In the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, appearance is almost everything and plastic surgery – to achieve the perfect body, the perfect face, and perfect skin – is commonplace if tabloids and TV shows can be believed.

So, as soap opera star J.R. Martinez of “All My Children” sees it, he fits right in. After all, he’s had more than 30 surgeries. The only difference between Martinez and other young actors: Instead of getting a nose job or Botox shots from high-priced Beverly Hills surgeons, Martinez spent more than two years at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, undergoing skin grafts and treatments for burns that covered 40 percent of his body.

That’s because Martinez – who plays Brot Monroe, an Army veteran burned in combat – used to be Cpl. J.R. Martinez of the 101st Airborne Division. He deployed to Iraq during the initial invasion in March 2003 at the age of 19, only six months after enlisting, still so green he wasn’t sure he could find Iraq on a map. Less than a month later, April 5, the front left tire of the Humvee he was driving hit a landmine. Three other Soldiers were thrown from the vehicle and sustained mostly minor injuries, but he was trapped inside.

Minutes before, he and the Soldier riding shotgun had been joking about how cool it would be to get a Purple Heart and not have to wait in line at restaurants back in the States.

“The things you say and never think it’s going to lead to anything,” he remembered, “because humor is the biggest thing you’ve got to maintain while you’re over there. That’s what keeps you going.”

But it wasn’t cool, and instead of laughing, he was soon screaming for help as smoke filled the Humvee and flames consumed him.

“It’s going to end for me. This is it,” he thought.

Raised by a single mother, Maria Zavala, who had emigrated from El Salvador and had already lost one child, he realized that there was no way he could put her through that again. He had to hang on. By the time his buddies were able to get him out (Martinez later learned insurgents had attacked their convoy as soon as the landmine went off), 10 or 15 minutes had gone by and, conscious the entire time, he was in unspeakable pain.

“It’s really hard to explain,” Martinez said. “You know how you burn yourself on an iron or stove and how painful that is, or maybe a sunburn, and the pain is just excruciating’ This was just on-another-world-, on-another-universe-painful. It was just so far beyond what I had ever known and what I’ve ever experienced that there’s no way to explain it. It’s an unbearable pain. Burns are something I would never wish upon my worst enemy.”

The third-degree burns were so deep, and he lost so much fluid and tissue, that after a while, they destroyed the nerves. The smoke damage was so severe that his lungs and other organs began to shut down. Martinez was put in a medically induced coma for the pain-that and because he kept trying to touch his face, thinking he could make it feel cooler.

One of the medics later told him that he had to be strapped to his bed at the evacuation hospital after he bounced up and told everyone to leave him alone because he was “fine.” In reality, when he arrived at BAMC four days later, doctors still weren’t sure if he would make it, and kept him in the coma for almost three weeks.

After he came out of it, he remained completely dependant on others for weeks, and nurses escorted him to the showers every morning for debridement (removing the dead, scarred skin), which Martinez said was even more painful than the initial burns. But after several days of the torture, he became suspicious: “What the hell is going on’ Why is this so painful’ What does it hurt so much’” he thought, and demanded to see a mirror, although his doctors and nurses were vehemently opposed. They thought it was too soon and would be traumatic, but Martinez insisted.

“‘I want to see my face. I want to see my body, now,’” he told them, explaining that he was the one who would have to live with it for the rest of his life. Why bother putting it off? It would be just as devastating later, so surely it was better to get it over with. When they finally agreed and sat him in front of a mirror, the sight of his face, neck and hands was a shock that sent him into a depression so deep, he began to wonder if he would have been better off dying in that Humvee.

The life he had dreamed of was certainly back in its burned out shell. At the age of 19, he was no longer the handsome young athlete everyone had talked about, and he no longer knew how he would ever find a girlfriend, let alone get married or have children.

“I just felt, looking at my body, there’s no way I’m ever going to be able to experience that,” he said. “My life was spared, but for what?”

Martinez grieved for the man he had been, only going through the motions of his recovery, wondering what he had done to deserve such a punishment, until about five weeks after he had arrived at the hospital when his mother — who had gone through her own ordeal watching her only son face death and disfigurement — snapped him out of it. She explained that he had a lot to learn about life. Looks weren’t everything. In fact, she joked, she was proof.

