Isaac Ibarra was born 30 November, 1995 in Monterrey, Mexico. After moving to Israel and then to the United States he graduated from Gulf Coast High School in Naples, Florida in May 2013. One month later he enlisted into the United States Marine Corps and attended basic training at Marine Corps Recruiting Depot, Parris Island in June of 2013. Upon graduation, he was meritoriously promoted to Private First Class and was sent to the Defense Information School in Fort, Meade, Maryland to undergo the Basic Public Affairs Course and Electronic Journalism Course.
Following graduation PFC Isaac Ibarra received orders to III Marine Expeditionary Force Headquarters Group in Okinawa, Japan and was promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal. In his first year in the fleet he was awarded first place for a multimedia story by the United States Marine Corps Combat Correspondents’ Association. In January 2015, he was promoted to the rank of Corporal. In March 2015, Cpl. Isaac Ibarra was named journalist of the month by breaking a Defense Video Information Distribution System Facebook record with a video product and interview reaching more than 9 million people about World War II veterans returning to Iwo Jima on the 72nd anniversary.
In May 2015, he deployed in support of Operation Sahayogi Haat, the Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief response to the 7.8 and 7.3 magnitude earthquakes in Nepal. Cpl. Isaac Ibarra was awarded the Joint Service Achievement Medal for reaching a potential audience of millions worldwide by producing photographs and video imagery distributed to more than 11,000 media outlets.
Cpl. Isaac Ibarra is also a graduate of Intermediate Public Affairs Course and Intermediate Photojournalism Course at Fort Meade, Maryland. He was promoted to the rank of sergeant Oct. 1, 2016. He has produced 324 images, 102 videos, 20 news stories and supported the following exercises: Cobra Gold 2015, Korea Marine Exchange Program 17-1, Korea Explosive Ordnance Disposal Exercise, Rim of the Pacific 2016, JASCO Black, Exercise Blue Chromite and Forest Light.
