Hello from Charlotte, NC. I’m Ralph and I’m an author, Digital Artist, 20-year navy vet, Old Bald Man (New Official Title) Cancer Survivor, Relationship Survivor, and owned by 3 cats and a dog.

I was born in Naples, Italy to army parents (technically, my mother was discharged before giving birth. Back in 1963, once a woman was pregnant, they were unceremoniously shown the door). Because my father remained in the army for 23 years, we moved a lot, Fort Knox, Fort Bragg and Manheim, Germany being among my personal favorite places to live.

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Fast forward a bit; I eventually moved to Charlotte in the mid-70s where I spent my golden teenage years, graduated from high school and promptly joined the Navy (point of clarification, I actually joined the Army National Guard first (following in the old man’s footsteps) but got sick of cleaning floors. Therefore, I joined the Navy where I was quickly put to the important tasks of cleaning the decks.

 

I spent twenty years in the Navy and have seen a very large portion of the world (it’s really true when they say it’s not just a job, but an adventure). I calculated it up once and of my twenty years of naval service, I’ve probably spent more than 13 years at sea. I’ve been stationed on the USS Coral Sea (CV-43), USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63), USS Arthur W. Radford (DD-968) and USS Spruance (DD-963). There were a few others, but those were the noteworthy ships. I’ve also been stationed and lived in Norfolk, Virginia, San Diego, California, Anchorage, Alaska (my personal favorite), and Mayport, Florida. As for my Job, I was a member of navy intelligence (IS1). This job let me do a lot of writing, which came in handy after retiring.