In August 1935, Robinson was again ordered to Quantico, where he served as post maintenance officer and safety engineer before entering the Senior Course in August, 1938. Graduating in May 1939, he was ordered once more to China. There he served successively as executive and operations officer of the Marine detachment at the American Embassy, Peiping; as commander of the Marine detachment at Tientsin, and as commander of Marine Forces, North China, and the embassy detachment at Peiping. He returned to the United States in June 1941, and the following month, he reported to Marine Corps Headquarters, Washington, D.C., to become assistant officer in charge of the personnel section, Division of Plans and Policies. He took charge of that section in April 1942. Thus, in 1942, when the commandant of the Marine Corps issued orders to recruit and train African Americans, the task of recruiting and training new African-American Marines fell to then-Colonel Robinson. Robinson sought the help of the Selective Service in this task. He served in the personnel section until October 1943, when he was named officer in charge of the operations and training section.