LEADERSHIP THROUGH INSPIRATION
S ROBIN L. MILLER
COMMAND/ORGANIZATION: U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command Logistics Center
TITLE: Branch chief, Initial Provisioning YEARS OF SERVICE IN WORKFORCE: 17
DAWIA CERTIFICATIONS: Level III in life cycle logistics, Level II in program management, Level I in production, quality and manufacturing, Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certification
EDUCATION: MBA in business, Texas A&M University; B.A. in computer information systems and accounting, Davenport University
AWARDS: Nominated for ASA(ALT) Lean Six Sigma Excellence Awards Program, Cargo PMO Exceptional Service Award, Certificate of Appreciation Team Award, numerous performance awards
ome people respond to adversity with bitterness or anger. Others, with frus- tration or sadness. For Robin Miller, that just doesn’t feel right. “We have to learn that it’s not all about us,” she said. “I tell people all the time, it’s my motto, be the inspiration that you seek.” Tere was a time in her Army
career when she struggled to find guidance and direction, and that memory sticks with her. “Tere were days when I wanted to say, ‘Tis government thing is not for me,’ ” she said. Instead of giving up, though, she dug deeper. “What I decided is that when I see others needing help, I’m going to help them.” Since then, Miller has built a reputation as a leader, a mentor and someone who always sees the poten- tial in others.
She entered the civilian workforce through the Army Materiel Command (AMC) Fellows Program. At the time, Miller was a recent college graduate with two young children, living in Flint, Michigan, and struggling to find work in the automotive industry. Her father, who worked at U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command, suggested that she apply, and the rest is history. Te five-year program, which was started in 2000, targeted young professionals with certain undergradu- ate degrees and the willingness to relocate. Candidates would move to Texarkana, Texas, where they would complete a graduate degree before beginning a series of rotational, on-the-job training assignments over the next 47 months. Trough the course of the program, fellows would advance from GS-7 to GS-13. When Miller had the chance to go, she knew it was an opportunity she couldn’t pass up. “I knew that was my way out,” she said. “Tat changed the trajectory of my life.”
However, making that first move from Flint to Texarkana was no small task. “I had small children, and was recently divorced,” Miller said. So her mother stepped in. “She moved with me, to make sure I would be successful, and made sure my chil- dren were taken care of while I pursued my master’s degree.”
And Miller hasn’t stopped since. After finishing her MBA in Texas, she completed the developmental phase of her fellowship, rotating between assignments at DOD and other federal offices (even NASA!) at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. Tere were challenges along the way, and Miller said she had a lot to learn, but she knows she made the right choice. “It catapulted me,” she said. “It changed my life. I could potentially still be in Michigan, struggling, but [the fellows program] allowed me to take care of my family.”
In the fellows program, she chose to pursue a career in logistics. Her first acquisition position was item manager for the Army’s CH-47 helicopter. “I enjoyed managing parts, organizing requirements for procurement and ensuring parts availability for the Soldiers,” she said. Today, Miller is the branch chief for Initial Provisioning at the
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Army AL&T Magazine Winter 2021
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