COCK TA IL O N T HE AVEN UE |
by
D A ISY P RIN CE
DRIVING
FORCE
Casey Martinez recounts her blood-rushing
experiences as a Black Hawk pilot, and explains
how her new venture is helping veterans
jumpstart their civilian lives.
I
really didn’t know what to expect from
my meeting with Casey Martinez. As a
former U.S. military Black Hawk pilot
who has flown on multiple operational
tours of Iraq, Afghanistan and other conflict
areas, and was awarded three Bronze Stars
for her service, I was a little unsure what to
expect. So when a tall, super-fit brunette turns
up at the Jade Bar in a turquoise dress and
ready smile, I’m surprised at how soft-spoken
and down-to-earth she is. For someone who
has been responsible for keeping many men
alive in combat, she’s appears very relaxed and
easygoing.
Martinez and I are meeting for a cocktail
to talk about Capstar, a venture just starting
in Manhattan that employs ex-servicemen
and women as chauffeurs. Already a successful enterprise in the UK where the company
just completed their 10,000th ride, Capstar
is supported by Jaguar and Land Rover.
Capstar chauffeurs will drive brand-new
Jaguars starting September in Manhattan,
with plans to expand to Washington, D.C.,
in 2016.
Leaving her venture aside for the moment,
I can’t help but being curious what impelled
Casey to join the military. It turns out that
joining the armed services was something
of a family business for her. Everyone was
in the armed forces: her father, grandfather,
uncles and brother-in-law. Casey was one of
three girls, but that didn’t stop her. At 17 she
marched off to West Point, the same school
her father attended, in order to compete
against some of the most type-A people in the
country. Then, because Martinez is just a tiny
bit of an overachiever, she went into special
operations aviation.
50 | AVENUE MAGAZINE • OCTOBER 2015
When I ask her what made her
choose such a tough path, she says,
“It is being told no, you can’t. It’s
being told you’re not good enough,
you’re not strong enough, you’re not
fit enough. Whatever it is that you have
chosen to do in your life, you don’t want
to have a ceiling put on it and say that you
can’t get to the next level because you’re
a girl.”
She is very matter-of-fact when it
comes to describing her actual experience of being deployed. “What’s fun is
that actually flying the aircraft is not so
terribly difficult once you’ve mastered
it. That’s not the hard part; the hard part
is when you have five different radios
blaring in your ear, and you’re trying
to fly within two rotor disks (of the
machine in front of you) and not crash
and you’re trying to avoid enemy fire.
You’re juggling all balls and you’re trying
to stay one step ahead of what’s
about to be thrown at you. When
you can, it’s such a high.”
She gently bats away my suggestion that she was a superhero for
winning her three bronze stars. But I
certainly think she’s pretty impressive.
One of her tougher assignments
was during the invasion of Iraq in 2003
when she was the air mission commander
for her group of five helicopters and the
radios all failed, meaning that they had
to land with no ground communication.
It sounds like it was a miserable time:
everyone wore achingly hot
chemical suits, and they flew
between 8- to 10-hour days.
Jade Bar
2 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY 10010
212.475.4320
gramercyparkhotel.com/nightlife
In spite of the hardships
she endured, Casey smiles to
herself, savoring the memory of
her glory days. I have to say that
looking at how happy she seems, I’m
nearly ready to sign up for basic training
myself, but I content myself with a sip of
my watermelon mint martini.
Surely, I say to her, it must have been
tough to be a woman on this job. What
about having to answer the call of nature
among 40 guys when you are in the desert
with nary a bush in sight? Martinez
says that yes, it was complicated
for her: if she needed to address
COCK TA IL O N T HE AVEN UE
her personal needs she had to take off her flight
suit, her armored vest and one other full body
suit. If it was exasperating for her, Martinez
does not seem unduly irritated by the realities
of being a woman in combat.
Although Martinez is clearly a competent
soldier, she is also a very feminine one. She wore
makeup when she was flying “to even out her
skin tone,” she claims, though I can see nothing
wrong with it. She never wore any jewelry, as
it’s not allowed. It doesn’t sound like she would
be bothered to wear earrings even if she could.
For the first two months of the invasion of Iraq,
they all slept in the back of the helicopters.
I ask her if she encountered any sexism
while she was in service, and she is careful
with her next words: “I think it’s great in
the US Army—they are really against sexual
assault. However it is a big cultural problem
in the military—you can say rape is bad, but
there is still work to be done. When there are
85 percent men and 15 percent women, it’s a
very slow process. It does change slowly over
the years, but we have a long way to go.”
Martinez has had her share of weird
flirty comments from her soldiers and one
52 | AVENUE MAGAZINE • OCTOBER 2015
commander, who had the temerity when
she was leaving active service to say that
she was “best-dressed” and threw the best
party because she had once organized a
Christmas dinner. This is after three tours
of duty where she was away from family and
friends for nearly a year each time, flying in
dangerous and exhausting conditions.
I sense there is more to this story, but
Martinez politely steers the conversation back
to how happy she is to be using her expertise
to help veterans, many of whom joined up
after 9/11. Martinez always asks the candidates
why they joined the army, and frequently the
answer is that they lost a family member in
9/11 or were somehow affected by the tragedy.
“I think veterans really struggle when they get
out. In the military they’ve been given a high
level of responsibility, and to turn around
and come home and not be able to translate
that to their employers when they’re being
considered for jobs makes them feel isolated.” All the drivers are screened by a medical
doctor before they get hired.
Martinez assures me that the drivers are
incredibly disciplined and reliable. “Most of the
guys we hire are capable of doing something
more, and they want to work with people who
understand how they got to where they are.”
Capstar aims to help the vets transition from
being drivers and hopefully move up to middle
management once they’ve expanded. Their
prices sound competitive with other top-shelf
limo companies of the same caliber: $165 to
JFK, $165 to Newark and $145 to LaGuardia.
It’s $95 an hour with a two hour booking.
Martinez knows exactly why she took this
job: she had great offers from J.P. Morgan and
Goldman Sachs on the table, but she walked
away from them. “There is social enterprise
and depth to what we do. I believe in what
we’re doing, and it’s so easy to be passionate about this company when you’re helping
other veterans.”
Our drinks are finished, and as we walk to
the door I’m on such a high from meeting this
amazing person. If they ever decide to recast
G.I. Jane, I think they should use Martinez
as the role model. She is one action figure I
would definitely buy for my sons. ✦
capstarchauffeurs.com