The Center’s Corporate Counsel, Renee Giachino, recently interviewed J.R. Martinez, a young American soldier injured in Iraq.  Mr. Martinez now shares his story of heroism and patriotism to help other injured soldiers on behalf of a non-profit organization, the Coalition to Salute America’s Heroes.  What follows are excerpts from the interview for the radio program “Your Turn — Meeting Nonsense with Common Sense,” which airs on 1330 AM WEBY, Northwest Florida’s Talk Radio.

GIACHINO:  My next guest is an inspiration for all of us.  As I read his story, it was so humbling.  So many of us here in the area have lost so much, or think we have lost so much in the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan, and then we read a story about someone like this young gentleman or you hear their stories on the news, and it is humbling to realize that we actually lost so little.

I’m joined on the line by J.R. Martinez.  J.R. was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, grew up in Dalton, Georgia, and then joined the military — he was an enlisted member of the United States Army and has served our country very well.  March 9, 2003, just over 2 years ago, is when J.R.’s unit arrived in Kuwait.  He and his fellow comrades were sent to patrol southern Iraq.  Almost 2 years ago, J.R. was the driver of a Humvee military vehicle that hit a land mine.  I’d like to welcome him to the program and ask him to tell us more of his story and then we are going to talk about a wonderful organization that he is a spokesman for — the Coalition to Salute America’s Heroes.  Thank you for joining us J.R.

MARTINEZ:  Thank you for having me.

GIACHINO:  If you would please — I only gave a little spotlight on your service, if you would please tell us about the events of April 5, 2003, and the many, many amazing and heroic things that you have undergone since then.

MARTINEZ:  When I joined the military I came in as a member of Eleven Bravo Infantry, and it is pretty much being a foot soldier on the front line of war.  On the 5th of April, 2003, I was driving a Humvee escort in a convoy that consisted of about 94 vehicles.  There were three other gentlemen in the vehicle with me.  We came up to the city called Kabala and we were asked to re-route.  Our original route had some danger and so they said we had to re-route.  On re-routing my front left tire struck a land mine.  When I struck the land mine, the other three gentlemen were thrown out of the vehicle and I was trapped inside the vehicle.  The others walked away with very minor injuries.  On the other hand, I was trapped inside the vehicle.

When I was five years old, I had lost a sister.  When I was in that vehicle and I was burning, I would feel my body burning; I did not think I was going to make it.  You hear people all the time saying that their life flashed before their eyes and that is what actually happened to me.  I could see my mom at a funeral and I could see them handing her a flag, and I could also see my sister and she told me that I could not die and that I needed to live.  I fought and I continued to yell.  When they finally pulled me out of the Humvee, my body was burned over 40 percent from my head to my toes.

GIACHINO:  That is a very sad story.  From there, where did they take you?

MARTINEZ:  From there I went to a local medical unit set up in Iraq.  There they treated me and gave me some pain relievers, which I needed a lot of, and then I went on to Germany at a hospital up there.  By that time I was already on a ventilator.  Even though I was burned outside of my body, a lot of my organs and things inside my body had damage from the smoke.  They put on the ventilator because I could not breathe at all.

I was in Germany for three days and then came to BrookeArmyMedicalCenter in San Antonio, Texas, where in about a week it will be a little over 2 years since I first arrived here, and I have had over 30 surgeries.

GIACHINO:  That is an amazing story.  Does BrookeArmyMedicalCenter service all injured soldiers coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan, or is it only the members of the Army?

MARTINEZ:  No, it does not matter what branch you are.  BrookeArmyMedicalCenter is one of — if not the number one — burn centers in the world.  It is definitely the number one burn center that the military has.  So if your injuries consist of burns or some other injury that BrookeArmyMedicalCenter can treat, then you will be sent there regardless of the branch of service.  More than likely if you are an amputee you will go to WalterReedArmyMedicalCenter, which is in Washington, D.C.  It just depends on the injury and not the branch of service.  It doesn’t matter what type of soldier.  I tell people all the time that it does not matter what branch of service you are in, we are all one family and we all help each other out no matter what.

GIACHINO:  That’s right.  You are now serving as a spokesman for the Coalition to Salute America’s Heroes.  What is the mission of the Coalition?

MARTINEZ:  The mission is pretty much this: we don’t want what happened in Vietnam to happen again.  We don’t want people to forget about our men and women who have put so much on the line.  What the Coalition’s mission is is to help those who have been wounded in action in Iraq and Afghanistan — and their family members, as well.  For example, there is an organization called Help Hospitalize Veterans, which was started 30 years ago, and we wanted to start something for the soldiers coming back from this war and conflict.

So we have four major programs that we run.  One is called the Family Support Network and what that does is like for me, having 30 surgeries and being at the hospital for two years, the DOD only pays for two family members to come down one time.  Once the family member goes back home, each time they come back, it is on their own dime.  So we want to be able to address that and take care of those family members who are traveling to take care of their financial needs, to take care of any travel needs and lodging, take care of mortgage payments that they have to make while they are visiting their loved one.

