Battered Soldier Inspires Me

 

I have a new hero.  I found him in one of the most unlikely places, but I found him and I am smitten.

Meet  Jose Rene Martinez, better known as “J.R.“  If you happen to be a soap opera addict, you already know him as the character Brot Monroe on All My Children.  I haven’t watched a soap since Soap went off the air back in 1981, so I didn’t know Mr. Martinez’s story until he joined this season’s Dancing With the Stars cast.

This Louisiana-born (1983) cutie-pie with El Salvadoran roots went to high school in Dalton, Georgia, where he excelled in football.  When he was permanently sidelined by an injury, his NFL dreams dashed, J. R. joined the U.S. Army.  This is what he looked like when he left home:

In February 2003, J. R. was deployed to Iraq. Two months later, he was serving as a driver of a Humvee when the left front tire hit a landmine and he suffered smoke inhalation and severe burns to more than 40 percent of his body.  Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) in San Antonio, Texas. He spent 34 months at Brooke Army Medical Center and has undergone 33 cosmetic and skin-graft surgeries.  Today, he looks like this:

Of course J. R. went through a hellish period of grief and depression, worrying that his life as he knew it was over and he would be alone and unlovable because of his scars.  But after talking a younger burn victim off an emotional ledge in the hospital, Martinez realized the good he could do and started helping other people.  He parlayed a successful motivational speaking career into the role on All My Children, which he began in 2008.

A personality that lights up whole city blocks was not taken by that land mine.  Far from self-conscious about his missing ear and disfigured face, his smile shines through it all while he is tearing up the DWTS dance floor, landing at or near the top of the leader board each week. 

Jose Rene Martinez, you are my idea of a hero.  Thank you for your service, your sacrifice and your shining example of courage.