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JTAC fights to stay in after injuries

A roadside bomb in Afghanistan took Tech. Sgt. Israel Del Toro’s face, his hands and his career as an elite JTAC, an in-theater joint terminal attack controller summoning tactical jet strikes.

What the December 2005 blast has given him is medals, an uneasy hero status, the recognition of Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley and the whispered thanks of President Bush as Del Toro slept unaware in a burn treatment ward.

Burned but unbowed, the 32-year-old Del Toro is hellbent on getting his life back — and determined to stay in uniform. But how can one of the Air Force’s most severely injured survivors remain useful to the service? His physicians have told him to expect a 100 percent disability rating. And his fight to stay relevant in the Air Force comes as the service seeks to shed the equivalent of 40,000 full-time airmen.

What he would like to do some day is teach young airmen how to become JTACs. But his most valuable commodity may be his tale of combat, suffering and survival. Moseley has encouraged him to go out and tell it.

That Del Toro can even consider an Air Force future is a sign of the times, said Paddy Rossbach, president of the Amputee Coalition of America. Burn treatment innovation, modern prosthetics and a higher regard for injured troops have cleared the way for guys like him to keep their military jobs.

The Air Force Surgeon General’s Office permits some exceptions to the annual fitness test, a rite Del Toro would likely fail as is.

Still, seriously injured men such as Del Toro should be retained only if they’re truly useful, said Col. John Folsom, a Marine reservist and head of Wounded Warriors, a support network for injured service members.

According to Folsom, Del Toro illuminates a need for fitness standards that correspond with each Air Force Specialty Code — and with similar military jobs across all the services. Otherwise, he said, exceptions will be made on emotional appeals.

“Is this man being made a poster child or is this going to be a new metric for all [Defense Department] components to follow?” Folsom said. “We don’t need a feel-good decision process. We need a metric that makes sense.”

That said, if the Air Force believes Del Toro would strengthen the service through sharing his story, Folsom says, “Right on.”

“Just be prepared to make that policy,” he said.

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* Read the complete story about Del Toro’s inspirational battle in the June 11 issue of Air Force Times, on newsstands now.

* See video of Del Toro talking about his experiences.

* Join the discussion. What do you think? Should exceptions to fitness waivers be made for airmen who have been terribly injured and sacrificed so much in the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan?