Wounded Vet Makes Success Of Farming

Wounded Vet Makes Success of Farming AG WORLD Ag World James Robbins puts up about 30 000 sq bales and 1 500 round bales a year He operates his own equipment in the field auctioneers part-time feeds a few cattle runs a hay and straw business and still has time for a wife and three children You easily get the idea he does enough work for two men But James will be the first to tell you he is really only half of one man He left the other half in Vietnam nearly 20 years ago two legs and an arm James Butch Robbins was a member of the 101st Recon Unit operating near Hue South Vietnam in November 1968 He was searching for an enemy weapons cache at the edge of a village when he stepped on a booby-trapped 105 mm shell Butch s torn body was first taken to the Army field hospital at Phu Bi then on to Da Nang and finally to Camp Drake near Tokyo Japan where he was further weakened by malaria He surprised almost everyone by living through the ordeal When strong enough to make the long journey home he was taken to Walter Reed Army Hospital near Washington D C There doctors slowly put what remained of his body back together again Two months later Butch was sent as close to home as he would get for the next 18 months the VA Hospital in Durham N C More surgery followed Twenty-five operations later Butch finally went home to the family farm near Rocky Mount N C And almost immediately his mother saw her son had not lost his characteristic spark of mischief with or without two legs and an arm While he was still in bandages she recalls he climbed into the family car and drove away using an umbrella to reach the gas and brake pedals As his recuperation progressed so did his desire to get around on his own and find a job Butch worked for two years as a fire department dispatcher at Seymour-Johns Air Force Base The Vietnam Vet who wanted to work even without two legs and an arm was honored by the Tactical Air Command as the Outstanding Handicapped Employee of the Year in 1978 While working for the Air Force Butch was also hon ored by President Carter as the Outstanding Handicapped Federal Employee of the Year As the years passed Butch became increasingly independent He proved he could do about as much work as a man with both arms and both legs intact And something else was happening to Butch he was slowly being drawn back to farming and the family s custom hay business The Ford New Holland dealer who sold him haying equipment recalls the first time Butch showed up at the store for parts The dealer expected to meet him outside and help him from his truck into a wheelchair But before the dealer even knew Butch was in the store he heard someone pounding his fist and jokingly demanding Where are my pans? I need parts The dealer looked up from his work but didn t see anyone He heard the voice again and looking over the counter saw a man hardly 3 ft tall pounding his fist on the floor and flashing a big smile Butch will accept a lift down from his tractor if someone happens to be there when he needs it But he s quite capable of getting himself both up and down from the tractor cab without help Through constant use and necessity his arm has become exceptionally strong On the ground Butch walks on the stubs of legs that are shorter than his shirt-tail But walk he does slowly and with a rocking motion and he always gets where he wants to go The thing for which Butch is best known in the farm country around Rocky Mount is his big smile Somehow this man who lost almost everything finds more reasons to laugh than most people with all their limbs intact There s no need to be bitter Butch explains I m alive aren t I? I could have been brought back from `Nam in a body bag Butch doesn t know the meaning of self-pity I know there are people who want someone else to do everything for them They think the world owes them something because they ve been injured Forme it was simple your legs or your life I ve got my life When visiting VA hospitals Butch meets vets with similar or often less bodily loss than his own His a

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