Guiding the next mission: U.S. Army veteran Larry Martinez helps military learners find their way at ASU

When Lawrence "Larry" Martinez finished high school a year early in 1988, he felt college could wait. At 17, he enlisted in the U.S. Army to "grow up a little," he said. He signed on with the Military Intelligence Corps, took the entrance exams and headed to language school in Monterey, California.

Learning to speak German came first. Technical training followed. Martinez was then assigned to Würzburg, Germany, with the 3rd Infantry Division. From 1989 to 1994, he served there, cross-training along the way. The Army later sent him to England for a six-month crash course in Arabic before he returned to Germany, and eventually rotated back to the U.S. in 1994.

Home in Phoenix, Arizona, Martinez shifted to the civilian sector and worked for a technology company. The break from his uniform lasted about four years. In 1998, he joined the U.S. Army Reserve and drilled regularly with his unit.

The September 11, 2001, attacks changed that training trajectory. In 2003, Martinez was mobilized, pulled from his Reserve unit and attached to a Massachusetts-based military intelligence battalion deploying to Iraq. He spent 14 months there, primarily in Baghdad. He had started a family and combat clarified his priorities.

"I had some close calls," he said. The unit took losses and Martinez was thinking about his family and children at home. By the time he returned in 2004, he had chosen to step away from military service.

Re-entering civilian life, Martinez tried business development and sales. A job posting for the University of Phoenix caught his eye; the school needed a military adviser to support veterans, dependents and active-duty students. He applied, and that’s where he got his start in higher education.

From 2006 to 2013, Martinez crisscrossed the West — California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington and Alaska — rising to regional manager. The for-profit sector then contracted, closing campuses and laying off staff, and his role ended in 2013.

He moved to North Carolina to be near relatives and recruit for Grand Canyon University as it expanded its online military outreach. After two years, he took a leave, returned to Phoenix and helped friends launch two startups, including a sports performance center that worked with professional athletes from the NBA, NFL and UFC. Higher education continued to pull at him.

"I told myself I'm only going to work for ASU," Martinez said. "If I can get on at ASU, I'll do recruiting again."

He did. In February 2022, Martinez joined ASU’s Thunderbird School of Global Management as a coordinator for recruitment and outreach worldwide. Now a senior global recruitment coordinator, he focuses on recruiting active-duty service members, veterans and military family members for Thunderbird's two online programs.

"It's who I'm helping that keeps me doing it," he said.

Since taking on the senior role, Martinez and his team have recruited as many as 75 new students to Thunderbird’s online programs. Not all are veterans, but he is working to grow that share. One of Thunderbird's online leadership master's programs ranks among the 10 most common graduate choices for military and veteran students, he said — a ranking he is eager to expand.

"If there's any hint of military opportunity at Thunderbird, they always loop me in," he said.

When he's off the clock, Martinez heads outdoors. He mountain bikes in the desert heat — hydration pack full and GPS-enabled bike set to ping loved ones if he crashes or stops suddenly.

"My wife thinks I'm crazy," he said with a laugh. “If I get a flat, she texts for updates.”

Family time also means hiking with his younger son. The family often drives to Prescott or Flagstaff in northern Arizona to hit the trails. 

"He literally hikes me into the dirt," Martinez said.

Martinez and his family recently moved into a newly built home in the Phoenix area, and their project list is long. As an ASU recruiter, Martinez’s professional to-do list remains centered on service.

"I love helping any student," Martinez said. "I love being able to guide, support and mentor them if I can. That's where the passion is."