Robert Mason was born in Plainfield, New Jersey, in 1942. He was raised on a farm near Delray Beach Florida, went to the Delray Beach schools, and attended the University of Florida. He dropped out of college after 2 years, worked odd jobs, met the love of his life, Patience, and married her in 1963. He then joined the Army in 1964 to learn to fly helicopters.

He flew as a combat helicopter pilot with the First Cav Division during 1965 and 1966 in Vietnam. "ChickenHawk" is Mason's New York Times bestselling memoir of that time. Fascinated by artificial intelligence and believing that combat robots will be the future of warfare, Mason has written "Weapon" and "Solo", two science fiction books which follow the world's first killer robot when it escapes from its CIA handlers during combat trials.