Stryker Brigade News

“They were having a rugby tournament,” he said. “I asked if I could get in the game and afterward, a university scout asked if I’d like to play for him.”

Without hesitating, Robinson accepted an athletic scholarship to the University of Hawaii . He played with Hawaii for a year then transferred to Brigham Young University in Utah , where he played for another season, then transferred to Arizona State University . After three years of playing rugby in the United States and switching teams, he decided to move back to his homeland, where he found the love of his life, Robbi.

In 1989, he and his wife moved to Kansas , where Robinson worked at a slaughter house in Garden City. However, this time, living in America meant he was preparing for his long-term future rather than a rugby season. He desired a career with steady pay and solid benefits. He wanted to be an American Soldier even though he was not a U.S. citizen.

“My wife was against me joining because she thought I’d go to war,” Robinson said. “So, we made a deal. We said we’d watch television for two months and if nothing happened, I could join the Army.”

In 1990, the United States was not involved in any major conflicts, therefore, Robbi allowed her husband to join. He enlisted as a supply Soldier and not long after he joined, the United States declared war on Iraq .

“The plan was that I’d be gone for only four or five months and be back with my wife,” he said. “Of course, Desert Storm broke out and I was sent overseas.”

Assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division, he spent little time behind the supply desk.

“I was a door gunner for a Black Hawk and we transported Soldiers and very important guests all over the Middle East ,” he said. “I got lucky. Not too many supply Soldiers get the job I had.”

When he returned to the United States , Robinson looked for ways to improve his military career. He switched his military occupation to a lab technician and applied for Ranger school.

“I didn’t make it through the Ranger qualification course,” he said. “But on the day the Soldiers who did make it were loading up on the truck to go to Ranger school, one of them fell off and hurt himself. Everybody who didn’t qualify had already left, so I was the only person there to take the injured Soldier’s spot.”

Robinson became a Ranger. He also became airborne qualified, received the rank of sergeant first class and was promotable to first sergeant. Despite his several achievements as an enlisted man, Robinson sought new challenges. He decided to become an officer, a physician’s assistant.

“I was going to school at bloody 40 years old. It was like trying to drink out of a fire hydrant,” Robinson said.

While at the University of Nebraska , a school the Army sends its doctor and physician candidates to, Robinson earned his bachelor’s, master’s and the Army title of physician’s assistant.

Since November 2003, Robinson has been in Iraq , where his Soldiers said he’s become one of the most respected men in the battalion.

“As a physician assistant, he can stay at the aid station for his entire deployment and treat people as they come in. But he doesn’t. He goes out with the troops on almost every mission and is by their side,” said Spc. Justin Gifford, a medic with 1-23. “He does this because he cares.”

Gifford said Robinson is the brigade’s only physician’s assistant who consistently patrols the streets and conducts raids. During these missions, Robinson has taken bullets out of Iraqis, sutured Soldiers and stabilized people who might not have otherwise lived.

“Some people may say that I shouldn’t go out with the infantry and that I should stay at the aid station because of my position, but I’m most valuable to a casualty in the field,” Robinson said. “The first hour of treating a casualty is crucial. I would never forgive myself if something happened to a Soldier and I could have been there.”

He’s also made a lot of friends while on patrol.

“I love talking to Iraqis,” he said. Robinson said he often treats the Iraqis he meets on the streets. “If they’re sick, they come to the gate and ask for me.”

When he’s not outside the wire, Robinson runs a small aid station at Forward Operating Base Marez in Mosul , where he takes care of the battalion’s medical needs, trains medics and attempts to prevent major health epidemics. What’s more is he’s helped set up three Iraqi-ran outpatient clinics in Mosul .

“Lieutenant Robinson is very dedicated and involved with everything that’s going on,” said Spc. Stephen Lewis, one of Robinson’s medics. “He still brings the Ranger mentality to every mission and training exercise, giving 110 percent.”

Throughout Robinson’s whole life, he’s exemplified an extreme discipline and vigor that has earned him starting flanker positions on three major U.S. college rugby teams, a Ranger tab and two college diplomas. His “110 percent” attitude applies to his recreational life as well. Just for fun, he once climbed Mount Rainer , 14,400 feet above sea level, and he rode six bulls in one day.