A loving son, Green Beret, father,hero and friend who lost his life in the line of duty in Afghanistan
Adrienne Robbins reminisces as she looks at a picture of her small children with 3 handsome boys and a beautiful daughter. Her son Elliott (2nd of 4 sons/7 children) has an angelic smile on his face in the picture however, he was poised and ready to painfully pinch his older brother immediately after the picture was taken. He could be such a rascal. Elliott had an atypically high IQ and a penchant for being a tease but he was also a charming, loving, and generous man. This particular picture was taken before they completed their family with three additional children for a total of 7.
Sergeant 1st Class Elliott Robbins passed in the Afghanistan war zone June 30, 2019(Afghanistan time). He was the top medic in his Green Beret Special Forces company.
Elliott, in his father’s words had grown up to be exactly what a father hopes his son to become; good, kind, loving, giving,a patriot and God fearing. Elliott was 31 at the time of his death. He was in the process of a divorce and is the father of an 8 month old boy. The family finds some peace in the fact that he sent a text with pictures of him traveling with a Catholic Chaplain that he and his mother both knew and his father has come to know electronically. He said in the message that he knew God was aware of him and was grateful to have had the chance to meet up with the chaplain. That was on Wednesday and Elliott was killed on Saturday. Details surrounding his death are not available because the information is classified and will be for the foreseeable future.
His funeral service was held last month at St. James the Just Catholic Church in Ogden. It was attended by many local residents as well as dignitaries. The military understands that the loss of just one soldier is too many and they have been incredibly kind to the Robbins family. As part of the service many of Elliott’s friends from his military service wrote out stories about him and gave or sent them to his family.
Major Todd was Elliott’s company commander and Battalion Executive Officer, most recently. Major Todd said,“Elliott was an unbelievable medic and Green Beret. His compassion and dedication to the mission and to his teammates was incomparable to anyone else. There are countless times this year where Elliott was credited with saving the lives of his fellow teammates, Afghan Commandos and civilians. About two months ago, Elliott and his team were on a mission with their Afghan partners in southern Afghanistan when a Taliban heavy machine gun opened up on them. This was followed by small arms fire and one member of the US patrol being wounded. The US Soldier lay wounded in the open and was exposed to enemy fire and was unable to get to cover. Elliott, without hesitation, went to get him. But because of how severe the wound was, Elliott had to treat him where he lay. The volume of fire from Taliban picked up and impacted all around and within inches of Elliott and the wounded infantryman. When Elliott saw this, he put himself between the wounded and the enemy to provide cover while he treated him. After he treated the wound and while his team provided suppressive fire, Elliott carried him back to where the rest of his team was. CPL Anderson, the wounded infantryman is alive today because of Elliott’s actions. Elliott was awarded the Army Commendation Medal for Valor for his actions in this battle.
I also see heroism in Elliott in how he treated his family. His youngest sibling Beatrix is a student at Weber High and works at the McDonalds on Washington and 2600 N. This is a tradition of the Robbins Family as each one of their children has worked at that McDonalds including Elliott. She considers Elliott one of her best friends. She loved how he teased her and gave her grief but was a loving and doting big brother. Onetime he taught her how to do an IV. He even let her practice on himself. After removing the IV from his arm Beatrix got a little flustered looking for a small connector and left her brother bleeding. He said, “Hey, I’m bleeding over here!” She panicked a little and pulled the tourniquet off which didn’t help and Elliott calmly showed her how to bandage the wound and help stop the bleeding. Of course he never let her live that one down. He also showed her how to shoot, including the safe use of firearms which she really loved.
One day while he was in Afghanistan he saw that someone said unkind things about his sister on Facebook. He instantly messaged them and told them to remove their comments within 24 hours or else! It was gone in 2 hours. He sent his mom to Germany on an all-expense paid trip for a month as a way to say I love you and sorry for being so difficult.
His father Lieutenant Colonel Freeman Robbins shared one of his favorite stories about Elliott as told to him by Alan Fickling, who served with Elliott and spoke at his Memorial Service at Ft.Carson. He loved this story because it showed his son’s sense of humor and his sense of protectiveness.
“Elliott watched as another student was berated for having a penlight malfunction during the test with no backup. In the time honored Q course tradition, the cadre took it a little overboard. Insulting the student’s competency as a medic and soldier for not carrying two penlights at all times. Most of us saw it, made a mental note to make sure our penlights worked the next day, and left it at that. Elliott thought the lecture was ridiculous, and to prove a point in “Elliott fashion,” he showed up the next day with a giant rack of penlights weaved in where his magazine pouches should have been. He ran his graded clinic wearing 14 pen lights on his body armor. And every time he used one, he would toss it casually aside when he was done and reach for the next one.
It can be a fine line between confidence and arrogance but Elliott had the skill to back it up. Plus the willingness to standout, speak his mind, and crack jokes while doing it led him to be the honor grad of his Q course” said Fickling.
Elliott Jerome Robbins was born at Scripps Memorial Hospital, La Jolla, California, August 18, 1987, to Adrienne Marie Robbins and Freeman Earl Robbins, Jr. The family moved to Martinez, Georgia in 1988 when Freeman was assigned to Ft. Gordon. In 1989 Mom and children went back to San Diego fora few months, while Dad stayed at Ft.Gordon then went to Jump School at Ft. Benning, GA. He was then assigned to the 72nd Signal Battalion in Germany. Later that year Adrienne and kids joined Dad in Germany.
The family lived and went to school in Karlsruhe, Germany for 13 years. Each of the children speak fluent German. One time while they were traveling and visiting Universal Studios in Germany, Elliott, though quite young, teased his father about his “less than good” German. He ended up translating for his father. As ign of his high level of intelligence was his fluency in German and then he also learned Russian. These both led to assisting his military career. At age 8 he was in a chess club and could often beat college students. Elliott dropped out of school during his junior year at Weber High school which was hard for his family to see. However, he later talked to an Army recruiter who told him that without a degree, he couldn’t join the military. Elliott figured out how to get his GED and immediately joined the Military. After a somewhat tumultuous youth, Elliott became a great man and an influential leader. His family will greatly miss him in this life and look forward to a reunion in the life to come. With a tear in her eye, his mom said, “You think you get 84 years…but that is not always true, sometimes you only get 32.
If you would like to help the family as a matter of contribution, there is a Memorial Fund set up at America First Credit Union in honor of Elliott Robbins.