Monday, February 13, 2012
Naval Academy
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Army officer blinded in Iraq inspires mids

Capital Gazette Communications
Published 09/18/09

When Capt. Ivan Castro learned his vision was gone, he started to second-guess his doctors. He hoped for a miracle, that he would wake up one morning and be able to see.

Gin Kai — Courtesy of the Naval Academy TOP: Capt. Capt. Castro spoke Wednesday to the Brigade of Midshipmen during the Forrestal lecture at the Naval Academy. Castro lost his right eye and the vision in his left eye after a mortar attack in Iraq in 2006. He passed on a message of perseverance to the mids.
BOTTOM: Ivan Castro, a blind Army special forces officer, jogs with Naval Academy midshipmen.
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Then he started to think about his future, he told the Brigade of Midshipmen Wednesday night.

The special operations soldier couldn't stand up on his own, he had lost 50 pounds of muscle and gained 70 pounds of fat since two 82-mm mortar rounds exploded near him in Iraq in 2006. But as he lay in a bed at National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, he heard some nurses talking about the Marine Corps Marathon and decided he wanted to do it, he...

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