This ‘go-getter’ grew up in Macon, but Army work takes her around the world

An Army officer who grew up in Macon is involved in efforts to improve security across Africa.

Lt. Col. Akemi Torbert was the lead communications planner for the African Land Forces Summit, in which military leaders from 43 nations met this week in Lilongwe, Malawi. The summit began Monday and ended Thursday.

Torbert, who was promoted to her current rank April 16, is a graduate of Northeast High School and Georgia Southern University. She has served in the Army Signal Corps for 17 years. She has deployed to Afghanistan and Kuwait and now is based in Italy with U.S. Army Africa. She has worked in 13 African nations.

The summit is an annual event intended to address shared security concerns. Torbert said those go well beyond the terrorist groups ISIS and Boko Haram that dominate the news.

“There are a lot of different crises that are actually happening on the continent,” she said.

Her job was to set up communications for the nations attending the summit. That’s a challenge, considering that nations have different types of communications networks — and some of them barely have a network.

The biggest thing she said she has learned in her experiences of living across Africa is how good she had it growing up.

“It has really opened my eyes to the privileged life we actually live, not just in Macon but in the States,” she said.

“When you think of Africa, most people think of what they see in National Geographic — a whole bunch of safaris and animals and a whole bunch of tribes and something that is just naturally beautiful. Not that the country isn’t, but there are a lot of different atrocities in a lot of the countries here. Just to see that level of poverty is staggering. The very first time I came to Africa it was in Cameroon. I looked to my left and right coming from the airport and saw the poverty. I actually cried.”

And yet, despite the suffering, she said she has found the people to be happy, friendly and hospitable, and that has encouraged her to want to help.

Among the countries she has visited are Uganda, Ghana, Gabon, Cameroon, Tanzania and South Africa.

“Each one is a completely different experience,” she said.

Her parents, Earnest and Angelia Skelton, and other family members still live in Macon. Torbert said she still considers Macon her home, and she returns whenever she gets a chance. Her father is a Vietnam veteran who served a long career in the Air Force.

Torbert was last home in April, when she was attending a conference at Fort Gordon. She was able to have her promotion ceremony there in front of her family and friends.

That meant a lot to her dad, who saw leadership skills in her from the time she was a child.

“She is a fast learner and a go-getter,” he said. “When she puts her mind to something, she don’t let nothing stop her.”

As proud as he is of her Army career, it was tough to see her deployed to Afghanistan in 2007.

“It was absolutely nerve-racking,” Skelton said. “You never want any of your kids to go through something like that. That was just pure flashback. That was one long year for me and my wife when she was over there.”

Her whole family has a strong military tradition. She has a brother in the Air Force Reserves, and several cousins are serving.

She said she chose the Army because she wanted to be different, and she has not regretted it. On her Facebook page is a photo of a sign that reads “To travel is to live.”

She seems to be living pretty well.

“I think the Army actually has given me that opportunity to travel and see the world,” she said. “There is a huge world out there just waiting to be explored, and I don’t think we take enough of an opportunity to appreciate it.”

This story was originally published May 10, 2017 at 2:40 PM with the headline "This ‘go-getter’ grew up in Macon, but Army work takes her around the world."