Episode 24: Joe Jackson + Jose Martinez

Tonight’s guests are Joe Jackson and Jose Martinez — two friends from One More Wave, a non-profit that I’ve supported since 2018. Joe is a former US Navy corpsman with 1st Marine Division who completed a combat deployment to Fallujah, Iraq, between 2006 and 2007. Joe discusses his amazing family lineage of military service, his experiences as a corpsman in combat, and how surf therapy has impacted his road to recovery. Jose is a former US Army soldier who suffered a catastrophic injury after stepping on an IED during a combat deployment to Afghanistan in 2012. At 23-years-old, Jose had to adjust to life as a triple amputee. These days, you can find Jose and Joe competing and winning Gold Medals as a team in para-surf competitions. As far as history goes, we also dive into the fascinating story of how the Paralympics came to be and how veterans of World War II helped bring the games into fruition. We discuss the history of prosthetic limbs dating back to the American Civil War and Jose provides a modern perspective from his own experiences. Joe also shares some interesting facts about west coast watermen and, in particular, swim fins. Naturally, these topics lead us down many glorious rabbit holes including about the San Diego Bottom Scratchers and frogmen from the Underwater Demolition Teams (predecessors to today's US Navy SEALs). You can read about the San Diego Bottom Scratchers here: https://freerangeamerican.us/bottom-scratchers/ You can read about the Naked Warriors here: https://www.coffeeordie.com/naked-warrior-navy-seals Follow Joe Jackson on Instagram: @jojax_85 Follow Jose Martinez on Instagram: @rollwithguru Follow Late Night History on Instagram: @latenighthistory