Charles Robert Rubado was born in July 1982 in Honolulu on O’ahu Island, Hawaii. In 2004, he earned a Bachelor of Science in Criminology from Florida Southern College. While in college, Rubado was a member of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). He was also a member and eventual officer of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. One of Rubado’s fellow ROTC cadets, David White, remembers Rubado as a cool and collected soldier. 

Rubado was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, as a second lieutenant serving in a tank. He was based with his regiment at Fort Carson in Colorado. In March 2005, while serving with the Crazyhorse Troop as the White Platoon leader within the 3rd Cavalry Regiment, Rubado was deployed overseas to serve in Iraq as a part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Rubado and his unit were sent to root out militant guerrillas (believed to be ex-supporters of Saddam Hussein) who were based in the town of Tal Afar, which is located near the border of Iraq and Syria. This specific exercise was known as Operation Restoring Rights, which involved stopping insurgents from using Tal Afar as a base strategically located near the Syrian border, where supplies were being smuggled through. Rubado was killed in Tal Afar, Iraq, when his M1A2 Abrams tank came under fire from enemy forces.

Rubado was only 23 years old when he was killed in action in August 2005 while serving in Iraq. He posthumously received a Purple Heart. He is buried at Bay Pines National Cemetery in St. Petersburg, Florida. He is remembered by his wife, Mary-Anne Hollingsworth; his parents, Charles and Nitaya Rubado; and his brother, Steven Rubado.
Southern Florida College and its Lambda Chi Alpha and ROTC chapters sponsor several annual events, including a bowling tournament and golf tournament, that support a Charles R. Rubado scholarship and the ROTC program.

To post a tribute this Memorial Day for Charles R. Rubado please visit the Veterans Legacy Memorial here.  

We honor his service.

In 2022, VA is joining forces with Carry The Load to honor veterans during the “Memorial May” March, a national relay visiting 50 VA national cemeteries to honor our nation’s fallen service members. A link to this webpage is here. The complete list of participating cemeteries can be found here. Volunteers are encouraged to register in advance.



CHARLES ROBERT RUBADO

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