Esprit de Corps : Rehabilitation: A 23-year-old born with no hands thrives under the CCC’s backbreaking work regimen and earns himself a leadership role.

When 23-year-old Rodney Chandler joined the California Conservation Corps two years ago, he followed the usual yearlong drill of working the “grave.”

In the parlance of the corps, the grave is a backbreaking stint in a state or federal wilderness planting trees, clearing trails, digging trenches during brush fires and restoring historic buildings.

Many wilt under the pressure of a rigorous work day that begins at 5:30 a.m. with a two-mile run. But Chandler is known for his contagious smile under the worst of circumstances.

An upbeat attitude is not unusual among members of the corps, but Chandler has overcome more obstacles than most. A birth defect left him with no hands and withered arms, but never shortchanged his cheerful manner and can-do attitude.

Chandler’s dexterity quickly becomes evident in his job as landscaper and maintenance specialist at the Camarillo center for the corps. Reaching into a bed of ice plant, Chandler clutched a clump of weeds with the ends of both arms and yanked them from the bed.

“You just put clippings in the ground and they will grow as long as you keep them watered and free of weeds,” he said of the ice plant.

The corps has a long history of success cases, but Chandler is special because he has overcome his disability in a rigorous program that uses hard manual labor to establish a solid work ethic.

Chandler has risen to a position of supervisor over a small group of co-workers that keeps the grounds of the Camarillo State Hospital neatly manicured in return for two dorms leased by the Camarillo-based corps.

“He’s a natural leader,” supervisor Mark Morefield said during a stroll through the acre-plus complex that Chandler keeps weedless, pruned and planted with flowers and shrubs. “We negotiate the workday, and he runs the show.”

And nearing the end of his two-year stint, Chandler has impressed corps leaders again by lining up a job as a residential aide with the Camarillo-based Special Children’s Foundation--a residential care facility that teaches social skills to developmentally disabled adults.

On the job, Chandler’s favorite task is riding the power lawn mower. “I usually check the oil first,” he said, as he raised the engine cover of the mower. He deftly twisted the cover off the oil pan and pulls out the dipstick to check the oil.

Chandler has a prosthesis with a hook, but he said he rarely uses it. “I can do just about anything, including writing and tying the laces on my shoes, providing they are extra long,” he said. “I can’t tie a dress shoe lace, but I tied these,” he said, pointing to his black ankle-high boots. “I don’t see myself as being any different from a person with hands.”

Chandler was born in Atmore, Ala., where he spent the first decade of his life with his grandmother. He then moved in with his mother in Chester, Pa., for a decade before joining his uncle in Fairfield, near Oakland.

After taking courses in business administration at Solano Community College in the Bay Area, Chandler decided to join the California Conservation Corps upon the recommendation of counselors at the state Department of Rehabilitation. “I was trying to find a job so hard, they suggested I join CCC,” he said.

The program usually lasts a year, Morefield said, but if a worker does a good job, the corps member can stay an additional year.

Under the corps’ paramilitary discipline, members share a room in a dormitory and agree to follow the corps’ tough rules, including abstaining from drugs and alcohol.

At $4.25 an hour, money was not the reason Chandler and most of his peers joined the corps. Most leave their homes, families and friends to get experience.

“I didn’t know what to expect when I came,” Chandler said. “I even thought about quitting, but I decided to keep going.”

In addition to landscaping, Chandler said he also helps new corps members move in, as well as doing inventory and maintenance. “I don’t see myself as being handicapped,” he said. “If you picture yourself a certain way, you are going to be that way.”

Although Chandler works hard, he also plays hard. His favorite pastime is shooting basketball, dancing and going to the movies with his girlfriend, he said.

He is also studying for his driver’s license under the auspices of the Driver Mobility Evaluation Unit of Northridge Hospital Medical Center.

And now that he is on the verge of getting his driver’s license, his social and professional possibilities are about to be broadened.

During a three-hour driver’s training session, Chandler said, he drove from Northridge to Camarillo and back in a car fitted with a device on the steering wheel that allows him to use his prosthesis.

That kind of breakthrough prompts his trademark smile. “When people see me smile, they smile,” he said. “I always keep thinking that something good will happen.”