“‘People are going to be in your life for who you are as a person and not what you look like,’” she told him. “‘I remember when I was younger, everyone told me I was pretty and gave me compliments. No one tells me that now.’”

Something clicked and Martinez immediately answered, “‘You know what, Mom? You’re right. And now, I’m actually glad this happened to me.’”

“‘Wait a minute, what do you mean you’re happy?”

“‘Now I get to see who liked me as a person, versus who liked me for being the popular guy in school, being the athlete, being the handsome young man. Now I get to see who really loves me or likes me for who I am as a person,’” he said. In that instant he understood, and he suddenly had a new mission.

Between his 32 (eventually 33) surgeries, and therapies to stretch his tender, growing skin (he even had to wear a mask to compress the scarring on his face), Martinez began to visit other, newly wounded servicemembers on the wards at BAMC. They too were often badly burned, some with faces that had been nearly charred off. They too were devastated and sometimes didn’t want to go on living, but Martinez noticed that after he talked to them, they seemed to cope a little better.

“I said to myself, ‘I think this is my gift. I’m going to share my gift with other wounded troops because a lot of these guys are arriving here without a clue of what to expect. I’ve been through it. Maybe I can just kind of help them and prepare them on what to expect.’ So I started visiting patients on the wards every day,” he explained.

The local and then national media began to pick up his story, and before he knew it, he was in the Washington Post and on “60 Minutes” and “Oprah,” talking about hope and renewal, explaining that if wounded warriors could just find the strength they had in battle, or even when they enlisted, they could make it through this war too.

Due to his heavy scarring, Martinez is used to getting some strange looks when he hits the streets, and he wants injured servicemembers, burn victims and other people with disfigurements to know that that’s OK. In fact, he embraces the strange looks, and if someone wants to ask about his scars, that’s fine too, because Martinez views the looks and questions as opportunities to educate people about true beauty.

“We have the power,” he explained. “The more we sit there, the more we accept the unfortunate things that have happened, the more we embrace those things and own them, we have the power to actually change the mindset and allow these people to be completely comfortable with scarring, with disfigurement. But what we have to do is go out to the public. We can’t be afraid. We have to step up and say we’re going to go out there, because the more they see, the more they start to say, ‘OK, you know what’ There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s unfortunate, but it’s kind of common.’”

In 2006, when one of his noncommissioned officers urged him to stay in the Army and continue motivating other Soldiers after he was finally discharged from BAMC, Martinez explained that his new uniform was his scarred skin, and his new weapons were his words. He spent two years doing motivational speaking and nonprofit work for wounded troops, and then one day in 2008 he got an e-mail: “All My Children” had decided to launch a short-term storyline about the difficulties returning veterans faced, and thought it might be interesting to cast the role with a real veteran. Martinez had no acting experience, but he had done hundreds of speaking events at that point, and figured he had nothing to lose by auditioning.

Getting the role of Brot Monroe, who had let his fiancee and family believe he was dead rather than let them see his scars, was surreal to Martinez, especially because during his recovery at BAMC, while forced to watch his mother’s telenovelas every night from his hospital bed, he had joked with her that he would be on a soap one day. He already knew the plot and everything: Man gets beautiful girl. Man is in car accident or fire. Girl visits man in hospital. Man turns out to be Martinez. Martinez gets beautiful girl.

Things have been far from that straightforward for Brot as he struggles to come to terms with his scars and civilian life in fictional Pine Valley, Pa., but he has connected with audiences. Martinez’s three-month stint became a long-term contract, with Brot joining the local police force, and even finding possible romance with a beautiful lady detective. The show’s writers and producers, Martinez said, try to be as accurate as possible, and give him a lot of input. They even incorporated his 33rd surgery last summer to fix one of his eyelids into “All My Children’s” storyline.

While his character carries a lot of anger and grief, and occasionally lashes out at friends and coworkers, Martinez hasn’t found those scenes to be especially painful, explaining that because he has already worked through his own pain, he can go to that place for the scene and then turn his emotions off. Many viewers are actually surprised that he’s a real veteran and not a regular actor wearing heavy makeup, waiting for a “miracle” plastic surgery cure.

“I remember one day sitting in Grand Central Station (in New York), waiting for a friend, and all of a sudden a guy’s walking by and he said, ‘Are you guys filming a scene here” At first it’s understandable that people think it’s makeup because TV does crazy things. However, it’s nice for people to understand and learn over time that it’s real and become educated about it,” Martinez explained, adding that “All My Children” is a great way for him to educate people about wounded Soldiers and motivate people going through their own battles.

