FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Face of Defense: Officer Goes From Desk to Dirt
By Army Staff Sgt. Dave Overson
11th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
KABUL PROVINCE, Afghanistan, Jan. 10, 2013 - Army Capt. Sarah Robinson wasn't happy working behind a desk.
While serving as an Air Force communications officer, she said, she knew she wanted something much more challenging in her life. When the opportunity presented itself, she joined the Army as a military police officer.
Robinson is assigned to Combined Joint Interagency Task Force 435 as the officer in charge of assessments and training for field detention sites in regional commands East, South, Southwest and in Kabul province in Afghanistan.
"I joined the Army because I have a superhero complex," Robinson said. "When I was a kid, I wanted to be a superhero like most kids, but that is obviously out of the realm of reality, so I decided to join something larger than myself where I could contribute to humanity."
Robinson, a native of Columbia, Mo., said she was raised by her father in the "woods of Missouri," and needed to be outside more than she was as a communications officer. The Army offered her that opportunity and the opportunity to fire weapons more often, she said.
Her quest to become an Army officer and MP also resulted in meeting her husband, Marine Corps Capt. Andrew Segal, who was a classmate in Robinson's captain's career course at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.
During the past year, she said, she has seen more of her husband than she did at her home station in Sembach, Germany. He is stationed at Camp Leatherneck in southern Afghanistan.
Army Sgt. 1st Class Robert Robinson -- no relation to the captain – is Robinson's noncommissioned officer in charge and a 27-year Army veteran. He has high praise for her.
"She's phenomenal," he said. "She'll make a great senior officer in the military police corps."
Robinson said she believes her training and oversight have kept soldiers out of trouble and ensured the humane treatment of prisoners at various detention sites. As she prepares to return home, she gives her NCOs most of the credit.
"They did all the hard work, but this has been the most rewarding experience in the military to date," she said. "We helped strategically keep the United States on high ground, and I'm really proud of that."
