As retired Senior Master Sgt. Israel Del Toro sits in his home thousands of miles away from the chaos in Afghanistan, he remembers clearly what the mission was when he was deployed there back in 2005.

“It was only about four years since 9/11, so it was still personal for us to take out the enemy, get rid of al-Qaeda, to take out the Taliban as much as we can, so we had a purpose.”

Del Toro’s work was cut short in 2005 when the Humvee he was riding in rolled over a roadside bomb. He was thrown from the vehicle and suffered burns from head to toe. Despite his horrific injuries, he would go on to re-enlist in the military — the first 100 percent disabled airman to do so — and wrapped up a 22-year military career in 2019.

He says it’s with a combination of anger, disappointment and sadness that he watches the events unfolding overseas.

“No one expects us to be there forever, but it was the matter of how we left that angers me.”

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