Martinez is writing a book about his experiences, and hopes to have his own talk show some day. In the mean time, he still does a host of motivational speaking and charity work on behalf of wounded troops, who he’ll often invite to the show’s new Los Angeles set (the show, and Martinez, just moved to LA from New York). In time-honored military tradition, once they’ve finished making fun of him for acting on a soap opera, and bonding over shared experiences, Martinez explains that it might be his name and face out there, but that’s it. He’s out there for them. They inspire him. He’s been home from war for seven years, so recently returning vets are fighting for his freedom as much as anyone else’s, and he has a debt to repay.

“Although a lot of these guys say that I inspire them, a lot of them inspire me,” Martinez said. “When I’m having a bad day, I just think about a lot of them, and I just think, ‘What am I sitting here complaining about’ These guys have gone through so much more.’”

Elizabeth M. Collins
U.S. Army

Pilots from Australian, United Arab Emirates and U.S. army aviation task forces pose for a group photo before a combined mission June 30 to destroy insurgent repeater towers in southern Afghanistan. This was the first time the three nations' aviators had worked together in an effort in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. (Photo by Spc. Mario Smith

The International Security Assistance Force, composed of countries worldwide, was established to secure Afghanistan.

June 28 marked the first day of a series of missions that enabled pilots from Australia, the United Arab Emirates and the United States to embrace the ISAF dream as they combined forces to destroy insurgent repeater towers in southern Afghanistan.

It was the first time that the United Arab Emirates has joined forces with a U.S. Army combat aviation brigade, in this case, Task Force Thunder, 159th Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, for such an operation.

United Arab Emirates Army Aviation Task Force 14 pilots flew an AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter, and pilots from Troop A, Task Force Palehorse, 7th Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, flew an OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter over mountainous terrain in a combined effort to destroy insurgent communication towers.

The towers, which resemble radio antennas, were strategically placed along mountainsides for maximum reception and were difficult to see from a distance.

“We were able to locate the repeaters through deliberate reconnaissance and other forms of intelligence gathering,” said Maj. Matthew Chambers, the fire support officer for Task Force Thunder.

A repeater is a tower that collects information sent to it from one radio and sends the information to another radio, allowing a flow of long-range communication.

“Whenever we destroy or disable an insurgent repeater tower, it disrupts their command and control structure,” Chambers said.

“Communication is the number one key for any soldier on the battlefield,” said Warrant Officer Jeff Hughes, an electronic warfare officer for Task Force Thunder. “If you can’t communicate, you can’t complete the mission.”

The United Arab Emirates is a strong supporter of coalition efforts here and contributes greatly to efforts to stabilize Afghanistan.

“They invest just as much time as we do while we’re deployed, and they want to get involved,” said Capt. Joshua D. England, OH-58 Kiowa helicopter pilot and commander for Troop A, Task Force Palehorse.

The three countries came together as one unit to work together toward a common goal, a solidification of a unified effort in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Maj. Dean Thompson, the Australian army aviator attached to Task Force Thunder, who flew in the Kiowa, said he was proud to have had the opportunity to work in conjunction with both the United Arab Emirates and the U.S.

“It was a great opportunity to learn from pilots of other countries,” he said. “I was impressed with the professional atmosphere.”

The pilots from the United Arab Emirates agree.

Omar S. Al Kuait, an AH-64 Apache pilot for the United Arab Emirates Army Aviation Task Force 14, said not only was it a success, but he felt joining forces with other ISAF forces for this mission was an excellent recommendation, and he would be happy to join forces again in the future.

DVIDS
By Spc. Jennifer Andersson
Task Force Thunder Public Affairs

Army Capt. Kim Walter works on her daily reports at Contingency Operating Site Warrior in Kirkuk, Iraq, March 7, 2011. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Alyxandra McChesney

Capt. Kim Walter knew she wasn’t going to get rich when she became the first woman in her family to join the Army.

“I didn’t join for the money, and I didn’t join for school,” said the operations officer serving here with the 1st Infantry Division’s 101st Brigade Support Battalion, 1st Advise and Assist Task Force. “I joined to serve for my country.”

