Growing up in Paterson, New Jersey, Lori Robinson wanted to be a librarian. A self-described introvert, she loved reading and excelled in school and sports. She was named valedictorian of her high school class and played basketball, volleyball and softball.
Her father worked in the lumberyard, and her mother spent 30 years with one of the major airlines. So how did the new commander of the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command become an Army aviator? Marketing.
“No one in my family was in the military, and I had never been on an Army post,” Robinson said. “I honestly saw a color, glossy brochure with a cadet from West Point on the front, and I was like, ‘What’s this? Can I go here?’ I brought the brochure home to my mother, and she said, ‘You want to do what?’”
The United States Military Academy was about an hour north of Robinson’s hometown. She went on a college visit, spending half a day touring the institution established by the founding fathers. She had toured other colleges, but Robinson said West Point “just felt good.”
She became the first person from her small Catholic high school to attend a military service academy. She studied mechanical engineering with an aerospace focus, and when it was time to pick an Army branch, she chose aviation because it allowed her to go to flight school. She learned to fly the CH-47 Chinook at Fort Novosel, Alabama, and never looked back.
“That’s the only airframe I’ve flown my whole career,” Robinson said. “It was the mission set — cargo, passengers, equipment, sling loads — the mission comes in so many forms and fashions, but in the end, the mission of the Chinook is to move heavy stuff to people on the ground who need it. It has taken me to so many different places around the world, and it’s been very rewarding.”
Robinson’s first assignment was the Republic of Korea, where she was stationed with one of her fellow West Point classmates, former AMCOM Commander Maj. Gen. Tom O’Connor.
Throughout her career, she served with the 18th Aviation Brigade, the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, the 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade, the 10th Mountain Division, the U.S. Army Alaska Aviation Task Force and the Pentagon.
The Army even sent her back to West Point, this time as the 80th Commandant of Cadets, where she had the opportunity to develop future leaders of character, an assignment she described as "surreal."
However, she said her command positions were some of the most career-defining assignments. She commanded and deployed with the 3rd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment at Wheeler Army Airfield in Hawaii and the 4th Combat Aviation Brigade at Fort Carson, Colorado.
She said, “When you deploy into combat with those assets, you see in action the training and everything you did leading up to it and why it is important to be ready to go.”
Robinson completed four combat deployments, three to Afghanistan and one to Iraq. Now, as the AMCOM commander, she is acutely aware of her role in assisting those forward-deployed warfighters.
“Throughout my whole career, I knew what AMCOM did for me in the field, and I didn’t know exactly how they did it or how many people it took to do it, but I did know that if I picked up the phone and called someone or emailed someone at AMCOM, someone was going to answer, and something was going to happen. I knew a part was going to move my way, a maintenance team was going to help, an engineering assessment would be made, my torque wrench would be calibrated — whatever it was. So I was extremely excited to come here and be part of this organization to help our great commanders out in the field now, who I know reach back to AMCOM.”
In addition to supporting aviation and air defense Soldiers worldwide, Robinson keeps an eye toward modernization and continuous transformation for the future fight. On her watch, AMCOM will continue its Organic Industrial Base modernization plan, the 15-year, multi-billion process launched in October 2023 to overhaul the Army’s 23 depots, arsenals and ammunition points. However, Robinson said that no work could happen without people.
“This is an organization based on people, and many of them have been dedicated employees for many, many years — that is not lost on me,” she said. “We have to take care of our people and ensure we provide them with the best care, training and development that we can because we have to build the workforce for tomorrow as well as take care of our workforce of today.”
When Robinson brought home that glossy brochure with the West Point cadet on the cover 35 years ago, she never planned on making the Army a career. Now, on her 19th or 20th move (she’s lost count), she cannot imagine doing anything else.
“I’ve taken it one assignment at a time and here I am at 30 years,” she said. “As I think about taking off this uniform, I just haven’t been ready, and I’m certainly honored to continue to serve in whatever capacity the Army needs me to serve.”
Earlier this summer, as she and her husband Tom, a retired field artillery officer, prepared to move to Huntsville, Alabama, everyone told them they would love it, and she said they do. While neither has yet to fully adjust to the humidity, Tom enjoys the extended golf season the south offers, and Robinson enjoys the outdoor running opportunities.
“I’ve slowed down quite a bit as I’ve gotten older, but I still enjoy getting out and running,” she said. “I’ve been a long-distance runner most of my career; I’ve completed seven full marathons and a variety of other races.”
In addition to running, she still enjoys reading and thinks her childhood dream of being a librarian might be a good retirement plan (eventually). As for sports, she said her teams are the New York Giants, Yankees and Rangers. When asked, “Alabama or Auburn?” she smiled and said, “Go Army, Beat Navy.”
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