J.R. Martinez told the Huffington Post that he is representing all of the veterans on Dancing With The Stars. He said, “The thing is, a lot of our vets come home and they feel displaced, and they don’t feel like their voice matters, so for me to be a spokesman and have that honor to educate America about who we are and what we are, it’s like I’m doing my job. I’ll never have the opportunity to go back to Iraq and serve my country, but I tell people this is my way of serving. I don’t have a weapon in my hand, and I don’t have a uniform on my body, but my uniform now is my scars and weapon is my words, so I’m still serving.” They explain how he got hurt in Iraq to how he ended up getting an acting gig on All My Children. Here is more for what he says on the show below, but, be sure to visit the link. It’s a great, inspirational read with a video interview included!!

“In this life, all you need is for someone to believe in you,” said Martinez. “You can go a long way if someone believes in you. I’ve been incredibly lucky to have so many people believe in me, and I want to help people believe in themselves. There are people that didn’t know who I was before, and that’s okay because it’s not like I’m Brad Pitt, but because of ‘Dancing,’ they know now, and I get to reach millions.”

And if you think there’s any competition between the “Dancing” stars off the dance floor, think again.

“There’s no backstabbing and no drama,” said Martinez. “It’s just fun to watch people step out of their comfort zones and do things that they’ve never done before and witness them grow so much throughout the entire process.”

When asked if he’d expected to be on top of the leaderboard in weeks one and two, the actor responded modestly.

“No,” said Martinez, “But then again, I didn’t have any expectations in regards to score and the leaderboard. Honestly, all I kept thinking about was my footwork and my extensions and just enjoying the moment and focussing on Karina [Smirnoff]. That big turn we did, we almost took out. In rehearsals we would try it and I would mess up and drop her. I was like, ‘Oh my god, you’re going to be broken by the time week one starts.’ But then ultimately, we decided to keep it, and it came out just beautiful.”