LI vet's mission is taking him to Israel

Scott Castillo, the deputy director of Nassau County's Veterans Service Agency, has been chosen as one of 10 American veterans to take part in a post-military mentoring program in Israel, where American and Israeli veterans will share their life experiences.

"I'm honored," said Castillo, 38, of Long Beach, an Afghanistan and Iraq combat Airborne Ranger veteran, who served in the elite Special Operations Command.

The program is sponsored by the New Jersey-based nonprofit Heroes to Heroes Foundation, which helps veterans have a smoother return to civilian life. The team of 10 veterans will work together, with a foundation coach, and are expected to provide peer support for one another and the Israeli veterans they meet for at least a year after returning to the United States.

Castillo, along with the other American veterans, will be in Israel from Aug. 29 to Sept. 9 traveling with wounded Israeli veterans and others to learn about living with terrorism and having enemies at your borders.

Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano, who appointed Castillo to his post last year, said he is proud that a member of his staff will represent Long Island "in this peacetime mission."

Castillo and his wife of five years, Amit, an Israeli, have two sons, Joaquin, 4, and Eli, 2.

Castillo joined the Army right after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. "Just felt like I had to do it," he said.

He ended up with the 1st Ranger Battalion in Savannah, Ga., and was soon in Afghanistan. Before his honorable discharge in 2004 as a corporal, he also did a tour in Iraq.

"I thought getting a job was going to be easy," said Castillo, a 1998 graduate of Texas A&M University. "It wasn't."

The result, he said, was some small jobs, "like at Home Depot," before he went to work with the county, first in the social services department, then in Latin Affairs.

"But I was always advocating for veterans," he said.