The journey began for Walter, who calls Crowley, La., home, when she enlisted as a private in 1990. A year later, at age 18, she deployed for the Persian Gulf War as a combat medic and the only woman in her company.

“It was my first time away from home,” she said. “I had no idea what to expect. I was exposed to things I had never seen before.

“When we moved from Kuwait to Iraq in tanks,” she continued, “the moment we engaged the enemy we had to jump out of the vehicle, dig fox holes and get into our fighting positions, until the enemy fire was suppressed.”

As night fell, the troops lined up vehicles in columns and dug fox holes deep enough to provide cover from enemy fire, she explained.

Walter said her leaders and peers didn’t treat her differently because she was a woman. “I was never asked to do less than the male soldiers fighting next to me,” she said. “I was expected to do the same as everyone else, and that’s what I did.”

In 2004, Walter deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom as a platoon leader and flight medic with the 101st Airborne Division’s 50th Medical Company, based out of Fort Campbell, Ky.

“I still remember every patient I worked on, every detail of their injuries and every face,” she said. “Those are some of the things I will never forget.”

While deployed as a flight medic, her job was to respond to medical evacuations by helicopter.

“I joined as a combat medic to help people,” she said. “Until then, I didn’t realize the capacity in what I could do to save people’s lives.”

Walter was recognized for her achievements in a National Geographic book titled, “Count On Us: American Women in the Military” by Amy Nathan, published in 2004.

“I was fortunate enough to have leaders that didn’t single me out as a female,” she said. “They gave me the same opportunities as every other soldier under them. They pushed me to strive and work hard to be the best soldier I could be.”

During her 17 years of enlisted service, Walter took advantage of the opportunities the Army provided. She attended Baker College in Michigan and earned a bachelor’s degree in health services and administration.

In 2007, Walter decided to pursue a commission.

“I have seen the Army change … in so many different ways since I joined,” she said. “I have seen it go from ‘Be all that you can be’ to ‘Army of One,’ and now ‘Army Strong,’” she said.

“I do miss being [a noncommissioned officer] and working directly with my soldiers. An officer’s job does more of the preparation and planning of missions, and the NCO works directly with the soldiers to execute, and get the missions done.”

Walter uses her experience and knowledge to help her staff and soldiers grow in their military careers and to overcome obstacles.

“Because of her experience as an NCO, we can turn to her for any questions, advice or concerns we may have,” said Army Staff Sgt. Jonathan Grape, battle operations NCO in U.S. Division North. “She teaches me new things about the Army every day, and I use her as a learning tool to help me grow as an NCO.”

Walter said she is approaching 21 years of active military service and plans to continue her service until 2017.

“I am honored and proud to say that I serve and fight with the most diverse organization in the world, the U.S. military,” she said.

By Army Pfc. Alyxandra McChesney
U.S. Division North
Department of Defense

Afghan boys wait for the Cash for Work Program to start outside Stronghold Dog, Afghanistan, Jan. 29. The program is ran by Dog Company, 2-502, 101st Airborne Battalion and provides partnership with the local community by providing income for day labor and the turning in of unexploded ordnance. Photo by Staff Sgt. Joseph Swafford

On an unseasonably cold and rainy morning in southern Afghanistan, hundreds of local villagers approach a small stronghold manned by the Afghan National Army and soldiers from Dog Company 2-502, 101st Airborne Division. Approaching the seemingly endless lines of concertina wire that surround the stronghold, they line up in rows for the chance to do what many Afghans want to do: make an honest living to support their families.

U.S. Army Sgt. Robert Smith runs the “Cash for Work Program” that employs so many Afghans. Because of the compound’s location, it is vital to clear the area of debris and deny the Taliban concealment. That’s where the local Afghans come in.

“We pay them to trim tree branches or cut them down altogether,” Smith said. “This place used to be surrounded by tree lines that provided the Taliban cover. This removes their advantage and puts the local community to work.”

Smith said as many as 250 Afghans show up every day for work with some walking more than an hour for a chance to earn money.

“I didn’t know how massive this was going to be at first,” Smith explained in his obvious Texas drawl. “Most of these people have very meager possessions. Many of them had farms south of Highway One. The Taliban pushed them out and now they live in a massive camp with a lot of other displaced locals. But now that we’re pushing the Taliban out, some are moving back to the south to reclaim their land.”

