SMSGT. Steven M. Martin

Steven M. Martin
SMSGT, USAFR (Ret)
December 18,1944 - April 16, 2025
Steven M. Martin passed in his home on Wednesday, April 16th, 2025, after battling Parkinson's disease for many years. He is survived by his beautiful and loving wife Maria F. Martin and her children she shared with him Maria del Carmen Trufant, Maria Guadalupe Davis, and Christobal Castillo and their families along with his brother Greg, his wife Wendy, and their family.
Steve was the oldest of three children born to Glen and Mary Gill Martin in San Antonio, Texas on the 18th of December 1944. His father served in the Army Air Force and then the US Air Force for 35 years and much of Steve's early life was spent on the road traveling to new and interesting areas around the world where his father was assigned: San Antonio; Guam; Washington, DC; Paris, France; Roswell, New Mexico; and Honolulu, Hawaii.
After graduating from Radford High School, in Honolulu, Hawaii, Steve enlisted in the US Air Force where he became a transportation, cargo and aerial port specialist. During his enlistment period, Steve was assigned to Cam Ranh Bay, South Vietnam and from there forward deployed in support of the US Marine Corps during the three-month siege of Khe Sanh in 1968. For his actions during that deployment Steve was authorized to wear the Presidential Unit Citation ribbon.
After completing his enlistment period, Steve enrolled at Sam Houston State University where he earned both his Bachelor's and Master's Degrees Cum Laude in Government Studies. From there Steve spent several years in Norfolk, Nebraska as the Executive Director for the Mid-Elkhorn Valley Council of Governments. But with San Antonio as the place Steve always thought of as his home, he returned in 1980 as an administrative assistant in the City of San Antonio's Department of Human Resources and Services
Preferring field work to staff duties Steve accepted a position in Huntsville, Texas with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, while at the same he re-enlisted in the USAF Reserves and served with the 433rd Airlift Wing at Lackland AFB. After several years of balancing the workload, Steve had advanced through the ranks to grade of Senior Master Sergeant and had become one of the most proficient Hazardous Cargo Specialists in the Air Force Reserves.
At the same time, our nation's operations tempo accelerated to the point where our Reserve and Air National Guard units were being used almost non-stop. So, Steve left the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and performed near full-time employment his unit at Lackland. At the same time, Steve was introduced to Maria and for the next three decades they enjoyed a most special and loving relationship.