Colonel Robert Raymond Gilbert was commissioned an Infantry Officer in the U.S. Army Reserve upon graduation from Officer Candidate School, Twentieth Company, Third Student Training Regiment, 28 March 1944. His first duty assignment was as a Student of the 1st Parachute Training Regiment, Fort Benning, Georgia. | His subsequent duty assignments include: Executive Officer, L Company, 1st Parachute Training Regiment, Fort Benning, Georgia; Commanding General, Parachute School, Fort Benning, Georgia; Student and Assistant Adjutant, Second Parachute Training Regiment, Fort Benning, Georgia; Court Officer and Company Officer, Delta Company, Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Assistant Adjutant, Service Company, 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 11th Airborne Division; Personnel Officer, Service Company, 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 11th Airborne Division; Regimental Liaison Officer, Service Company, 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 11th Airborne Division, Lipa, Batangas Province, Philippines; Forest Technician, General Headquarters, Supreme Command Allied Powers, Japan; Commander, H Company, 160th Infantry Regiment, 40th Division, California National Guard, Camp Cooke, California; Battalion S2, 160th Infantry Regiment, 40th Division, California National Guard, Camp Haugen, Japan; Commander, Lima Company, 8th Cavalry, Korea; Assistant Regimental S3, 8th Cavalry, Chitose, Japan; Regimental S2, 8th Cavalry, Chitose, Japan; Temporary Duty Briefing Officer, 5112th Service Unit, Test Division, Headquarters Reorganization as the Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Detachment Commander, FB Team, 77th Special Forces, Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Chief Instructor, Unconventional Warfare Department, JFK Special Warfare Center, Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Counter-insurgency and Special Warfare Staff Officer, U.S. Army Special Warfare School; Chief Instructor, Unconventional Warfare Department U.S. Army Special Warfare School, Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Battalion Commander, 3rd Battalion 21st Artillery, Kitzingen, Germany; Executive Officer and Inspector General, 5th Special Forces Group, Nha Trang, Vietnam; Senior Liaison Officer, 9th Republic of Korea Division, Ninh Hwa, Vietnam, Combat Developments Command, Institute of Land Combat, Fort Belvoir, Virginia; Commander, United States Military Group, Republic of Panama; Advisor to the President of Panama and the Minister of Justice on all Military matters and Veterinary Medicine.