Sand Box Hero

Photo By Justin Graff | Pfc. Victor Martinez from Houston, Texas, and assigned to the 57th Expeditionary...... read more read more

Photo By Justin Graff | Pfc. Victor Martinez from Houston, Texas, and assigned to the 57th Expeditionary Signal Battalion shows off some blistering arpeggios on a Silver Surfer Signature Series Ibanez guitar. (U.S. Army Photo by Sgt. Justin Graff)  see less | View Image Page

ZABUL, AFGHANISTAN

01.27.2010

Courtesy Story

5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division

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Wolverine warrior wields a different kind of ax:

FORWARD OPERATING BASE WOLVERINE — While most might find it hard to find peace through listening to the pounding rhythm and screaming chords that define metal music, for at least one Soldiers deployed in support of the 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, the outlet takes him to a place far away from the day-to-day life deployed here and offers a kind of peace.

"Metal has always been a way for me forget about all the stress. There's plenty of stress here, it's nice to plug in and just get away," said Pfc. Victor Martinez while belting out blistering arpeggios on a Signature series Silver Surfer Ibanez axe.

His main guitar at home is a Schecter Elite Series, but he hopes to get his hands on a Jackson Alexi Laiho Signature Flying "V". He plays through a Line6 Spider III amp, using the channels with no pedals.

Born and raised in Texas, Martinez is making the best of his first deployment. Just a couple of years ago Victor was bringing the chaos as the lead guitar player in Breath of the Dying, based out of Houston. The band was taking steps to obtain that coveted ink and paper deal, and played with heavy hitters of the metal scene like Children of Bodom, Darkest Hour, and The Black Dahlia Murder. However, all good things came to an end, and the end of his band brought Victor to the Army in 2008.

He enlisted as a microwave system operator/maintainer. He deployed to Afghanistan in July of 2009 with the 57th Expeditionary Signal Battalion out of Fort Hood, Texas. In the sand box here he manages a very intricate military computer network, which is a lot of responsibility for a private first class.

His job involves setting up satellites, laying fiber optic cable, and hand-wiring Ethernet. He also provides management and customer service. When someone calls with a network problem, it's his job to go to their location and solve the problem. Not everyone understands Internet protocol addresses, subnet masks, default gateways, and domain name systems so the level of aggravation can be high. Victor is a thinker, though, and says the solutions are typically far simpler than what many might think.

Still, dealing with real people and cyber space, particularly in a combat zone, might make anyone look for some peace in the few hours of down time. Martinez finds that through the feeling of strings at his fingertips. It's a feeling that captured him the first time he picked up a guitar, when he was 17.

"Alright everyone makes fun of me for this, don't laugh," said Martinez. "My inspiration to pick up a guitar came from Kirk Hammet. Something about the way he shreds, it's so tasteful!"

He's a dedicated Metallica fan with a particular appreciation for "Ride the Lighting," which he says is Kirk's best work to date. But his taste has gone to a much darker place since he started playing.

"My favorite bands right now would have to be The Absence, and Darkest Hour. Although, I'm really open minded when it comes to music. I'm not the kind of guy who blows something off just because it's not metal. I really like blues, and wish I could play in that style. But for now, metal is my flavor"

Martinez listens to everything from old country to ... well, metal. He does have a certain distaste for the top 40 pop of today.

"Ugh ... Coldplay sounds like elevator music, and Nickelback is so unbelievably corny. It's just too prepackaged and produced."

Martinez plans on learning some new styles and recording an album when he returns home from deployment. In the mean time, if he could get lightning to shoot out of his guitar he might defeat the Taliban himself with his class-A licks. They'd probably be begging for mercy before the 'face-melter' at the two-minute mark. Serving his country, and his fellow metal heads, Victor Martinez may just be a true Steel Avenger.