With the help of Khan, an English teacher from Kabul and one of the stronghold’s interpreters, and ANA soldiers, Smith assigns jobs to the Afghans. The bigger, stronger workers remove trees, while others dig or remove branches and other debris.

“This is a very good program,” Khan said in near-perfect English. “These people have a chance to earn an honest living. More importantly, it removes them from Taliban influence and builds trust.”

While Khan went to direct younger Afghan workers on where to place tree branches, Smith explained that along with the work the Afghans provide, and sometimes information on Taliban activity in the area, some of the workers show up with some interesting items that give the soldiers more work of their own to do – unexploded ordnance.

U.S. Army Sgt. Robert Smith, 2-502, 101st Airborne Division looks into a pit of unexpolded ordinances turned in during the Cash for Work Program at Stronghold Dog, Afghanistan, Jan. 29. The program provides partnership with the local community by providing income for day labor and the turning in of unexploded ordnance. Photo by Staff Sgt. Joseph Swafford

“We see everything from old Russian munitions, land mines, mortars, grenades to 107 [mm] rockets,” Smith said with a slight grin. “Depending on what they bring us, they can earn some extra money. This makes the program worth it because even if they don’t do any work and bring in only one IED, lives are saved.”

Standing next to a big hole in the ground filled with all kinds of explosives, Smith pointed and laughed as he said, “EOD is going to [freak out] when they see all this.”

By giving local Afghans jobs that decrease the amount of Taliban attacks in the area, Afghan farmers now understand the benefits of the program and are more forthcoming to the soldiers by providing information.

“At first they came up and asked if they can farm on their land,” Smith said. “They seemed a little intimidated. We told them, ‘of course you can farm here. We’re not going to deny anyone a chance to make a living.’ That opened the doors for us to communicate more openly with them.”

With all the progress made so far, there is still a lot of work to be done. As the ANA and Dog Company expand the stronghold, Smith excitingly said he is really looking forward to fortifying security when the workers complete a moat around the entire compound.

DVIDS
Story by Tech. Sgt. Kevin Wallace

Medics from, Company C, 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry load a patient into a UH-60A helicopter, March 30, at Forward Operating Base Waza Khawa, Paktika Province, Afghanistan. The patient was an Afghan pregnant female woman who had suffered birth complications, which put her life in danger. The patient was medically evacuated to FOB Orgun-E, where the surgical team performed two life-saving surgeries.

Assisting local nationals is nothing new for Company C, 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division medics as they have provided medical care for citizens of the greater Waza Khawa district area in the past.

But on the afternoon of March 30, however, they raced against the clock to save the life of a pregnant Afghan woman.

On the morning of March 28 the woman admitted herself to the local female clinic in the Village of Waza Khawa, Afghanistan, with pregnancy complications. After three days of attempting to induce a natural birth, the local nurse in charge of the clinic referred her for further care to the aid station at Forward Operation Base Waza Khawa, said U.S. Army Capt. William Cragun, the 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry doctor.

Despite such short notice, the medics of ’Choppin’ Company sprung into action to assist the patient. The severity of the young mother’s condition, mixed with the basic equipment available in the battalion aid station, posed a unique challenge for the medic-team, Cragun said.

An extensive evaluation determined that the mother had lost her child and that the medics needed to perform a hasty delivery to save her life.

Stretched to the extent of their medical training, the Company C medics made multiple attempts to induce a natural birth with various labor positions, delivery maneuvers and medications, said Cragun.

When attempts at delivery failed, the mother’s condition worsened over time forcing the medics to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation three times to bring her back to life, said Cragun.

While the Company C medics stabilized the patient for transport, the unit requested a medical evacuation to fly her from FOB Waza Khawa to FOB Orgun-E for a higher level of care. Because of language barriers and cultural considerations, the patient’s husband accompanied her to FOB Orgun-E, said U.S. Army 1st Lt. John Black, an adjutant with 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry .

After arriving at FOB Orgun-E the doctors and medics moved her directly to the operating room, where the forward surgical team of doctors performed two major life saving surgeries.

“The team of doctors and medics in the operating room were extremely professional and technically proficient. Each person in the room knew exactly what their job was and they were instrumental in saving [her life],” said Black.

The patient is expected to make a full recovery, he added.

CJTF-101
U.S. Army 1st Lt. David Hanson
3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment