Well, the bits I remember:
Bill and Dave knew each other from before the mod. John was looking around for a new challenge, somewhere to take his thoughts and ideas from previous ventures - and he found the RO mod in early 2003, joined the team. I was looking aruond after another mod failed (The Russian Front - too many engine changes) and enquired, then joined the RO team in about May 2003. Ingmar (Sasquatch) started creating maps for the mod, then joined the team in 2004 (I think). Adam (Ohnein) was around from the early days, dropped out for school commitments - but finally returned to the fold a couple of years ago. Dion, Leland and others came onboard along the way.
So - I guess we met actually on the mod, as each of us joined the team. The very original was kicked off by people like Jeremy and LiMiT and a few others. The RO name stuck, even if the original concept changed around a bit, along with the team!