Kay Martinez
Hi. My name is Kay Martinez, talking to my dad.
Arnold Martinez
Arnold J. A Martinez, retired Air Force.
Kay Martinez
We wanted to talk about your military life. Going back to the beginning, you weren't drafted. You decided you wanted to go into the military life.
Arnold Martinez
I was only 17 at the time. Had to have my mother's permission. She gave permission reluctantly, and then ever since then, I've been in military life mode.
An Air Force recruiter approached me, and I jumped at the chance, because I always loved aircraft. And in Salt Lake City, I'd been flown there in the C-47 and guess what: I couldn't pass the eye test.
I was really upset. I didn't even have enough good vision to be a navigator.
I'd already sold my chemistry books, my physics books, my calculus books. So I was sitting there without my books. I said, I'm going to join the Air Force anyway.
Another reason I got in the military in the first place was I wanted to get away from religion. I had been in several religions which my mother had picked out for us. Baptized a Catholic when I was born, and then we got into Protestant, and LDS, and then Jehovah's Witness.
I thought the end of the world was coming any moment, always under that onus, it made me live in fear. And this is all in my teenage years. So you know, I was still building up who I was going to be, and in the military, I could go somewhere else and maybe be my different self.
We were sent off to Biloxi, Mississippi for Morse Intercept Operator. I passed it, and they sent us off into Germany, and that is when I ran into your mother.
Most of the people I met in Germany always wanted to speak English with me, and I asked her, "Please, would you just speak German to me?" And she agreed!
Yeah, we were going together for some time. And then I asked her parents if we'd have a premarital honeymoon in Spain: "I hate to go back from Europe without visiting Spain." And they agreed!
Kay Martinez
Oh! That's how that worked out.
Arnold Martinez
By the way, my parents in Germany were like my second family, especially my mother-in-law. I really miss her. Yeah.
And we actually got married in the Standesamt, that's a German official place. They had to do the marriage vows in German and in English. And after we got married, it was time for me to leave, which was a big problem. We had to keep going back and forth to Hamburg to get paperwork, to get her a green card, to get back to the states.
And I was sent to Vietnam as an intelligence operations specialist. It was surreal. We would be in our hooch where we lived, and watched the war go on — all of the helicopters coming in like a swarm of dragonflies.
And I have to say something about Taiwan, that's where I actually took up tennis for the first time, and I got hooked on it. After that, I was playing tennis all the time — at every base.
Kay Martinez
Was it maybe a coping mechanism as well?
Arnold Martinez
I don't know. I looked at it as a sport that I could play for the rest of my life.
I feel like I've done my duty for my country, and I've done my duty for my community as a teacher and a coach. I hope I can be remembered for that, and for being a good husband, and a good father, and good tennis player.
Kay Martinez
All right, I think we're done then.
Arnold Martinez
Over and out.
