Lieutenant Colonel D P F Robinson

Lieutenant Colonel (Lt Col) Derek Patrick Fitzgerald Robinson joined the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) in January 1981. He successfully completed the Basic Officers Training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, UK and was commissioned in the rank of Second Lieutenant on the 11 December 1981. In 1983 to 1985, Lt Col Robinson served as a Platoon Commander as part of the multi-national Caribbean Peace Keeping Force during Operation “Urgent Fury” in Grenada. For those operational tours he was awarded the Medal of Honour for General Service. In 2001, he received a second award, the Medal of Honour for Meritorious Service to the Jamaica Defence Force. In July 2007, he commanded the JDF contingent that performed ceremonial guard duties at Buckingham Palace, St James’s Palace, Windsor Castle and the Tower of London in the United Kingdom.

Lt Col Robinson attended the All Arms Tactics Course at Warminster, UK in 1987; the Canadian Forces Staff School and the Canadian Land Forces Command and Staff College in Canada over the period 1991 – 1992. In 1998, he attended the US Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Lt Col Robinson has held a number of appointments to include Platoon Commander; Company Commander; Detachment Commander at the Military Training Wing, Newcastle; Battalion Second in Command, 2nd Battalion the Jamaica Regiment (2JR); Training Major – 3rd Battalion the Jamaica Regiment (National Reserve) and Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion the Jamaica Regiment (1JR). In January 2008, he was appointed SO1 J2/J3 (Intelligence and Operations) at the Headquarters Jamaica Defence Force until his retirement in March 2011.

During a relatively short period of retirement, Lt Col Robinson held appointments to include the Assistant Vice President for Security at the Port Authority of Jamaica from August 2011 to August 2013 and Managing Director of the Ports’ Security Corps from December 2013 until April 2018. He is also an Adjunct Lecturer at the Caribbean Maritime University (CMU) since September 2013.

In pursuit of extra-curricular activities, he is a former Second Vice President of the Jamaica Boxing Board of Control and was the Boxing Team Manager to the XX Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland from July to August 2014. In 2018, he was appointed Chef de Mission’ for Jamaica’s national team to the Central American and Caribbean Games in Barranquilla, Colombia. Lt Col Robinson holds diplomas in Business Administration, Management Studies and Human Resource Development (HRD). He is a Justice of the Peace for the Parish of Kingston.

Lt Col Robinson re-enlisted in the Jamaica Defence Force on the 17 Jan 2019 and was appointed Staff Officer – Jamaica National Reserve. He is the youngest son of the Jamaica Defence Force’s first Jamaican born Chief of Staff, the Late Brigadier Dunstan Robinson and attended Mona Preparatory School and Wolmer’s Boys School. He is married to Lori-Ann and has one daughter.