Robert Bender was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1936. He enlisted in the Naval Reserve and was commissioned as an officer in 1959, and served until 1991, retiring at the rank of captain. He served at different times in two air patrol squadrons, VP-2 and VP-93, along with an antisubmarine warfare squadron, VS-37, from bases in Whidbey Island, Washington and in Michigan. He also did a stint at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
