It's been a long exhausting week, and now that Friday's finally here we present a veteran's story of lighter fare. J.R. Martinez, a 25-year-old Iraq veteran who was severely injured when a 2003 landmine explosion trapped him inside a burning Humvee, will join the cast of the ABC soap All My Children in the role of an Iraq vet. The show actually put out a nation-wide casting call for Iraq veterans to play the part, citing a need to bring true-life accuracy to the performance. Here's a summary of the character, Brot Monroe, whom Martinez will play [via soapdom]:
In story, the character Brot Monroe served in the U.S. Army in Iraq and
was injured in combat. While serving, he fell in love with Lt. Taylor
Thompson (Beth Ehlers). Due to the extent of his injuries, Brot made
the decision to allow Taylor to believe he had died, not wanting to
subject her to the reality of his injuries. The character's injury was
determined by Mr. Martinez’s personal injuries. After many surgeries
and recovery, Brot returns to find his fiancé, who has been grieving
her loss, not knowing Brot is actually still alive.
Back in 2004 the Washington Post profiled Martinez as he worked with the Coalition to Support America's Heroes, which helped vets find jobs and transition to living life with their wounds. According to the profile, Martinez's first days with his injuries from the bomb blast were dark and infused with a feeling of hopelessness.
The 21-year-old U.S. Army corporal was so horrified the first
time he looked at himself in a mirror that he stopped eating, refused
to speak to anyone and seriously considered killing himself.
He has undergone 27 surgeries -- the longest lasted 11
hours -- in the 18 months since a land mine planted in Kabala, Iraq,
turned him into a human fireball and trapped him inside the Humvee he
was driving. His buddies finally pulled him out, and his sergeant
cradled his head in his hands like he was a baby, rocking him back and
forth, back and forth, telling him that he was going to be all right.
All Martinez could do was scream: "My face! My face! My face!" And each
time he would try to touch his face, his sergeant would swat his arm
away. When they loaded him onto a Black Hawk helicopter, Martinez
passed out. He woke up three weeks later.
Five years later he said this about his new acting role to ABC News:
"For me to portray this role as Brot on the show, I think it's easy,
because I can just take myself back to a place when it was painful,
when I did want to be with someone, but I felt that it was better for
them to move on with their life and not be a part of mine because of my
appearance," he said.
Martinez isn't the first Iraq veteran to play, well, an Iraq veteran on television. Rudy Reyes, a former Marine, actually played himself in HBO's miniseries Generation Kill which followed recon Marines during the first weeks of the war in 2003.