We also have a job fair for these heroes as well.  We want to encourage a lot of corporations to give these guys jobs — they are good guys to give jobs to because they are very reliable and dependable.

We also have another program called Homes for Paralyzed War Heroes.  What that does is allow us to build homes for those who are paralyzed or amputees and who need wider closets and wider hallways and ramps in houses.  We want to be able to help a lot of wounded people out there.  And for those of you listening who want to learn more, you can visit our website which is www.saluteheroes.org and you can read about the things that we have and what we want to do in the future.

GIACHINO:  Tell us about the importance — you have had over 30 surgeries, many of them life threatening, I am sure, with skin grafts and potential infection, so people can better understand the importance of helping the Coalition to Salute America’s Heroes, and how important it is that the families get the well-needed assistance through the family support network.  How important was it for your recovery effort to have a family member there with you and a family member who did not have to worry about how bills were going to get paid back home or a family member who had a place to stay while there and know their needs are taken care of as well so they can concentrate on their loved one?

MARTINEZ:  It is one of those things that I tell people all of the time.  That is that a doctor cannot write a prescription for what it is that your family can give you.  Family support and love plays a big factor in recovery, and a lot of people do not understand that.  It takes family love and support for me to be where I am today — to go through 30 surgeries and have my mother there by my side every day and night meant the world to me.  It also meant a lot to learn about people back at home or throughout the country who heard about my injuries that started to have a fundraiser for my mom.  That meant a lot to me because it made me realize that these are the people whose freedom I fought for.  I may not even know them, but they appreciate everything that I and my family have gone through.  That is one thing that helps a lot of the wounded soldiers — to know that there are people out there who care about you and that appreciate everything you do, and they are doing everything they can to help you succeed in life as well.

GIACHINO:  I recently read an article that, for some injured soldiers, the battle at home can be worse in some respects than the military battle.  Can you explain what might be meant by this?

MARTINEZ:  I think what is meant by this is something as simple as this quote: “A battle may last only a few minutes or a few hours, but the real battle for the men and women starts now, when they come home.”  What that means is that when you come back wounded you need to learn to adapt to whatever injury you may have — whether it is losing a leg or losing an eye or losing a hand or having scars where you don’t want to go out in public where people can see them.  So it is a new battle that you deal with, and it is completely different from a battle you may face in Iraq or Afghanistan or any part of the country where you have to have a weapon in your hand and protect that way.  Now it is just a battle where it is on the inside — it is all mental, and some physical scar.  It has a tendency to be very difficult.

Again, going back to the importance of having people there who love you and are willing to help, when you know there are people out there helping, it just makes the world of a difference and allows you to say that you can wear your scars with pride and honor and not let anyone take that away from me.

GIACHINO:  Your organization is relatively young — it is set up to assist wounded soldiers coming back from Afghanistan and Iraq, places we have only been for 2 years now, so it is a relatively young organization.  But I did not know anything about it until a good friend of mine, Angela Showalter, mentioned the organization and how she and her husband, Buck, who manages the Texas Rangers, told me about one of her trips to Texas and about the Coalition to Support America’s Heroes.  Frankly, J.R., she had a lot of very wonderful things to say about you and many of the other soldiers who she met — about how humbling it is to meet these young people who went and fought for our country and put their lives on the line.  You have been quoted as saying that you “made the decision to wear your scars with great honor and pride.”  And Angela said you really do that.  What do you mean by that?

MARTINEZ:  I mean that instead of me being ashamed of what I have on my head and my face and my hands and my arms and throughout my body, I am going to carry the best scar that anyone can ever have, and that is a smile.  That is something that allows people to understand that even though this young man has been faced with so much in his life, he is still so happy.  I am happy.  When I had the opportunity to go down and meet the Texas Rangers and see what they did for the soldiers at that game, it was very overwhelming.  I try to enforce that in every soldier.  It is amazing that it takes such great courage and braveness to do what we do, and I tell them that they need to be proud of what they have done, of where they have been, and they need to be proud of where they are going to go.  Because a lot of these men and women are very smart and they will be successful afterwards, but we just need to help them and give them that extra boost to allow them to take those first couple of steps and to let them know that we are there for them.  I feel that is my real mission in life — my real reason for living.  I am going to be the voice for all of the wounded soldiers coming back and I am going to help them live a better and more productive life.

GIACHINO:  One of the things that came to my mind as I was researching and that others have brought to my attention, I think that in some respects it is not entirely untrue that we treat our prisoners better than we do our military men and women who come from serving overseas — particularly those who have to go to some medical institution.  In some respects the prisoners may have more available to them, such as libraries and computers, than in fact some of these men and women who have served our country so long and so hard.  Can you comment on this please?

