LOS ANGELES, CA, USA
U.S. Army
CPL, COMPANY A, 1ST BATTALION, 32D INFANTRY, FORT DRUM, NY
ASADABAD, AFGHANISTAN 10/03/2006
Corporal Fernando Daniel Robinson was the first in his family to join the military. He joined AROTC at Lawndale’s Leuzinger High School and was proud to wear the uniform. He graduated in 2003.
Mrs. Estrada explains that her son was sensitive, kind and giving. Whenever family or friends needed anything, he was always there, adding, “He was a good friend and great son. He was never in gangs, never into drugs or in any kind of trouble. He was a good boy and turned out to be a very good man.
Corporal Robinson expressed his feelings about what being a soldier meant to him:
“I have seen the face of terror. felt the stinging cold of fear, and enjoyed the sweet [taste] of a [moment’s] love, i have cried, pained, and hoped … but most of all, i have lived times others would say were best forgotten, at least someday i will be able to say that I am proud of what I was … a SOLDIER.”
Robinson told his family and friends in conversations and e-mails that he loved the Army despite the terror, loneliness and boredom that is the soldier’s lot. There also was exhilaration, the sheer rush of adrenaline that he thrived on. It was pronounced in his love of fast cars. “He liked to live days one at a time,” his brother Francisco said.
But anticipating his last mission he felt apprehension and an air of uncertainty.
“I asked nothing from those who gave nothing and reluctantly accepted the thought of eternal loneliness should I fall.” Corporal Fernando Daniel Robinson
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