Georgia Native Searches for America’s Missing Service Members

Photo By Lt. Col. Kenneth Hoffman | DAEGU, SOUTH KOREA — During a recent mission in South Korea, Capt. Robinson and her team were canvassing an area south of the City of Daegu, and conducting interviews with local town elders in hopes of locating sites where American soldiers were killed and possibly buried during the Korean War. Capt. Robinson (right) helped a local woman pull weeds in her front yard during an interview on April 12, 2019. (U.S. Air Force photo by Lt. Col. Ken Hoffman, DPAA Public Affairs)  

SOUTH KOREA

06.07.2019

Story by Lt. Col. Kenneth Hoffman 

Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

Georgia Native Searches for America’s Missing Service Members
By Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency Public Affairs
June 7, 2019

JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii -- U.S. Army Capt. Tomika S. Robinson joined the Army in 1996. A native of Sparks, Ga., Robinson has served as a Team Leader and Section Leader in the Expeditionary Support Directorate at the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) based out of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii since 2016.

In that capacity, Robinson led Investigation Teams (IT) on Joint Field Activities in the Indo-Pacific Theater in search of Americans missing from past conflicts dating back to World War II. The missions may last up to 50 days, and take place up to five times per year. The purpose of their work is integral in DPAA’s mission of providing the fullest possible accounting of our missing personnel to their families and the nation.

During a typical IT mission, Robinson’s team collects, analyzes and integrates all available information to develop field investigation plans and schemes of maneuver for future recovery operations. In other words, the team interviews witnesses, conducts land surveys, and gathers any evidence they can in hopes of correlating the site to a record of loss of a U.S. service member in order to recommend for future excavation by a DPAA Recovery Team.

Capt. Robinson successfully led her teams in jungle and mountainous terrain in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and in the battlefields of the Republic of Korea, while building enduring relationships with Vietnamese and South Korean officials that will further DPAA’s search for missing Americans.

Robinson’s leadership directly contributed to the recovery of missing Americans from the Korean and Vietnam Wars and will have an enduring impact on the Agency’s global operations.

Capt. Robinson was recently selected to attend the U.S. Air Force’s Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell AFB, Ala.

DPAA’s mission is to provide the fullest possible accounting for our missing personnel to their families and the nation. When American personnel remain unaccounted-for at the conclusion of hostilities, the DoD personnel accounting community becomes the responsible agent for identifying and accounting for the missing.

For more information about DPAA or Capt. Robinson, visit www.dpaa.mil, find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa, or call Lt. Col. Ken Hoffman at 808-255-4078.

• Date Taken: 06.07.2019
• Date Posted: 06.07.2019 23:16
• Story ID: 326130
• Location: KR