Thomas D Robbins

Thomas D. Robbins loved the outdoors, and after camping and hiking in the woods, always returned home with trash he picked up on the trail. His mother said Robbins was a talented artist and had been in Iraq less than three months when he died. "He believed he was helping people and was working at learning the Iraqi language, just as he had learned Korean and studied the culture when he was stationed in Korea," said Charlene Robbins. Sgt. Robbins, 27, of Schenectady, N.Y., died Feb. 9 when rocket-propelled grenades and mortar rounds blew up while being moved to a detonation site in Sinjar, Iraq. He was assigned to Fort Lewis, Wash. Robbins earned an associate degree in environmental sciences at Morrisville State College. In the Army, he resumed his college studies...