Photo By Robert Timmons | Nancy Martinez proudly pins the drill sergeant badge onto her husband Staff Sgt. Angel...... read more read more
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By Robert Timmons
Fort Jackson Leader
COLUMBIA, S.C. - For one father and son, training on Fort Jackson was so close they could almost see each other every day. Yet they only saw each other twice. The first by happenstance, the latter at the father’s graduation.
Staff Sgt. Angel Martinez, who just completed drill sergeant school, didn’t like that his son Pvt. Nathaniel Blake Ortiz could have been just down the block but he couldn’t see him every day.
Ortiz is in the final stages of basic combat training with Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 60th Infantry Regiment and is scheduled to graduate Nov. 19.
“I had mixed emotions. It’s really frustrating knowing he is just down the street and I can’t go see him,” said Martinez, after his wife Nancy pinned his drill sergeant badge on him while his stepson and daughter watched Nov. 9.
The chances of a father and stepson attending training at Fort Jackson at the same time is rare, but being able to see other is like finding the Ark of the Covenant by accident. The coincidences kept coming as the two left for training 48 hours apart.
“When I received my orders he asked where I was going and when I would leave,” said Ortiz, who is the oldest child in a family with two other boys and two girls. I said I would be leaving at this date, and he said he would be leaving two days earlier.
When Martinez left it was difficult, Nancy said, but when Ortiz left for Fort Jackson it was difficult for her and her 2-year-old daughter Angelys.
“When Blake left it was very emotional with my daughter,” she said noting her husband and son helped a lot around the house and helping raise Angelys. Martinez left to attend the U.S. Army Drill Sergeant Academy first and then her son.
The pin on ceremony wasn’t the first time the two met each other at Jackson – they had met briefly one day during early morning physical training.
As part of the drill sergeant course candidates help different units conduct physical training and other training tasks.
Ortiz didn’t know his father was even at his formation until midway through the bend and reach exercise.
During the course of doing the exercise, Ortiz could hear the drill sergeants telling Soldiers how to do better on the exercise, and didn’t know anyone was talking to me until he heard his name called.
“I was in the middle of an exercise when I heard someone say, ‘Private Ortiz look between your legs.’ I looked between my legs as I reached my arms back and saw him smiling at me.”
There are many cases of Soldiers taking inspiration from their parents who are in uniform, but for Ortiz it went beyond that – he learned how to handle stress and prepare for life as a Soldier.
Ortiz is a good Soldier, “who never broke under stress,” said Pvt. Blake Alvarez, Ortiz’s closest friend in his platoon. “He is always calm, collected and very respectful. It’s partially played a factor because his personality” is so even.
Having a father in the service allowed Ortiz to have “better insight than most people” coming into the basic training, Alvarez added.
The trainee said he just tried to do everything right and follow his stepfather’s example.
“Every day I tried my best,” said Ortiz, who will be going to Advanced Individual Training to become an Army Cryptologist. “I did everything I was supposed to.”
Before joining Ortiz bounced around from post to post as his stepfather was transferred. The Family made stops at Fort Irwin, California, which Ortiz wasn’t overly fond of, and spent two years in Germany which he loved.
Going to new places taught me how to handle stress, he added.
“I feel proud of him,” Martinez said of his stepson. ”Growing up he was always a good kid. He had good habits and didn’t get into trouble.”
After the pin on ceremony, Martinez looked at Ortiz and smiled.
Ortiz “should work hard and seek to get better,” the 16-year veteran advised. “Don’t get complacent like some E4s.” There are some Soldiers who have been known to want to ride out their careers at a lower grade so they wouldn’t have added responsibility.
“You have to stay hungry. It makes a big difference.”
Martinez will take a few days leave while he waits for his stepson’s basic training graduation on Nov. 19.
| Date Taken: | 11.10.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 11.19.2015 09:29 |
| Story ID: | 182327 |
| Location: | COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 62 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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