The full article can be found at: http://news.aol.com/story/_a/blind-special-forces-officer-pushes/20080630093209990002
CPT Ivan Castro, US Army
When Capt. Ivan Castro joined the Army, he set goals: to jump out of planes, kick in doors and lead soldiers into combat. He achieved them all, until a mortar round took away his sight.
Capt. Ivan Castro is the only blind officer in U.S. Special Forces. "I am going to push the limits," he said. "I don't want to ... show up and sit in an office. I want to work every day and have a mission."
"Once you're blind, you have to set new goals," Castro said.
So he set them higher.
Not content with just staying in the Army, he is the only blind officer serving in the Special Forces - the small, elite units famed for dropping behind enemy lines on combat missions.
"I am going to push the limits," said the 40-year-old executive officer at the 7th Special Forces Group's headquarters company in Fort Bragg. "I don't want to go to Fort Bragg and show up and sit in an office. I want to work every day and have a mission."
Only two other blind officers serve in the active-duty Army: one a captain studying to be an instructor at West Point, the other an instructor at the Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
Castro's unit commander said his is no charity assignment. Rather it draws on his experience as a Special Forces team member and platoon leader with the 82nd Airborne Division. "The only reason that anyone serves with 7th Special Forces Group is if they have real talents," said Col. Sean Mulholland. "We don't treat (Castro) as a public affairs or a recruiting tool."
After 17 months in recovery, Castro sought a permanent assignment in the service's Special Operations Command, landing duty with the 7th Special Forces Group. He focuses on managerial tasks while honing the group's Spanish training, a useful language for a unit that deploys regularly to train South American troops.
"I want to support the guys and make sure life is easier for those guys so that they can accomplish the mission," he said.
"Obviously, he cannot do some things that a sighted person can do. But Ivan will find a way to get done whatever he needs to get done," Mulholland said. "What I am most impressed with, though, is his determination to continue to serve his country after all that he's been through."
Castro works out regularly at the gym and runs, his legs powerful and muscular. And though he has a prosthetic right eye and his arms are scarred by shrapnel, his outsized personality overshadows his war wounds: Nobody escapes his booming hellos, friendly banter and limitless drive.
He ran the Boston marathon this year with Adm. Eric T. Olson, commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command. Last year it was the Marine Corps Marathon. He wants to compete in the Ironman triathlon in Hawaii and graduate from the Army's officer advanced course, which teaches captains how to lead troops and plan operations.
Mulholland said Castro, who was awarded a Purple Heart like others wounded in combat, will always be part of the Special Forces family.
"I will fight for Ivan as long as Ivan wants to be in the Army," Mulholland said.
Married and the father of a 14-year-old son, Castro still needs help getting to the gym. He recently needed an escort to the front of the headquarters company formation, where he promoted a supply clerk.
Once in front, Ivan took charge.
Affixing the new soldier's rank to his uniform, Castro urged the soldier to perform two ranks higher. In the Special Forces, he said, one has to go above and beyond what is asked - advice he lives by.
"I want to be treated the same way as other officers," Castro said. "I don't want them to take pity over me or give me something I've not earned."
LTJG John Kerry, US Navy
Lets compare another officer, LTJG John Kerry, US Navy to Capt Castro. LTJG Kerry was very lightly wounded three times in Vietnam and then with the policies in effect at that time, he immediately asked to be transferred out of the war zone to a safe area in Washington, DC.
For further information see: http://www.snopes.com/politics/kerry/service.asp
As a retired Master Chief Petty Officer, Soap Box Ravings can only stand in wonderment of Captain Castro and all of the other severely injured military personnel who have continued to forge ahead in the service of their country.
My Dad, a 17 year old US Army Combat Medic and 18 year old POW, carried shrapnel in him until the day he died. Worse, he suffered post traumatic stress disorder which was never diagnosed until he was in his sixties.
