Pete Martinez:
CLASS OF 1976
San Pasqual Valley High SchoolClass of 1976
Winterhaven, CA
Duke University - Graduate SchoolClass of 1993
Durham, NC
Pete's Story
I left the Yuma area immediately after HS graduation. Joined the army and became a Scout/Sniper in the Airborne Infantry stationed initially in Hawaii. Hawaii was a blast. This Colorado river rat took to the North Shore like it was a long lost home. I surfed, scuba dived, skydived, and lifeguarded my last year on the Army's beach at Waikiki.
Returned briefly to Yuma and Lifeguarded at YPG, but soon reenlisted and went to the 82nd Airborne Division, Ft Bragg, NC. While there, I deployed to literally every corner of the world. Europe, Panama, Canada,Korea, Scotland, Turkey, N. Africa, and almost every state in the Union. I left the army as a Staff Sergeant in 1983. In a 8 yr period, I married "my Cherokee princess", worked as a Fire fighter, Police officer, EMT and started an academic run that culminated with a graduate degree from Duke U. While in Grad school, I felt the call to the Ministry and I worked as a Prison Chaplain. I applied and was accepted to the Army Chaplain Corps. As a chaplain, I served with the 10th mountain Div., an Airborne Task Force in Italy where our son was born, and two Special Forces units. As an officer, I made another round the world quest, adding a few more exotic places. After 9/11, I deployed to Iraq three times. Lost some good friends. The army sent me to get another Grad degree in Counseling at Columbia U. on their dime. I paid that off by serving at the Command & General Staff College at Ft Leavenworth, KS. Im recently assigned to Stuttgart, Germany, where I serve as the second senior chaplain in a great community. At 23+ years I think alot about retiring. After many several bad parachute landings, rough helicopter landings, mortar explosions blowing my hearing out, running with 80lbs backpacks, a car accident, Im just a little worn in the knees and back. Still, Im a blessed man. Lived and worked in many cultures, learned Italian and a little Arabic, working on German. Learned several Martial Arts styles. Still cant get travel and adventure out of my blood. Thinking about starting a Ph.D program, I guess Im a glutton for punishment. So many books, not enough time.
I always wanted to be a Astronaut when I grew up. I regret I didnt pursue this
I exercise with weights, running, and martial arts, love to hike, climb, swim, and Ski. I have hiked the Rockies, the Alps, and the Andes and have swam the Rhine, the Danube, the Mississipi, the Missouri, and one of the tributaries of the Amazon in Colombia, SA.
Id love to see all my teachers agian and tell them Im sorry for being the little thug that I was and that they were right. The World was at my beck and call if I worked hard enough and got my priorities straight.
To be truly happy, Id like to have enough funds to sponsor, plan, and execute wilderness survival trips for i...Expand for more
nner city kids. This would include kayaking, paracelling, rappeling, etc.
For being an outdoor buff, I tend to dress pretty urbanish. I look for quality suits-Italian and English, sports coats, dress shirts, well heeled but comfortable Italian shoes. My style isnt very in right now. Nobody dresses up much.
Ive had some wazzoo jobs, Bouncer, Bodyguard, Bountyhunter (Excuse me, Bond Enforcement Agent) in my 8 year break from the Army. The job I most fondly recall was Firefighter, in the 80s, it didnt pay much, but everyone loves a Fireman. It gave me the adrenaline rush and adventure that I missed from the military.
If I had one do over in life I would have Boxed instead of played football. Mixed Martial Arts didnt exist in my twenties and thirties so I cant comment on that, but I think I would have liked it.
In 10 years, I hope to be published Novelist. I'm going to get there by getting off my forth point of contact.
The thing that would surprise people about me at a reunion is that a thug like me became a minister. God certainly has a sense of humor.
My first job was at Bard, CA, where I got paid 2.50 an hr to work the date groves. What I remember most about it is the heat, the cold, the dust, Army basic Training was a breeze after that..
When I was in first grade in Mrs Pooler's class She would have us tell the class what three whishes we would like. Once I said I would like to have a library like the one she had at the back of the class where I would go if I finished my assignments early. A few days later she came driving down the dirt road I lived on in Bard, CA and in her trunk she had a small library. Those books, it stories, pictures, and information opened up a whole new universe to me and transcended the material poverty of my childhood.
...I own over a thousand books now. As part of my personal and professional library. I asked my wife as a matter of course how many she thought I had, she responded in a very deadpan way, "too many".
As of Nov. 2010, I have returned to Italy. Im living in what is called the Veneto in the Northeast. Im about a 45 min trainride west of Venice. In fact, I can go and have a cappuchino with my wife on a Sat. A.M. in St. mark's Square and
be back home before nightfall. I can do the same to Milan in the west and be back before midnight if I stop in Verona. From my house in the city of Vicenza, I can see the Alps and occasionally go up to ski or just kick around Asiago, famous for its cheese. My favorite is Lake Garda where I go hiking, mountain biking, paddleboarding and windsurfing. I feel fortunate to be in this part of the world. I get along great with my Italian friends and neighbors and my Italian improves daily. I do regret not mastering German, but I havent given up yet.
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