The United States Marine Corps is 234 years old today, and one area Marine took time out to reflect on his years of service, including seeing combat in Grenada, Panama and Desert Storm.
Jorge Martinez retired from the Marine Corps after 26 years of service with the rank of master gunnery sergeant. He bristles, though, when he’s called a “former Marine.”
There’s no such thing as a former Marine, Martinez said.
“Once a Marine; always a Marine. There’s no ‘former’ to it,” he said. “The Corps is in my blood; it’s a part of me and it always will be.”
At age 60, Martinez still looks a fit as any active-duty Marine and proudly wears his uniform on special military occasions.
“I’ve been ranching since I left the Corps and that helps keep me in shape. I still wear the same uniform I wore on duty,” he said. “It’s never been let our or altered; just dry cleaned. If there comes a day I can’t fit in it, I’ll stop wearing it.”
Martinez credits the Marine Corps with molding him into “a solid citizen instead of a jailbird.”
“I was getting into a lot of trouble when I was a teenager. I was hanging with a bad crowd, drinking, fighting,” he recalled. “My uncle, who was a Marine, kind of twisted my arm and took me down to the recruiter. He told me I was going to be a Marine or he’d kick my ass; he meant it, too.”
Boot camp straightened him out, Martinez said, and set him on a course for a career in the Corps. It took years, though, before he’d see combat.
“I came in during the last part of Vietnam, but never got sent into a combat zone until Panama and Grenada,” he said.
Although he took part in Operation Just Cause (Panama) and Operation Urgent Fury (Grenada), he said those were “just skirmishes.” The Persian Gulf War, however, was a very different kind story, Martinez recalled.
“I didn’t see what I considered real combat until Iraq. That was the first time I remember really thinking, ‘I can get my damn head shot off if I screw up,’” he said. “Luckily the Republican Guard, who were supposed to be Saddam Hussein’s best, ran so fast we had a hard time keeping up with them.”
Looking back, Martinez credits the Marines for “everything good” in his life.
I met my wife; we started our lives together; we saved up enough money to buy this little ranch. I’d never have done that if I’d never gone into the Corps,” he said. “I got to see a lot of different countries and do a lot of things other people only read about. There are a lot of days I miss being all that.”
Martinez’ den walls are covered with honors and mementos of his service, from framed medals to certificates and plaques. All are displayed around a large, full-color Marine Corp seal.
To celebrate the Corps 234th birthday, Martinez is traveling to San Antonio for a special dinner with some of the men he served with in Iraq.
“We’ll tell each other war stories, have a few drinks and lie a lot,” he laughed. “Then, we’ll all toast the Corps.”
The Marine Corps traces its roots to the Continental Marines of the American Revolutionary War. They were formed by an act of the Second Continental Congress on Nov. 10, 1775, that authorized the raising of two battalions of Marines.
Since that time, Nov. 10 has been considered the Corps’ “birthday.”
There are currently 203,000 active duty Marines, according to the Corps, along with 40,000 reserve Marines.
12. November 2009 at 5:50 am
now calvin has “vetenvy”
did you check out the link on #24?
11. November 2009 at 8:22 pm
Con-gator/megamouth YOU DIDN’T serve. What a dumb barking dog! Tell us why YOU DIDN’T serve, we promise not to call you a “liberal.” Seriously, a number of people might call you a dumb, barking, self-inflated piece of art, but we won’t call you a liberal.
11. November 2009 at 8:01 pm
Leave the threads open in the morning for real people and stop striving to be the top edc-backed troll on the net developer-boy.
Tell your buddy Allen Owen, Bob Hebert and Charlie Howard to give up the “pay to play” system and try and be real conservatives for a change.
11. November 2009 at 8:00 pm
Shove it jerk.
11. November 2009 at 7:46 pm
calvin check out my #24 its dedicated to you
11. November 2009 at 7:40 pm
This thread was about Matinez, not you charlie. Stop trying to make it about you as usual troll.
11. November 2009 at 6:28 pm
check my post #24 dedicated to our keyboard warriors
11. November 2009 at 4:01 pm
Definitely!
11. November 2009 at 3:49 pm
We should all remember sacrifices Mr. Martinez made and remember them for it on special days like today. Semper Fi
11. November 2009 at 3:13 pm
ru a keyboard warrior?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwIbQ69Gt6s
11. November 2009 at 3:06 pm
OIC you’re a keyboard warrior…..hahaha
11. November 2009 at 3:05 pm
so why didn’t you serve?
11. November 2009 at 3:04 pm
I’ve been spit at, called a baby killer and a nazi, its what liberals think of our vets. So why didn’t you serve calvin?
11. November 2009 at 3:01 pm
Let’s be real Charlie, shall we? You are a little man hiding behind large pervious and obscure constructs of power. As long as you believe you are hiding yourself, you feel safe, but you are not a Vet or a man, and the constructs that you throw up, are of your own making. In the real world you are a blowhard and a jerk.
11. November 2009 at 2:49 pm
Some tiny insect keeps buzzing around my ear. What a pest!
11. November 2009 at 2:44 pm
You should be ashamed of yourself!
11. November 2009 at 2:44 pm
How would you know whether he is or not, with all the lies he has told in here. You claimed you didn’t know him outside these boards. Hum. If he is lying again then their is nothing lower and you owe patriot an apology. After all this story is about Mr Martinez, not fbc.
11. November 2009 at 2:36 pm
Keep digging that hole…you should be ashamed of yourself.
11. November 2009 at 2:33 pm
…and a scoundrel.
11. November 2009 at 2:32 pm
You liar…
11. November 2009 at 2:30 pm
What a way to treat a veteran on Veteran’s Day.
11. November 2009 at 2:24 pm
Who was it that said, “patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel?”
Con-gator is Megamouth and he sure as heck did not serve in the military. It shows and he glows yellow!!
Con-gator, stop hiding behind Jorge Martinez. He does not need or want you or your kind!
11. November 2009 at 2:10 pm
Thanks Mega, I was proud to serve unlike our troll. So why didn’t you serve calvin?
11. November 2009 at 2:09 pm
Did someone hear something? hmmm strange
11. November 2009 at 2:08 pm
How would you know if he is really a veteran? He lies to us all the time in here. How do you know he is telling the truth now mega? If he is a vet, he is a mighty bad example of one and I would keep my kid away from him. I would take him to see a real veteran who is still a good example like Martinez!
11. November 2009 at 2:04 pm
Only you would talk to a veteran like that on Veteran’s Day.
Showing your true colors. You should be ashamed of yourself.
Thank you for your service to this nation, FBC!
11. November 2009 at 1:58 pm
You, my little kitten, are a loud liar to cover your ignorance and cowardice.
11. November 2009 at 1:38 pm
Yep 100% red white and blue a true patriot not a phony like you. BTW why didn’t you serve besides being afraid?
11. November 2009 at 1:37 pm
Only you would trash this thread…
11. November 2009 at 1:25 pm
There is no way, on God’s green earth, that con-gator was ever a vet. He is trying to dirty the name of honest Vets by associating himself with them. Of all days to pull such a dirty trick! Con-gator/megamouth has never served his country in any positive way! The closest he has ever come to being a vet is maybe a veterinarian’s assistant…
11. November 2009 at 6:34 am
Thanks to all my fellow Vets for your service on this Veterans Day.
10. November 2009 at 4:03 pm
Thanks Gunney
hay calvin what branch of service were you in….snicker
10. November 2009 at 3:17 pm
Thank you so much for your lifelong service to this nation, Master Gunnery Sergeant Martinez!