. Bush
  Brigadier General Joseph V. Medina, USMC – made history by becoming the first Marine Corps officer to take command of a naval flotilla
  Rear Admiral Ronald J. Rábago – first person of Hispanic American descent to be promoted to rear admiral (lower half) in the United States Coast Guard
  Captain Linda Garcia Cubero, United States Air Force – in 1980, became the first Hispanic woman graduate of the United States Air Force
  Major General Erneido Oliva – Deputy Commanding General of the D.C. National Guard
  Brigadier General Carmelita Vigil-Schimmenti, United States Air Force – in 1985 became the first Hispanic female to attain the rank of Brigadier General in the Air Force
  Brigadier General Angela Salinas – on August 2, 2006, became the first Hispanic female to obtain a general rank in the Marines
  Chief Master Sergeant Ramón Colón-López – pararescueman; in 2007, was the only Hispanic among the first six airmen to be awarded the newly created Air Force Combat Action Medal
  Specialist Hilda Clayton (1991–2013) – combat photographer with 55th Signal Company who captured the explosion that killed her and four Afghan soldiers.
caption: Antonia Novello first woman and first Hispanic to serve as Surgeon General
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