[6] From a young age, Robles showed an interest in activities that were considered masculine, learning to tame horses and handling weapons, and becoming an excellent marksman and rider.

[7] Robles joined the army in 1911 or 1912,[8] perhaps when General Juan Andreu Almazán passed through Xochipala in 1911 as pressure mounted against Porfirio Díaz to resign as president.

[citation needed] Between August and November 1911, Robles was sent to the Gulf of Mexico on a commission in order to obtain money from oil companies for the revolutionary cause.

Maria de la Luz Barrera and Ángel(a) Jiménez also adopted male identities during the war.

[3] In 1919, some time after Emiliano Zapata was killed, Robles and 315 men under his command joined the forces of Alvaro Obregón, and in 1920 fought with them in the Agua Prieta Revolt which brought an end to the government of Venustiano Carranza.

[3] When Robles settled in Iguala for a time after the revolution, a group of men are said to have attacked him wanting to reveal his anatomy; he killed two in self-defense.

[3] On his deathbed Robles supposedly made two requests, to receive honors for his military service and to be dressed as a woman in order to commend his soul to God.

[17] According to historian Gabriela Cano Ortega, Robles adopted a male identity not as a survival strategy but because of a strong desire to be a man.

His tombstone bears the feminine version of his name and there is a museum in Xochipala celebrating "Coronela Amelia Robles", recognizing him as a "woman fighter".