MARTINEZ:  In some respects that is true.  A lot of these facilities where these soldiers are being treated do not have these libraries and computers as do some of our prison systems.  It is only now that we are starting to get that stuff, and that is because people are starting to hear the voices of these soldiers who talk about the things that we don’t have that we need and we should be able to provide that to them in exchange for the great service that they have provided to us — for us to be able to live the way that we live, to enjoy the things that we enjoy.  To just be able to provide them with a couple of books or give them some video games or a magazine or a television to be able to watch a football game — it is just little things like that that the soldiers need, that could really make a difference in their recovery.  Everything I am talking about is bridging back to one thing — that is for them to know that there are people out there who care — that makes a world of difference.

GIACHINO:  I know that when Angela Showalter was headed to Texas she mentioned to me that she was going to visit the BrookeArmyMedicalCenter and the students at OrioleBeachElementary School actually wrote holiday cards for the soldiers.  So we are not just talking about things that people can do that requires them to go into their pocketbooks, but there are a lot of things that people can do in other ways to support these military men and women with such grave injuries.

Let’s shift a little to what they can do if they have a little extra in their pocket.  I believe that since you are non-profit organizations, that contributions are tax deductible to the organization.  What can someone do if they want to help?

MARTINEZ:  Just as you said, it does not have to be a check for $100, it can be $1, it can be $5 or $10.  Just go to our website and learn how to donate at www.saluteheroes.org.  It does not have to be a big amount, it can be a very small amount.  That’s the thing, if everyone in our country gave even a small amount, we would end up with a very big amount.  What that does is allows us to help so many soldiers.

Also, if you hear about the Coalition coming to somewhere near your town or city, offer to have a fundraiser through your church or school.  You can get your school to write a lot of letters and send them to the Coalition and we will distribute them.  Or take them to a hospital near you and distribute them to the soldiers.  That means a lot.

I got a letter the other day from a little kid who was maybe 6 years old, and he had read a story about me.  And he wrote that he was very sorry to read about what happened and that he would keep praying for me to get better.  And he sent me $1.  He had $1 enclosed in the card and that meant the world to me.  It said to me that some little kid out there who might not understand the full extent of war, understood that someone got hurt so he could live his life.  If a 6-year-old kid can do that, why cannot a 20-, 30-, 40-, 50-year old adult do the same thing?  Just go to our website saluteheroes.org and learn how you can help a wounded soldier and his family.

GIACHINO:  I think we can also help legislatively, at least I like to think that we can.  What can you tell us about the red tape that soldiers face in order to get disability benefits?  I understand that there is a long waiting period.

MARTINEZ:  Absolutely.  That is something that has been brought to the Coalition’s attention just recently.  That is that a lot of soldiers who get out of the military, and when the VA takes over, it takes them a while to actually have those benefits kick in and start.  It can take up to 90 or 120 days before those benefits actually start and for them to get paid.  So during that time they are actually not getting paid.  And you cannot do that to these men and women who have families and have kids and loved ones who cannot go that long without getting any type of pay.  That is one of the biggest things that some of these soldiers are facing is that they go through such a long period of time making that transition from military to civilian life where they do not have any kind of payment or monthly income coming in.  You know that you cannot survive if you do not have any regular income coming in to support your family.  So that is one of the biggest issues that we have been trying to address recently.  We have many times sent checks out to wounded soldiers and said we understood what they were going through and that we wanted to help them make it another month or so.

GIACHINO:  Is this something that we should bring to the attention of our Congressmen and women?

MARTINEZ:  Absolutely.  It is something that is so sad.  If these men and women never hesitated in going to serve our country, why should we hesitate to be able to take care of them when they come back?  It is just something that should be brought to someone’s attention.  No servicemen and women had to wait to go to Iraq, but they do have to wait to take care of their families when they come back.  It is something very unfair.  I am not the soldier who wants to talk negative about the military, but it is the reality and an issue that many soldiers should not have to face because they paid such a tremendous price for our freedom.

GIACHINO:  J.R., what is next for you?

MARTINEZ:  What’s next for me?  I’m here waiting for 4-5 more surgeries in the next few months.  I will get medically retired out of the military and then I want to go to school to get my degree in occupational therapy, which is being a burn therapist, and also get another degree in communications.  As a 21-year-old, I have my whole life ahead of me, and I also want to write a book and maybe have my own television show that is nationally syndicated and is very motivational to tell people military and non-military that regardless of what you face in life you can overcome it.  You just need to believe in yourself and you will be there because the only person who can stop you is yourself.

GIACHINO:  I know that you will do it, J.R., because you have motivated and inspired me, and I hope you motivate and inspire the listeners out there.  Visit the website at www.saluteheroes.org and learn more about the Annual Road to Recovery Conference and Tribute, learn more about Homes for Wheelchair Bound Heroes, learn more about the Families Support Network and the Hire a Hero Program.   These are wonderful programs put together by the Coalition to Support America’s Heroes.  Thank you, J.R. Martinez, for being with us this afternoon.  We greatly appreciate your time and all of your efforts and service to our country.

MARTINEZ:  Thank you for having me on.  I hope all the listeners out there please visit our website and push it to others to learn about what we do.  Thank you.