Marine Videotaped Rapping With Iraqi Children

Marine Says He 'Wanted To Lighten Things Up'

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Alex Rivera hurried home from his job at a laundry early Friday to watch his son on television in NBC News footage from Iraq.

The videotape showed Lance Cpl. Alex Rivera Jr. on top of a Humvee, rapping and dancing before a group of Iraqi children. He handed out candy after entertaining the kids, who were shown mimicking his dance moves.

The sight of the young Marine -- alive, smiling and clowning around -- nearly overwhelmed the elder Rivera, who is disabled. He said he's been worried sick about his son, whom he hadn't heard from since December.

The tears he cried in front of the television set in his Long Branch home were tears of joy. He said the chance to see his oldest son on the battlefield in Iraq was "awesome."

"He threw energy back that he's alive," the father said. Alex's mother, Denise, said her overriding emotion was relief.

NBC News gave the Riveras notice of the airing of the video so the family could gather to watch it. The parents, Alex's two younger brothers, his grandmother and cousins all watched as the Long Branch High graduate danced in camouflage fatigues a world away.

"I knew he'd be doing something," Rivera said. "I said, 'When I see my son on TV he'll be doing one of his numbers."'

Rivera said one thing his 21-year-old son likes better than music is being the center of attention.

The Marine told the news crew on camera, "I got bored so I got kind of crazy, and they looked sad so I wanted to lighten things up a little bit."

All day Friday the phone rang at the Rivera house -- with well-wishers and members of the media calling -- and the Riveras didn't pause a second before answering. They knew it couldn't be bad news because they had seen their son in the morning, and he was rapping.

#53
This picture should be on every TV newscast today!!! Cute little girl, American flag & smile.

...for class.

Love the little girl with the American flag!

You're makin me cry now.

Great picture.

Free Iraq bump...

This is so beautiful. What a great day.

Absolutely priceless!

Take out the oil and the Middle East's entire GNP is about that of Finland (which has 1/100th of their population). First world countries make wealth if a third world countryis rich it's because they breed over it. Masters of technology and industry they ain't.

Just to temper the pride I have for our forces, I do recognize the human cost that war does take on civilians. This is maybe the saddest pic I have seen in a long time, but I still have hope that the good that will come out fo the liberation of Iraq will trump this biys suffering.

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Ali Ismail Abbas, 12, wounded during an airstrike according to hospital sources, lies in a hospital bed in Baghdad, April 6, 2003. Abbas was fast asleep when war shattered his life. A missile obliterated his home and most of his family, leaving him orphaned, badly burned and blowing off both his arms. 'It was midnight when the missile fell on us. My father, my mother and my brother died. My mother was five months pregnant,' the traumatized boy told Reuters at Baghdad's Kindi hospital. 'Our neighbors pulled me out and brought me here. I was unconscious,' he said on Sunday. REUTERS/Faleh Kheiber

We're setting up PLAYGROUNDS too? I'm so proud of our armed forces!

A man, suspected of being a Fedayeen member, is beaten by a group residents on the streets of Basra, Iraq (news - web sites) Tuesday April 8, 2003. (AP Photo/Jon Mills, Pool)

Children in the Iraqi town of Basra, step on a portrait of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) Tuesday April 8, 2003. (AP Photo/Toni Nicoletti/Daily Record, Pool)

Local Iraqi men cheer as British troops from the Household Guards and the Royal Irish Regiment carry out patrols in Medina, near Basra in southern Iraq (news - web sites), April 8, 2003. British officials said a local 'Sheikh' would form the leadership in Basra province of Iraq, as residents no longer under the yoke of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s loyalists complained of lawlessness and want. REUTERS/POOL/Bruce Adams - Daily Mail

Local residents remove a painting of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) in the Iraqi town of Basra, Tuesday April 8, 2003. (AP Photo/Toni Nicoletti/Daily Record, Pool)

Iraqi children welcome British troops as they patrol the city of Basra in southern Iraq (news - web sites), April 8, 2003. British officials said a local 'Sheikh' would form the leadership in Basra province, as residents no longer under the yoke of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s loyalists complained of lawlessness and want. REUTERS/Gethin Chamberlain/POOL

A US marine from the 2nd Batailion 8th Regiment talks with Iraqi children as he patrols in the town of Shumali, 100km south of Baghdad. 100 children held in a prison celebrated their freedom as US marines rolled into northeast Baghdad(AFP/Eric Feferberg)

A local Iraqi boy offers a flower to a British soldier from the Royal Fusiliers during patrols in Basra, southern Iraq (news - web sites), April 8, 2003. British officials said a local 'Sheikh' would form the leadership in Basra province of Iraq, as residents no longer under the yoke of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s loyalists complained of lawlessness. REUTERS/POOL/Mark Richards

Pictures: Faces of Liberation

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U.S. Army Spc. John Dresel from Oxford, Conn. is kissed by an Iraqi child in Baghdad Wednesday, April 9, 2003. The soldiers from the A Company 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment took over a section of northern Baghdad with a warm welcome from many residents, but under sporadic rocket and small arms fire. (AP Photo/John Moore)

Iraqi Kurds wave banners and U.S. and British flags in the northern Iraqi town of Dohuk April 9, 2003, to celebrate the arrival of U.S. led coalition forces' in Baghdad. Iraqi Kurds shouted for joy and fired in the air on Wednesday after U.S. forces entered Baghdad. 'It's all over in Baghdad,' said 29-year-old Rafiq Baway, who heard the news on satellite TV in the city of Sulaimaniya. He believed it would lead to the fall of Kirkuk, the northern oil hub where Kurds accuse Saddam of expelling Kurdish inhabitants and replacing them with Arabs. REUTERS/Str

U.S. Army Sgt. John Beck from Miami, Fla. is welcomed by residents of Baghdad Wednesday, April 9, 2003. The soldiers from the A Company 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment took over a section of northern Baghdad with a warm welcome from many residents, but under sporadic rocket and small arms fire from irregular Iraqi forces.(AP Photo/John Moore)

U.S. Army soldiers are welcomed by residents of Baghdad Wednesday, April 9, 2003. The soldiers from the A Company 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment took over a section of northern Baghdad with a warm welcome from many residents, but under sporadic rocket and small arms fire from irregular Iraqi forces. (AP Photo/John Moore)

US Marine Sgt David Sutherland signs autographs for Iraqis on their 250-denomination dinars notes in Baghdad. Cheering crowds of Iraqis welcomed US marines as their tanks and troops poured into the center of Baghdad and the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) collapsed.(AFP/Karim Sahib)

Email this slideshow A United States Special Forces soldier is kissed by a Kurd supporter as he drives through the crowd during celebrations in the streets of Sulaymaniyah, Northern Iraq (news - web sites) Wednesday April 9, 2003. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

U.S. Army Spc. Kenneth Clark from Woodward, Okla. puffs up his cheeks like the baby he was handed while being welcomed by Iraqis in Baghdad Wednesday, April 9, 2003. The soldiers from the A Company 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment took over a section of northern Baghdad with a warm welcome from many residents, but under sporadic rocket and small arms fire from irregular Iraqi forces. (AP Photo/John Moore)

Kurds hold a cardboard fighter plane during celebrations in the streets of Sulaymaniyah, Northern Iraq (news - web sites) Wednesday April 9, 2003. Celebrations broke out in at least two cities in the Kurdish autonomous region, as people took to the streets to celebrate what they believe is the end of President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s regime. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

An Iraqi man kisses an American soldier in downtown Bagdhad Wednesday April 9, 2003. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)