I grew up in California, graduating from Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose, and then from CSU Fresno with a BS in Criminology. I served four years in the California Army National Guard while I was going to college. When I graduated, I earned a Regular Army a commission as an infantry Lieutenant. 

I then served in the US Army, initially as an infantry officer with service in Germany and the First Gulf War, then as an explosive ordnance disposal officer, commanding units in the Sinai Desert, Egypt and Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

I left the Army to accept an appointment as a Special Agent in the FBI, where I spent twenty years working on all manner of federal investigations. During my career, I was assigned to Vermont, New York, Virginia, Washington, DC, and North Carolina. I also served in Cuba, in Afghanistan, as a firearms instructor at the FBI Academy, and as a Congressional Liaison Agent on Capitol Hill.

While working in Vermont, I attended the University of Vermont, and earned an M.Ed. in Interdisciplinary Studies as well as an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies. 

I am now retired near Charlotte, North Carolina, slowly going to pot and driving my wife nuts, while trying to keep my kids from doing overly destructive things.