SF officer, blinded in Iraq, graduates MCCC

[unhappycamper]

SF officer, blinded in Iraq, graduates MCCC
By Gina Cavallaro - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Dec 24, 2009 13:15:38 EST

Capt. Ivan Castro lost his eyesight in Iraq to a spray of hot shrapnel from an 82mm mortar round that landed five feet from his position on a rooftop.

It’s been a long three years since that Sept. 2, 2006 attack, which killed two of his soldiers, and Castro never thought he’d survive his wounds.

But on Dec. 15, Castro, a 21-year veteran of the Army, graduated from the Maneuver Captains Career Course at Fort Benning, Ga., and will soon report to his new assignment as operations officer in Special Forces Recruiting Battalion at Fort Bragg, N.C., according to an Army news release.

When Castro was an enlisted soldier, he was assigned to 7th Special Forces Group.

At the time of the mortar attack southwest of Baghdad, Castro, a first lieutenant at the time, was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division and was a sniper reconnaissance platoon leader.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/12/army_blind_captain_122409w/