Victories for Veterans Finding the STRENGTH to be a CHAMPION Veteran of the Year leaves personal hardships behind to lift others from despair By M. Todd Hunter W hat’s past is prologue. Or is it? Talk to DAV’s 2016 Outstanding Disabled Veteran of the Year, Bobby Body, and he’ll likely scoff at that notion. “All I can do is look at the past and laugh,” said Body, a single-leg amputee. “But I laugh at the adversity and the fact that I overcame the odds and proved people wrong.” His mother walked out on him when he was 5 years old. Now 42, he hasn’t seen her since. His dad was sent to prison just five years later, leaving Body to live in an orphanage until he graduated from high school. But despite the hardships these events presented, Body felt called to serve his fellow citizens as a police officer. To that end, he went to college immediately out of high school and earned a degree in criminal justice. At 22, Body joined the Marine Corps and became an infantryman. A knee injury, however, forced him to be medically discharged before his enlistment was complete, in spite of his efforts to be retained. Not one to rest on his laurels, Body began working for a security firm in southern California. Then 9/11 happened. “I couldn’t just sit at my cushy job and do nothing,” Body explained. “I kept trying to re-enlist in the Marines, but they wouldn’t let me because of my injury. But an Army prior service recruiter overheard one of the telephone conversations I was having and said he could get me in, so I went.” He knew where he would most likely be going when he re-enlisted. After completing infantry training and Airborne School, Body deployed with his unit to Habbaniyah, Iraq, in the summer of 2005. There, he participated in dismounted patrols and improvised explosive device (IED) clearing missions. He also pulled sniper security and volunteered to help an armored unit, where he 5 DAV.ORG | FACEBOOK.COM/DAV | @DAVHQ
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Finding the STRENGTH to be a CHAMPION
M. Todd Hunter
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