Robert B. Alvarez

Robert Brian Alvarez was born in New York City in 1959 to Cuban American parents. His family relocated to Miami in 1964, and he grew up in the inner city of Miami in the 1960s, a time of significant racial challenges in an economically depressed community.

He became an All City, All County football player at Miami Carol City Senior High School. After he graduated, he served in the United States Marine Corps from 1978 to 1982 in Marine aviation as an Avionics Technician. Much of his time was with VMA 142, a Squadron of A-4 aircraft in NAS Jacksonville, Florida. Upon completing service in the Marine Corps and with a bachelor’s in industrial education, he returned to his hometown Miami Florida. He began teaching in the same high school he graduated from, coaching high school football, baseball, wrestling, and soccer.

He returned to graduate school, earning advanced certifications in vocational assessment and evaluation, and was assigned to the Special Programs division of the Hillsborough County Schools in Tampa, Florida. He was selected to manage a federally funded effort to assess county inmates at the Sheriff’s office and to assist the courts in developing rehabilitation plans for felony probationers. This program won several awards and recognitions, and much of this work identified many of the foundations of what would later become Florida’s new Drug Courts.

After completing a master’s degree in Rehabilitation Counseling from the University of South Florida, he was assigned a federal initiative with the Florida Department of Corrections, evaluating and counseling newly released inmates from state prisons. In 1997 he relocated to Colorado Springs, where he was selected to design and develop a Colorado Department of Education pilot for at-risk and expelled students for 21 school districts. Two years later, this project was selected as the state’s model and still exists today. He volunteered for the next four years with the El Paso County District Attorney Juvenile Diversion program.

In 2007, he took a part-time position at a private practice treating convicted sex offenders and held a position as a counselor at Ft. Carson, working with transitioning, wounded Soldiers. During this time, it became painfully evident that many wounded were wrongfully separated under less-than-honorable conditions. They were denied treatment for their injuries and a medical retirement.

In 2009 Robert successfully chaired Colorado’s effort to create the Nation’s 6th Veterans Court.

In 2007, the Uniformed Services Advocacy Group (USJAG) was born from these experiences, which drove the organization never to quit fighting for the honor and benefits of those who keep our country safe.