CityView Magazine

March 2021

CityView Magazine - Fayetteville, NC

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44 March 2021 A long road to recovery lay ahead of him. "I was completely peppered, head to toe," he said. "I was a mess." With a laugh, he now describes himself as "a mixture between Daredevil and 'Scent of a Woman,'" a reference to the Marvel comic book character and to actor Al Pacino's movie role as a blind, medically retired Army officer. His life would be changed forever. He has said that while lying in bed, recovering at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, he felt overwhelmed with grief and fear. He had responsibilities and a life to live. "I do enjoy inspiring, motivating people." "I went through a lot," he said. "ey're still pulling out pieces of fragments from my knee. I'm not a Six Million Dollar Man; I'm like the 970 Million Dollar Man." Yet, Castro gathered the courage to move forward. While others thought it improbable, he returned to active duty aer 17 months of recovery and rehabilitation. Castro retired from the Army aer 28 years of service in 2016, a decade aer he was blinded. "I'm very grateful for my leaders and the men I served with," he said. "e soldiers were great guys and still are. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be sitting here right now. "e Army is what I love the most. I love the camaraderie. I love the teamwork. I love to be part of history," he said. "I love to defend freedom and democracy and liberty and justice. … If I had my eyes, I'd still be in."

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