Real Hero Supporter of the week: Ivan Castro!
Check out our REAL HERO Supporter of the week! It’s our friend, Capt. Ivan Castro!
Castro of Fort Bragg, NC is in The U.S. Army and has continued to serve on Active Duty in the Special Forces even after he was blinded when mortar shells exploded near him in Iraq. He is one of three blind active duty Officers who continues to serve and the only blind Officer serving in the Special Forces.
Last week Ivan and a team of U.S. wounded service members were in London with the group, “Soldiers to Summits,” for a publicity tour before starting a fundraising race to the South Pole called Walking with the Wounded South Pole Allied Challenge! Yesterday they headed to Antarctica to compete with wounded service members from Australia, Great Britain, and Canada.
OUR American Heroes have been training in Colorado, Norway, and Iceland for the 208 mile trek. With temperatures as low as 49 below zero and winds up to 50 mph…. nothing could truly prepare them for this race. Each person participating in the race will be on skis and pulling sleds carrying their supplies, including a ton of food. They will be consuming at least 8,000 calories a day.
Three seven-man teams each with four injured service members will go on this grand adventure. Prince Harry will race with the team from Great Britain. Hollywood actor Alexander Skarsgard, star of the hit HBO series True Blood, will head OUR American Heroes team and English actor Dominic West, from the popular series The Wire, will race alongside the team comprising Australian and Canadian servicemen and women.
“The aim is to show the world what disabled veterans are capable of doing, given the right training and resources,” said Ivan. He wants the Americans to be the first to plant their flag at the South Pole but his bigger goal is for all the competitors to complete the trek. “We’re all one team,” he said.
GO IVAN! Good Luck and we’ll be rooting for TEAM USA!
Thanks to Telegraph for contributing to this story.
