United States Marine Corps Sgt. Levi J. “L.J.” Guerra was born on February 25, 1997, in Moses Lake, Washington. She graduated from Warden High School in the Class of 2015 and from Big Bend Community College, Washington, Class of 2016.
Sgt Guerra reported for boot camp on December 11, 2017, at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina. After boot camp, she reported to the School of Infantry East for Marine Combat Training (MCT) at Camp Geiger, North Carolina. Upon the completion of MCT, Sgt Guerra received orders to her Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) School and reported to Fort George G. Meade, Maryland.
On August 28, 2018, Sgt Guerra graduated from the Defense Information School (DINFOS) and earned her Military Occupational Skill (MOS) as a Combat Mass Communicator and would later become a Combat Videographer. She reported for duty to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, Marine Wing Headquarters Squadron 3, San Diego, California. In September 2018, she was promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal.
In September 2020, Sgt Guerra received orders and reported to the 3d Marine Division in Okinawa, Japan. While a part of the Division, she had the opportunity to deploy across the Indo-Pacific Region. She earned two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals for her work overseas. In January 2022, Sgt Guerra was promoted to the rank of Sergeant. She placed third in the Feature Story category of the 2021 Visual Information and Excellence in Communication (VIEC) awards and contributed to the 3rd Marine Divisions’ win as the Communications Strategy and Operations (COMMSTRAT) “Shop of the Year.”
In December of 2022, Sgt Guerra received an additional MOS as a 4541, Combat Photographer. Also in 2022, she married her husband, Daniel Bellitt who is a U.S. Air Force veteran and student at Syracuse University.
One of Sgt Guerra’s proudest moments as a Marine was when she was attached to an infantry unit in Okinawa for a month-long training event. After the training exercise, the unit loved the photos and videos she had made so much, the infantry unit requested to have Sgt Guerra go through specific training to attend another training exercise with the unit.
Today, Sgt Guerra is a student in the Military Visual Journalism Program at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.