Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

Woman overcomes odds, commits to UCF's Army ROTC
By Crystal Potts
Central Florida Future U. Central Florida
June 02, 2008

Despite all odds, one woman's determination helped her fulfill her innate patriotic duty.

"I'm just a born soldier," said Betty Martin, 68. "I'm a born patriot. I sit up all the time and thank God for my freedom in this country."

After eight years in the Army Reserve, Martin is again in her niche as the office manager of UCF's Army ROTC. She has seen hundreds of cadets go through the program in her 20 years of employment. She brings her life experiences, her determination and her patriotic responsibility to her position, setting a daily example for the cadets.

According to Martin and the cadets, she sees hope in them, and they see a hard worker in her.

Martin was born with spina bifida, a condition defined by a cleft or split in the spinal cord. At 8 months old, Martin received an operation to correct the condition. Her doctor said that if she lived past 8 years old, she would have a full life.

After being homeless for one-and-a-half years, Martin was placed in Midway College, previously a school for orphans. She lived there for seven years and fell in love with the school's systematic and disciplined lifestyle. This love coupled with her desire to serve her country, and led her to apply to the Army Reserve.

Martin applied at age 34, after being denied a year earlier because of her spina bifida, and was accepted due to "a clerical error." A six-week training regimen at Fort McClellan in Anniston, Ala., was then crammed into a two-week intensive session. Because her doctor did not deaden all of the nerves around the operation site, Martin endured agonizing pain as she fulfilled her goal.

"I had a hard time doing it because of my spina bifida, but I made it," Martin said. "I was determined to make it and I enjoyed it. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the Reserves."

After Martin was honorably discharged from the Army Reserve, she eventually moved down to Florida where she became employed with UCF. During the final weeks of the 1987-1988 school year, she attended a ceremonial event, which she felt did not have the proper audience turnout. She expressed her feelings in an April 1988 letter to the Central Florida Future.

"I wrote an editorial protesting the fact that there was no patriotism," Martin said. "That this lack of attendance reflected a lack of patriotism on campus."

As a result of that letter, Martin was invited to the Air Force ROTC annual change of command ceremony where Marty Fioramanti, the office manager, told her about the vacant Army ROTC position.

Throughout her time with the Army ROTC, Martin has since seen a lot of patriotism in terms of the cadets. Among those cadets was Maj. Brian Fallon, the current ROTC executive officer. He said that her show of patriotism has not faltered over the years.

"She is exactly the same as she was back then," Fallon said. "She flies the American flag every day; she wears it on her heart. She believes in it with all of her heart, no matter what's going on with the country: good, bad, ugly."

Those who know her agree with Fallon.

"She's all about getting her work done," said Jacob Lawson, a cadet. "At this point, she's not in the Army but might as well be; she does everything to a military standard."

Martin is persistent in accomplishing her goals and has been this way since a young age. "She's a go-getter," said Margaret Parrish, Martin's middle school teacher.

"She pulled herself up by the boot straps, as the old saying goes," Parrish said. "She kept going and kept moving up. Her experiences gave her the poise and the determination that she's got now." ?

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