Actor & Wounded Veteran, JR Martinez Continues to Help Veterans

This Veteran’s Day we would like to thank all our service men and women that help keep us safe everyday. JR Martinez is a veteran that served in the U.S. Army in 2003. While in Iraq, the Humvee that he was driving hit a roadside bomb, which caused burns to 34% of his body.   The former veteran and actor is very grateful that he survived this experience and he uses his celebrity stardom to help veterans.

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Martinez is best known for being on All My Children and Dancing with the Stars, but his true passion lies in telling his story about how he overcame this experience. He is the author of the New York Times best-selling book Full of Heart: My Story of Survival, Strength and Spirit, a memoir about how he took his own personal tragedy and turned it into an inspiration for others.

In addition, Martinez dedicates his time to helping nonprofits. He is a spokesperson for Operation Finally Home, which is an organization that builds homes for wounded, ill or injured veterans, as well as their surviving spouses and children. They build custom mortgage-free homes for American heroes and the widows of the fallen.

For those that are interested in helping, Operation Finally Home teamed up with a limited edition Urban Ruck backpack by Sword and Plough. They essentially take recycled surplus items from the military and they create backpacks and 100% of the proceeds go to Operation Finally Home to build homes for veterans.

“The campaign is called A Weight Off Their Shoulders because when they’re in Iraq or anywhere in the world, they carry these ruck sacks that are heavy and when they come home people think that the weight is removed, but it’s not,” said Martinez in an interview with WGN Morning News. By giving them a home, you take weight off their shoulders and give them a positive outlook in life.

To those veterans that are still struggling, Martinez says, “Just keep hanging in there, don’t give up, you are not alone, there’s a lot of people, there’s a lot of resources, find a way to get involved with different organizations and stay connected to the community that exists—the brotherhood that exists outside of the military and go talk about what is happening, talk about what you’re feeling.” There are a lot of veterans that are committing suicide and everyone has to do their part in preventing those suicides.

Other organizations Martinez dedicates his time to are the  Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors, Glasswing International, Free the Children, the Viscardi Center, and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA). See the interview below: