Robert began life at Detroit Osteopathic Hospital in Highland Park, Michigan, as the son of Howard and Merceda Parrish. With his older brother, Daniel, he grew up in Whitmore Lake, Michigan, "a little north of Ann Arbor". Robert enlisted in the Air Force as soon as he graduated from high school in May 1970 and began basic training in August at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio where he was assigned as an aero-medical medic. At Sheppard Field in Wichita Falls, Texas he completed the four-week "Med Helper" course. After additional training at Brooks AFB in San Antonio and at Fairchild AFB in Spokane, Washington, he was sent to Vietnam in 1972 and was stationed at Phang Rang near Cam Ranh Bay, then at Da Nang. Robert worked with the 6498 USAF Dispensary and flew with 37^th Air Rescue, mainly tasked with rescuing aircrews. While he never attended a Bob Hope show, he remarks of the comedian: "Got a lot of respect for that man. I never let anybody say a bad word about him because he cared. We felt it." He stayed in touch with his family through letters and conversed with his first wife on MARS (Military Amateur Radio System). Robert returned to the States in January of 1973 and was discharged in April of that year.