Fighting Blind: A Green Beret's Story of Extraordinary Courage
Fighting was a practiced routine for Lieutenant Ivan Castro. But when a mortar round struck the rooftop of his sniper’s post in Iraq, he found himself in a battle more difficult than even he could have imagined. The direct hit killed two other soldiers and nearly claimed Castro’s life as well. Mangled by shrapnel and badly burned, Castro was medevac’d to Germany more dead than alive. His lungs were collapsed. He couldn’t hear. One eye had been blown out, the nerve to the other severed.

In the weeks and months that followed, Castro would find that physical darkness was nothing compared to the emotional darkness of loss and despair. Desperate for a reason to live, he eventually fought his way back to health through exercise and a single-minded goal: running a marathon. Once he set his course, there was no stopping him. Stubborn to a point that at times bordered on insanity, he managed not only to recover but to return to active duty. Since 2007, he has run over two dozen marathons, including the Boston Marathon in 2013, where he was one of the runners diverted when the bombs exploded.

Today, Castro helps prepare soldiers for combat, working exactly as if he were “sighted.” Fighting Blind, this frankly told account of his struggle through adversity, the highs and lows and the always bumpy road in between, is a story of hope and perseverance against the odds: an Unbroken for the present generation.

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Fighting Blind: A Green Beret's Story of Extraordinary Courage
Fighting was a practiced routine for Lieutenant Ivan Castro. But when a mortar round struck the rooftop of his sniper’s post in Iraq, he found himself in a battle more difficult than even he could have imagined. The direct hit killed two other soldiers and nearly claimed Castro’s life as well. Mangled by shrapnel and badly burned, Castro was medevac’d to Germany more dead than alive. His lungs were collapsed. He couldn’t hear. One eye had been blown out, the nerve to the other severed.

In the weeks and months that followed, Castro would find that physical darkness was nothing compared to the emotional darkness of loss and despair. Desperate for a reason to live, he eventually fought his way back to health through exercise and a single-minded goal: running a marathon. Once he set his course, there was no stopping him. Stubborn to a point that at times bordered on insanity, he managed not only to recover but to return to active duty. Since 2007, he has run over two dozen marathons, including the Boston Marathon in 2013, where he was one of the runners diverted when the bombs exploded.

Today, Castro helps prepare soldiers for combat, working exactly as if he were “sighted.” Fighting Blind, this frankly told account of his struggle through adversity, the highs and lows and the always bumpy road in between, is a story of hope and perseverance against the odds: an Unbroken for the present generation.

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Fighting Blind: A Green Beret's Story of Extraordinary Courage

Fighting Blind: A Green Beret's Story of Extraordinary Courage

Fighting Blind: A Green Beret's Story of Extraordinary Courage

Fighting Blind: A Green Beret's Story of Extraordinary Courage

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Overview

Fighting was a practiced routine for Lieutenant Ivan Castro. But when a mortar round struck the rooftop of his sniper’s post in Iraq, he found himself in a battle more difficult than even he could have imagined. The direct hit killed two other soldiers and nearly claimed Castro’s life as well. Mangled by shrapnel and badly burned, Castro was medevac’d to Germany more dead than alive. His lungs were collapsed. He couldn’t hear. One eye had been blown out, the nerve to the other severed.

In the weeks and months that followed, Castro would find that physical darkness was nothing compared to the emotional darkness of loss and despair. Desperate for a reason to live, he eventually fought his way back to health through exercise and a single-minded goal: running a marathon. Once he set his course, there was no stopping him. Stubborn to a point that at times bordered on insanity, he managed not only to recover but to return to active duty. Since 2007, he has run over two dozen marathons, including the Boston Marathon in 2013, where he was one of the runners diverted when the bombs exploded.

Today, Castro helps prepare soldiers for combat, working exactly as if he were “sighted.” Fighting Blind, this frankly told account of his struggle through adversity, the highs and lows and the always bumpy road in between, is a story of hope and perseverance against the odds: an Unbroken for the present generation.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781250136022
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date: 11/21/2017
Pages: 304
Product dimensions: 5.70(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

IVAN CASTRO is a decorated active-duty Special Forces soldier whose service record includes stints in the 82nd and 101st Divisions as well as the Pathfinders and Rangers, all elite units in the U.S. Army and world military. Though blind, he has run in some two dozen marathons, raising awareness for people with disabilities as well as veterans’ issues.


JIM DeFELICE is the co-author of Chris Kyle’s #1 New York Times bestseller American Sniper and fourteen other New York Times bestsellers.

Table of Contents

Prologue 1

1 Early Days 7

1 A Simple Man 9

2 All Out 17

3 Rangers Lead the Way 32

4 Crime and Realities of War 45

5 The Brotherhood of the Elite 49

6 Loss and Love 58

2 War and the Ugly 79

7 War Again 81

8 Paradise and Other Shitholes 84

9 Home Fires 105

10 Return to Iraq 112

3 Not Worth Living 131

11 Blinded, and Worse 133

12 The Known Unknowns 135

13 Hopelessness and Grace 152

4 Blind Man Running 157

14 How I Lived 159

15 Where There's a Will, There's a Way 172

16 Mission imPossible: Staying In 179

17 Running (Blind) Man 188

18 Boston 201

19 Green Beret Again 205

5 Living Is the Only Revenge 219

20 Move On, Move On 223

21 Down and Back 228

22 Faith 235

23 Easy Rider 247

24 Boss, Coach, and Man of Marble 256

6 Gone Dark 267

25 Postscript 269

Afterword 275

Commendations 275

Quotes I Live By 277

Acknowledgments 281

Collaborator's Note: Working with Ivan 285

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