Born 2 January 1952, he grew up and attended primary and secondary school in Abbeville, SC. Following graduation from high school, he entered The Citadel in Charleston, SC, graduating in 1974 and accepting a commission in the United States Marine Corps. He began his Marine Corps career as an infantry officer, later attending flight school where he became a helicopter pilot. During his thirty-year Marine Corps career he served at stations in the United States, Japan, and aboard US Navy ships in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and the Caribbean Sea. While assigned as a flight instructor in Pensacola, Florida, he attended Troy State University and earned a Master’s Degree. His duty assignments included tours as an infantry officer, assault support helicopter pilot, flight instructor, squadron commander, and finished his career as a Colonel serving as the Military Assistant to the Under Secretary of the Navy. After retiring from the Marine Corps in 2004, he began recreational scuba diving and advanced to the rating of Rescue Diver. In 2006 he joined the Fifth District Volunteer Fire Department, Inc. in Clarksville, MD, and began service as a Public Safety Diver and firefighter. He continued advancing his diving certifications, becoming an Open Water Scuba Instructor with the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) in 2008 and a PADI Public Safety Diver Instructor in 2011. Following successful completion of the PADI Course Director Training Course in June 2015, he earned the rating of PADI Course Director, the highest professional rating in recreational scuba diving. In addition to the full range of PADI courses through Instructor Development, he teaches 23 PADI Specialty Courses, two PADI Distinctive Specialty Courses, and is a PADI Instructor Trainer in 20 PADI Specialty/Distinctive Specialty courses. He is an Emergency First Response Instructor Trainer, an instructor with the Handicapped Scuba Association International, and an Instructor Trainer for the full range of Divers Alert Network courses.