Paul Martinez

Photo By Sgt. Alejandro Bedoya | Paul Martinez has spent the last year as a combat correspondent at the Combat Center. He is a rising journalist and is moving on to a new duty station at Camp Lejeune.  

TWENTYNINE PALMS, CA, UNITED STATES

07.17.2014

Story by Cpl. Ali Azimi 

Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center

TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. - Paul Martinez: I consider myself somewhat of a movie buff.

What I love about movies is how every movie explores a different world or idea of somebody’s fantasy.

When I was a kid, what I always thought were cool were actors.

It wasn’t because of how much money they make or how famous they are, but they look like they have a lot of fun. They experience so many different things.

As I got a little bit older, I got more attached to the idea of joining the military.

Its funny, it’s not really similar to being an actor, but in the military I too get to experience a lot of different things.

My favorite movie is "Wolf of Wall Street." In my opinion any collaboration between the actor, Leonard DiCaprio, and the director, Martin Scorsese, is going to be a success.

I enjoy reading anything from comic books to things that would be considered regular books.

Spider-Man is my fictional hero. He’s a young guy who didn’t really get a grip on life until he had a life-changing event.

One of the things I love about him is he lives by the philosophy, “With great power comes great responsibility.”

I just feel that I may be a young guy, but if I have the power I have a responsibility to do something, whether it’s for the betterment of fellow Marines or my family.

I reach my two-year mark in September. Somehow, someway, I’ve been selected to be a part of the Ground-Combat Element Integrated Task Force for duty as a Combat Correspondent.

It was really a surprise initially. I’ve only been here a year and I’m already going through a (Permanent Change of Station.)

It’s defiantly a good feeling. I’m the guy that, if presented the opportunity, I accept it and embrace it for what it is. That's the mentality I have with this.

The thing about Twentynine Palms is, being a premiere pre-deployment training facility, you get so many different units, both American and foreign, training bilaterally here.

I’ve had the opportunity to work with units all over the Marine Corps and even some outside, such as the British Royal Marines.

A while back, I got to work with them, which is something I’ve always wanted to do.

They’re cool. They called me things like, “lad” and “mate.” I took them as compliments. But I could see that they’re just like us and they respect the warrior ethos.

I really enjoyed the fact that I was able to work with them and that was only because they came here.

Twentynine Palms has taught me to be somewhere so hot yet still thrive. Its definitely a unique place and I truly believe that only the Marine Corps would choose to call it home.

I’m proud to say that I’ve spent an entire year here as a Marine. I think a lot of people look down on it because of what they hear.

Unless you actually experience it, you’ll find out there is a very active community both on and off base. If you have the resources, you can travel and have fun.

You can go somewhere and bum yourself out over it or you can take the opportunity presented to you.

• Date Taken: 07.17.2014
• Date Posted: 07.17.2014 17:19
• Story ID: 136445
• Location: TWENTYNINE PALMS, CA, US