Veteran's Corner - Penny Martinez

PULLMAN - Local, and Commander of the Garfield American Legion Post Number 24, Penny Martinez, joined the Army Reserves in 1986 when she was 17.

Martinez shared that she was part of the 104th training brigade in Spokane, the Timberwolves.

"I did two drills before I even went to basic training," Martinez said, adding that she went to Fort McClellan in Alabama in July 1986.

"I turned 18 on the day I got to my unit," she said, adding that it was her basic training unit at Fort McClellan.

After basic training, she would go to Fort Lee to do logistics, supplies, and armor operations before returning to her unit in Spokane.

Martinez spent a few years at her Spokane unit before meeting her husband, after which she joined active duty.

"I joined to get away from Washington and ended up at Fort Lewis," she said, noting that it was an excellent assignment.

The assignment was part of the Division Fort Command at Fort Lewis before they moved to Alaska.

"Wonderful people that I worked with there," she said, "The Taee was our log there."

From there, Martinez was given a special assignment to the criminal investigations command as admin support, which she added she loved explaining she never saw a group of people who worked so hard.

Martinez explained the first 72 hours of a case are critical.

"I didn't want to be an agent because I didn't want to be military police or an investigator," she added, noting that she went on to become a paralegal after that.

Martinez then went to the disciplinary barracks at Fort Leavenworth, the maximum security prison for all the branches, and served two years there.

Martinez explained that Fort Leavenworth is home to the CGNS CAS Cubes School, so she saw and interacted with many international officers who went to school there.

"We had officers from all over the world living on Coast with us; it was very cool," she said.

Martinez then returned to Germany to a bolt brigade legal office, where different units got assigned a person.

She explained that she would spend four years working with everyone in the combined officer there waiting for a new assignment, generally about three years in a regular rotation to Germany.

Afterward, she went to Fort Hood, adding that she spent ten years there and wanted to move down to San Antonio for her final assignment, which didn't work out.

"I ended up retiring from Fort Hood after 20 years of active duty and five years of guard," she said.

Martinez noted that her job predominantly handled the investigators' HR personnel aspect but was assigned an additional task.

"We had a civilian secretary who was supposed to do a review of the case files," Martinez explained, adding that these files were sent to the National Crimes Records Center. The secretary had been struggling with a lot of the cases.

Cases included child abuse, car wrecks, murder victims, and domestic abuse, Martinez explained.

"They asked me if I would come in and do double duty with her on preparing the case files to go to the national crimes records center, so I did," Martinez said, adding that it was interesting.

Martinez shared that reviewing the case files, ensuring all the attachments were there, checking all the records and statements, and ensuring they were all complete led her into the realm of paralegal work.

"That aspect of it was fascinating to me," she added, adding that being a paralegal just seemed like the natural next step after watching them at work.

Martinez handled cases in Germany, and then when she became a paralegal, she worked as one at the disciplinary barracks and Fort Hood for ten years.

She added that doing that work gave her massive respect for emergency responders.

"They talk a lot about Veterans and their experiences that cause PTSD. Our emergency responders are supposed to do it daily," Martinez said, reiterating her respect for their work.

Working the cases was hard, Martinez shared, adding that it was her job to help the prosecutor prepare for the case, review the statements and photos, and go in and do additional interviews or prep for trials.

"You're exposed to their trauma over and over again," she said, "It becomes your secondary to their trauma."

Martinez explained that she had a great relationship with the county courthouse in Temple, Texas, and became the unofficial liaison for all the units on the post.

"I just went the extra mile, went out in person, introduced myself," she said, adding that they'd ask her about contacts and double-check the information.

Martinez was one of the paralegals that stayed back during deployment because of a back injury.

She explained that she was the only one for the division that would go out to the Temple hospital and do powers of attorney for the hospital for the returning injured that did not come to Darnell.

"I would take all my cam, computer, equipment, little stamp, and notary book out, and I would do powers of attorney for returning soldiers," she said.

For Martinez, the military is a slice of society as a whole, including the good, the bad, and the in-between.

"We're going to have things happen just like people do in society," she said, explaining that this means they have their domestic arguments, child abuse, and much more complex cases.

"Were it's, you know, felony batteries and rapes and things like that," she said, "I don't want to paint a bad picture, but the military is a slice of society as a whole, and we have to have those processes in there just like we do out there in the civilian world."

Martinez advises anyone serving to do their time and do it well because it's only temporary.

"A few years in your life is a blink in time," she said, "you can get through it if you're brave enough or smart enough to make decisions."

Martinez retired in July 2010; when she first moved into town, Greg Holbrook asked her when she was joining the American Legion. To which she responded she didn't know she'd join then.

"Then I became their volunteer service officer," she said, noting that she loved it. She explained that if she didn't have the job she holds now serving Veterans at Washington State University, she'd love to become a service officer for the county.

"I love my job where I'm at, and I can work with both in the role that I'm in," she said.

In her job and role in the Garfield American Legion, Martinez lives in Pullman and is a significant advocate for Veterans in Whitman County.