Colonel Robert Welch Nicholson was commissioned an Infantry Officer upon graduation from Officer Candidate School on 18 August 1942. His first duty assignment was as Personnel Officer, Headquarters, European Theater of Operations, London, England. | His subsequent duty assignments includes: Pilot, B-17 Transition and Crew Training, Eastern Flying Training Command, Lockbourne Army Air Base, Lincoln, Nebraska; Lead Crew B-17 Pilot, 413th Squadron, 96th Bomb Group, 3rd Air Division, 8th Air Force, England; Personnel Officer, Headquarters, Eastern Air Defense Force, Stewart Air Force Base, New York; Assistant to the Chief of Staff, Headquarters, Air Defense Command, Ent Air Force Base, Colorado; Air Attache Training, Headquarters, USAir Force, Washington, D.C.; Assistant and Acting Air Attache, American Embassy, Cairo, Egypt, Khartoum, Sudan, Aoris Ababa, Ethiopia; Operations Officer/Chief, Air Attache Branch, Headquarters, USAir Force, Washington, D.C.; Psychological Operations Officer, Chief, Plans and Programs Branch, Headquarters, Commander in Chief, Pacific Office, Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff, Intelligence, Headquarters, US Air Force, Washington, D.C.; Director of Intelligence, Headquarters, 1st of the 13th Air Force, Udorn, Thailand; Director of Intelligence, Headquarters, 17th Air Force, Ramstein, Germany; Director of Security, Headquarters, Defense Mapping Agency, Washington, D.C.