PRESERVING A MILITARY LEGACY FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS
The following Reflection represents QM3 Nicolette Martinez’s legacy of their military service from 1990 to 1994. If you are a Veteran, consider preserving a record of your own military service, including your memories and photographs, on Togetherweserved.com (TWS), the leading archive of living military history. The Service Reflections is an easy-to-complete self-interview, located on your TWS Military Service Page, which enables you to remember key people and events from your military service and the impact they made on your life.
Where did you go to Boot Camp/ Basic Training? What specific memories do you have of instructors, fellow recruits and any rigorous training?:
I went to boot camp in Orlando, FL beginning September 9, 1990. My company was K106. I had a female and male company commanders. She was very hardcore and much harder on us recruits than he was. He was higher rank. The one specific memory I have is not the happiest. We had one woman who had just made it to the age cut off. She was Filipino and her English wasn’t very good. She was an introvert and her age set her apart from the rest of us as we were mostly 18-20 years old. I’m going to call her Maggie to protect her identity due to the nature of her sad story.
Maggie had not been taking a shower since we had arrived. It was still pretty hot in Florida and we were doing all that marching and exercising in the heat. She was really starting to smell pretty rank and our company was noticing it.
As you all know, sleep is precious in boot camp! I was the first person to stand watch in our company for our barracks. Of course it was the mid-watch! About 0300 I heard someone in the bathroom so I went in and checked who was up while I was on my rounds. I found Maggie taking a shower by herself (you know we didn’t have the luxury of privacy-at least not back then)! But what was the real shocker was her whole back, legs, and bottom were covered in terrible bruises and lacerations. I had to ask her what happened. In her broken English and tears, she told me she ran away from her husband who beat her ( he was also in the Navy!!!) and he had no idea where she was, no one did. She had to find a way to hide and make money. She begged me not to tell anyone especially not our company commanders but I told her she needed medical attention because some of her wounds looked like they might be infected. The next morning I went in to tell my company commanders what I saw and what Maggie told me. They immediately called her into their office. Maggie was sent to medical. Later on my company commanders told me that she was on medical hold but I did the right thing and maybe even saved her from serious complications. I injured my ankle and had to go to medical and ran into Maggie and she gave me the biggest smile and said she was going to be able to return to another company to finish boot camp. She also said that her husband was arrested and was being court-martialed! I was so happy to hear that the military was doing right by her! So often in domestic violence cases, the military does not do justice for the victims. I will never forget what that woman’s body looked like! It has been ingrained in my heart forever!
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This woman is my friend & I could not be more proud of her. She is an inspiration & the strongest person I know
A testimony of her good nature, she has always taken care of the people around her, friends and strangers alike!
Thank you for a wonderful story about what it means to take the initiative to protect our comrades-in-arms. I was only 41 in 1990. I would have loved to give “Maggie’s” estranged husband some private wall-to-wall counseling — just to help him adjust his attitude.