Concert to benefit recovery of injured Fayetteville soldier
Posted on Saturday, August 4, 2007
Friends and co-workers of the family of a Fayetteville soldier severely injured in Iraq will host a benefit concert today from 3 to 9 p.m. at Parsons Rodeo Grounds in Springdale to help meet some of the family's financial burdens.
The concer t will feature music from the Boston Mountain Playboys, Cousin Eddie, Joe Giles and the Homewreckers, Effron White and more.
Pfc. Adam Watkins, 21, was seriously injured May 21 when the Army Stryker vehicle he was driving ran over an improvised explosive device.
Watkins suffered secondand third-degree burns to his arms, back, head and buttocks as well as some second-degree burns to his face. He also sustained a compound fracture of both tibia bones in his lower leg and broken bones in one foot.
Adam has been at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio for more than two months.
His father, Phil Watkins, said he hopes Adam will be out of the hospital by the end of August.
The elder Watkins said the benefit concert was organized by coworkers of his wife, Susan. His coworkers at Southwestern Electric Power Co. have since gotten involved as well as members of their church and Boy Scout troops.
"All the family can say is we appreciate it very much," he said. "The support from friends and employers and even people we don't know who are trying to help, it's just been amazing. "
Phil Watkins has been documenting his son's recovery on a Web site dedicated to him at www. adamwatkins. us.
Since arriving at Brooke Army Medical Center, Adam has undergone several skin graft surgeries as well as surgeries on both legs.
On July 10, Adam was moved from the intensive care unit.
As of Wednesday, Adam was spending less time in his bed and more time in a wheelchair. He was able to get out of his room and go outside and visit the computer lab.
He's come a long way in his recovery, Phil said, but still has a significant amount of work to do.
"He's probably got about a year of physical therapy to do," he said.
Family members expect Adam will have a Purple Heart ceremony later this month at the hospital.
Adam, a 2004 graduate of Fayetteville High School, is in the 2 nd Battalion, 1 st Cavalr y, Bravo Troop in the 4 th Stryker Brigade. He joined the U. S. Army in 2006 and had only been in Iraq a few weeks prior to being injured.
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