Staff Sergeant Robert Barela is a Special Operations Capability Specialist (SOCS) attached to 3d Marine Raider Battalion and currently serving as the Executive Communicator to the Commander of Marine Forces Special Operations Command.

In November of 2019 Staff Sergeant Barela checked into November Company, 3D Marine Raider Battalion, and deployed to Iraq in support of OIR from January until August of 2021 as the Marine Special Operations Company Radio Chief, providing direct support to Marine Special Operations Teams (MSOT’s) in the Qayyarah and Makhmur regions, as well as various other outposts in the CENTCOM AOR, while also serving as the Battle Captain for Special Operations Task Force Iraq.

Staff Sergeant Robert Barela is currently slated to become an instructor at the Marine Raider Training Center for the MARSOC Network Operators Course, the certifying course for developing communicators at MARSOC.

Notable certifications include the MARSOF Technical Surveillance and Tactical Cyber Course, JTAG/Chip-Off Mobile Forensics Technician, Cryptographic Security Key Management, CompTIA Security+ Information Security Specialist, and the MARSOC Network Operators Course.