GALLOWAY - A very special and inspirational man visited The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey’s campus Thursday, Feb. 16 to talk to students, members of the military and people from the community. That man, J.R. Martinez, told his very emotional life story to an eager crowd that half-filled the 500-seat Performing Arts Center.
Scheduled to give a 40-minute talk, Martinez spoke for two hours, taking the crowd from laughter to tears as he told of a life that veered far from the hopes he harbored as a youth. The boy who once dreamed of a professional football career is instead a war hero with one ear, an acting career, and fatherhood impending. His fiancée is due to deliver their daughter in May.
Martinez started his story at the beginning. His mother, who came from El Salvador, decided to stay in the United States after she gave birth to J.R. She wanted to give him a better life with more opportunities than El Salvador could offer.
The choice to stay in the States benefitted him tremendously, said Martinez , who found a passion for football. When he turned 13, he started hitting the gym, doing everything he could to make himself a better player. His ultimate goal was to go to college and then the pros.
But he fell short of his goal. At the age of 17, he got a job in a carpet factory in Dalton, Ga., and after saving enough money and moving into an apartment, he invited his mother to come live with him. He attended Dalton High School, but didn’t play for his team. Instead, from the sideline, he motivated and pumped up his teammates.
Realizing he wouldn’t make a Division I college team, Martinez decided to look into Division II schools. But he was told that he wouldn’t be able to play football because of the classes and credits he was taking.
Disappointed but not down, Martinez turned to the military. After visiting a recruitment office, he informed his mother of his decision to join the United States Army.
She objected. Eventually, she relented and said OK, giving her son permission to join the military one year after 9-11. Martinez made the decision to join the Infantry, the most dangerous of Army jobs.
On April 5, 2003, at the age of 19, Martinez and his group were sent to Karabala, Iraq, on an escort mission. After the mission was completed, a tire on the driver’s side of their Humvee hit a landmine. The landmine, strong enough to blow up an armored tank, blew up the Humvee.
The other three soldiers with Martinez were thrown from the vehicle and escaped with minor injuries. But J.R. was trapped inside. After seven excruciating minutes, he was pulled to safety.
He was sent to Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas, where he was treated for burns that covered more than 40 percent of his body. Thirty-five percent of those burns were third-degree burns, the most severe type of burns, and resulted in the loss of his left ear.
Treatment for his burns included a torturous rehabilitation period, during which he was taught how to walk again, and had to endure being fed and bathed by a nurse. After his recuperation, Martinez visited other patients, giving them hope and inspiration.
It was after seeing what he gave to those patients that he decided he wanted to give hope to people everyday that he could. This started his motivational speaking career.
After speaking around the country for a while and acting on the show “All My Children,” he was asked to perform on the reality TV show “Dancing with the Stars.” He went on to win the competition with his partner, Karina Smirnoff.
Martinez has continued to travel and speak around the States. Thursday, he left the captivated crowd at Stockton’s Performing Arts Center with this advice: “Believe in your goals, no one else’s, just yours.”
