Robert Omasta was commissioned in the U.S. Army through the ROTC program at Norwich University in 1966. After fulfilling his commitment as an armor officer, first at Fort Knox and afterwards in Germany, initially with the 14th Armored Cav and then with the Army rifle team at the 24th Infantry Division, Omasta switched to military intelligence and was sent to Fort Holabird to take the Imagery Interpretation and Aerial Surveillance course. He deployed to Vietnam in 1968 and was assigned as G-2 Air with MACV Team 51 in Bac Lieu. There he served as aerial surveillance officer, and also oversaw the interpretation and training of the ARVN imagery section that was co-located with them. He describes flying backseat in an O-1 Bird Dog, snapping photos with his “35-millimeter lens camera with a 300 and a 500-millimeter lens on it” from “around 2,000 feet or so above, so you had a good view.” He tidily sums up his job as “looking for new developments, things that were there, huts that weren't there, foxholes that might show up, integrate it with any incoming intelligence reports you've had and try and track it, match it against the imagery we were getting from the Air Force.”