An American Hero

I love the show Dancing with the Stars. But this season I love it even more. They have such a varied cast of contestants. Stars we love, Stars we hate and Stars we love to hate!

I enjoyed watching Nancy Grace and Ricki Lake solely because they are larger women and they moved with such elegance and grace and were both so light on their feet.

But the Star that stole the show and stole my heart was J.R. Martinez, an American Hero. You might not have heard much about him in the weeks leading up to the premiere of the show because there were other much more visible and controversial stars such as Chaz Bono and Rob Kardashian. I definitely had never heard of J.R. Martinez and am so happy that DWTS brought him into my life.

J.R. Martinez, who is now 28 years old, joined the military when he was only 19. In 2003 while he was deployed in Iraq he drove his military truck over a live land mine. He was badly injured and suffered burns over 40% of his body. He's had about 33 surgeries and various skin grafts. He's missing one ear and most of the hair on his head.

One would think that after all he went through he would be out of the public eye but instead he landed a role on the soap opera All My Children as an ex combat veteran turned police chief. I've never watched All My Children but now wish I had just to have seen J.R.

Here's a video of the first dance performance for J.R. and his partner Karina Smirnoff. What an amazing young man, an amazing dancer and an American Hero. Good Luck J.R., I hope you win! Regardless you are a winner in my eyes!