Braulio Castillo, a witness before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, was torn to shreds by Rep. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., for claiming veteran disability status for an ankle injury sustained playing football in prep school, according to CNN.
Duckworth served as a Blackhawk helicopter pilot during the Iraq war and lost both legs and the use of one of her arms after being shot down in 2004 and could not control her outrage over Castillo receiving 30 percent disability status for an injury that didn't stop him from playing football years later in college.
"My right arm was essentially blown off and reattached," Duckworth said. "In fact, we thought we would lose my arm and I'm still in danger of possibly losing my arm. I can't feel it. I can't feel my three fingers. My disability rating for that arm is 20 percent."
Castillo, president and CEO of an IT company called Strong Castle, in an attempt to acquire a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business credential, which would help him in bidding for government contracts, listed his injury, according to CBS News.
Duckworth didn't seem to lend much credence to Castillo's claim. After Castillo replied in the affirmative after being asked if his foot hurt Duckworth mocked him.
"My feet hurt too," Duckworth said. "In fact, the balls of my feet burn continuously and I feel like there's a nail being hammered into my heel right now. So I can understand pain and suffering, and how service connection can actually cause long-term, unremitting, unyielding, unstoppable pain. So I'm sorry that twisting your ankle in high school has now come back to hurt you in such a painful way, if also opportune for you to gain this status for your business as you were trying to compete for contracts."
In an email to a Veterans Affairs official Castillo described the severity of his injury.
"My family and I have made considerable sacrifices for our country," Castillo wrote. "My service connected disability status should serve as a testimony to that end. I can't play with my kids because I can't walk without pain. I take twice daily pain medication so I can work a normal day's worth. These are crosses that I bear due to my service to our great country."
The letter, and in particular the line "service to our great country," caused Duckworth to lose all of her cool and deliver a rant that shamed Castillo into complete silence.
"I'm so glad that you would be willing to play football in prep school again to protect this great country. Shame on you, Mr. Castillo, shame on you. You may not have broken any laws...but you certainly broke the trust of this great nation. You broke the trust of veterans. Iraq and Afghanistan veterans right now are waiting an average of 237 days for an initial disability rating. It is because people like you who are gaming the system are adding to that backlog that young men and women who are suffering from post-traumatic stress, who are missing limbs, cannot get the compensation and the help that they need. You, who never picked up a weapon in defense of this great nation, very cynically took advantage of the system. You broke the faith with this nation, you broke the faith with the men and women who lie in hospitals right now...and if this nation stops funding veterans' health care and stops and calls into question why veterans deserve their benefits, it's because cases like you have poisoned the public's opinion on these programs. I hope that you think twice about the example that you are setting for your children. I hope that you would think twice about what you are doing to the nation, this nation's veterans who are willing to die to protect this nation. Twisting your ankle in prep school is not defending or serving this nation, Mr. Castillo."
