A new generation gets wings: Spokane-area man celebrates grandson at military ceremony at Fort Moore

When David “Robbie” Robinson pinned jump wings to the uniform of his grandson, Daniel Robinson, on March 29 at Fort Moore (formerly Fort Benning) Georgia, it was a full-circle moment.

Forty-two years earlier, he’d earned his own jump wings on the same field.

Robinson’s family has a long tradition of military service.

“I’m a direct descendant of Daniel Boone,” Robbie Robinson said. “My great-grandfather was a Boone.”

Daniel Boone served as a militia officer during the American Revolution, but the elder Robinson has more current ties with the military.

“My great-grandfather fought in the Battle of the Argonne Forest in World War I, and my father served in World War II.”

In 1967, near the height of the Vietnam War, Robinson enlisted in the Air Force. He was trained in Minuteman missile maintenance and stationed at Minot Airforce Base in North Dakota.

After a four-year stint, he returned to his home in Washington, Pennsylvania.

“I drove trucks and worked in a cardboard factory and decided I didn’t like civilian life,” recalled Robinson.

He re-enlisted in 1972, and in 1980, elected to cross-train and become a (Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape) instructor.

“It was everything I wanted,” he said. “I got to spend five days a week in the gym!”

When he learned jump school was an option, he was thrilled.

“I’d dreamed of being a paratrooper since I was a 6-year-old kid watching ‘Combat’ on TV,” he said. “Jump school was everything I wanted or dreamed of in my life.”

Robinson was stationed at Fairchild AFB, where he was an instructor, and racked up 800 military and civilian jumps before retiring in 1993 after 24 years of service.

“On my last day of active duty, I jumped,” he said. “Jumping out of an airplane is an unnatural act, but I loved it.”

The inclination for military service skipped a generation. Robinson had four sons and a daughter.

“I tried with all my might to interest my sons and daughter in the military,” he said.

But that was not to be.

“My wife and I lost three sons,” Robinson said. “Our oldest son, Drew, was killed in an auto accident in 1989. We lost our youngest son, Christopher to suicide in 2012, and Daniel’s father, (Daniel senior), died in an automobile accident in 2021.”

When asked how they coped with such loss, he was succinct.

“Our faith sustained us.”

And joy came with the meteoric rise through the ranks of his grandson.

Daniel Robinson is a staff sergeant in the Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment.

“He’s 25 and an E6,” Robby Robinson said. “He’s only been in five years. He’s a rocket ship!”

Nothing was going to stop this proud grandfather from being at Daniel’s jump school graduation, but he almost missed seeing his grandson’s grad jump. Robinson’s surviving son, David, met him in Georgia, and they drove to the jump site in pouring rain.

“They were pushing because of weather, but then I saw a C-130,” Robby Robinson recalled. “I believe in divine intervention.”

Daniel’s grandparents and uncle witnessed his graduation jump in the same drop zone where his grandfather had parachuted 42 years earlier almost to the day.

It was an emotional moment for all of them.

“When his father passed away, Daniel said, ‘I loved my dad, but he wasn’t my role model. You are my role model, Grandpa,’ ” recalled Robinson.

His voice thick with tears, he paused to take a deep breath.

“I promised Daniel when his father died that I’d be there to pin his wings on,” he said. “Promise made and promise kept.”

Contact Cindy Hval at dchval@juno.com