Captain Robert E. Johnson was commissioned in the Infantry upon graduation from the United States Military Academy in 1975. He initially served as a company grade officer at the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Kentucky from June 1976 to December 1979 where he was a platoon leader, mortar platoon leader, and company executive officer. He commanded Alpha company, 1st Battalion, 503d Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. 

After attending the Advance Course, Colonel Johnson spent 7 months at Fort Benning, Georgia as a Training Analyst before departing for graduate school en route to an assignment back at his alma mater. From August 1982 to June 1985, he served on the staff and faculty at West Point as a Cadet Counselor and Tactical Officer for Company A-4. He departed West Point and went to Korea where he served as a Battalion S-3 and Battalion Executive Officer for 1st Battalion 38th Infantry Regiment, 2d Infantry Division, later reflagged as 1st Battalion, 503d Infantry Regiment for 19 months. 

After staff college, he was assigned to the Total Army Personnel Command, renamed Personnel Command (PERSCOM) in Alexandria, Virginia, where he was an assignment officer for Infantry Lieutenant Colonels and Majors from June 1988 to June 1990. He departed PERSCOM to go to the 3d U. S. Infantry (The Old Guard) where he was the Regimental Executive Officer from June 1990 to October 1991. Selected early for battalion command, he returned to Korea where he commanded 1st Battalion, 503d Infantry, and 2d Infantry Division from October 1991 to October 1993. After the War College, he returned to PERSCOM as the Branch Chief, Infantry Branch for 12 months and was a brigade command selectee, prior to returning to West Point in the capacity as the Deputy Director of Admissions in November 1995. A position he held until October 2004, when he became the Director of Admissions for the United States Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point. 

Captain Johnson’s military schools include the Infantry Officer Basic Course, Airborne School, Air Assault School, Ranger School, Infantry Mortar Platoon Leader Course, Infantry Officer Advance Course, and the Pathfinder Course. He graduated from the Marine Command and Staff College in 1988 and the Naval War College in 1994 where he earned a masters degree in National Security and Strategic Studies. Additionally he holds a Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology from the University of Tennessee in 1982.

Captain Johnson and his wife Karen have been married 25 years and have no children.