So, what’s your story?

[Type_93]

Over the last couple of years I’ve come to enjoy the discussions we have had here and on the old forums. Each of you brings a unique point of view on the game and that’s great. So, what’s your story? Were you folks from? What do you do for a living? You retired? Did you serve? How did you come to love all things in Naval history?  
 

I’m Chuck. I grew up in east Texas. I’m 45. I’m a master electrician and run heavy industrial and automation jobs. My love of warships started early from a trip to see USS Texas when I was 5. At 10 I got an edition of Janes fighting ships. After high school I joined the Army. Hate to admit it but I get violently sea sick or I would have joined the navy. 
 

My love for naval games started when I got PTO for Nintendo. Then Harpoon, Janes fleet command and others. 

I am very glad to be a part of this community of like minded people (even though we may argue about WOWs). 

[CFagan_1987]

I'm Chris, I'm 35, and I live in New York. I've had an interest in military history since I was in middle school and both of my grandfathers saw combat in WWII (one as a Navy Seabee in the Pacific and one as a USAAF bomber crewman in Europe). I remember watching reruns of Victory at Sea with my dad when I was a kid and I had originally played World of Tanks so when Warships came out I got into CBT and fell in love with the game.

[Wolfswetpaws]

6 minutes ago, Type_93 said:

I grew up in east Texas.

Yeah.  Texas is big enough to have an "east" and a "west".  🙂 

I grew up in New Hampshire, USA.  

My early career involved being a newspaper delivery boy and a dishwasher in a Chinese Restaurant, along with the odd-job of stacking firewood for a neighbor.

Since then, I've traveled a bit, courtesy of the United States Marine Corps and jobs in the transportation industry.
I've worked as a Truck Driver in 48 States, some Provinces of Canada, Norway (two deployments) and was stationed in Japan for a year (with a month of that time being spent on Okinawa for a training course).
I've been aboard US Navy ships for USMC training operations/deployments.  
I've visited Newcastle upon Tyne, U.K., as a "liberty port" while the USS Newport (LST 1179) was docked there, once upon a time.
Briefly (a few hours, each) I've been in the airports of Anchorage Alaska and a location somewhere in Greenland.

I'm fond of various games and outdoor activities, including ice-hockey, hiking, bicycling, flight/combat-sim games, StarCraft (I & II), Star Trek Online, World of Warships, Silent Service (I & II), Red Storm Rising (submarine simulation), boardgames and some playing-card games (Chess, Cribbage, "Pitch", Spades and Rummy).
While aboard ship, I fondly remember playing a game of Stratego wherein a Sergeant gave me an education while kicking my proverbial aft.  I thanked him for the eye-opening lesson in positioning, recognition of pieces by observing their behaviors, and other concepts involved in the game which also apply to real-life USMC situations.
I enjoy archery and marksmanship as hobbies. 
I also enjoy learning about history.
While traveling, I've had a lot of time to listen to audio-books, in addition to the normal books that I've enjoyed (often in the Science-Fiction, Fantasy and Mystery/Private-Eye genres).
My tastes in movies are similar to my reading preferences, with the addition of "cheesy" vintage films of various genres.
I've been a fan of "anime" since some Japanese "cartoons" were imported into the USA and aired as "Star Blazers" and "Force 5" and etc.
I didn't actually learn about the word anime' until years later.  🙂 

I remember arriving in Japan and watching a local television broadcast of Dragonball-Z aired in original Japanese language without subtitles.
I hadn't learned any Japanese, yet, at that time.
The dialogue I was imagining the characters were saying was a lot more interesting and sophisticated than the actual dialogue intended for teenagers.
Still, it was entertaining.  🙂 

I've been playing World of Warships since July of 2018.
I joined the old WOWs forum a few months after that. 
And I joined this forum shortly after DevStrike was created.  I'm glad we're here.  🙂 

Among my hobbies is creative-writing as a side-game in the topics "If our commanders could talk" on the old forum and "If our Captains could talk again" here.
https://forum.worldofwarships.com/topic/221037-if-our-commanders-could-talk/
https://www.devstrike.net/topic/40-if-our-captains-could-talk-again/

I'm married.  
My Wife and I have four ferrets, named Thor, Loki, Freya and Lady Sif.  They're all over 5 years old and not getting younger.
For that matter, my Wife and I aren't getting younger either.
But, I'm still curious to learn about the world we live in and I enjoy sharing good conversations.

Perhaps we'll see each other in-game, too?  🙂 
https://www.devstrike.net/topic/76-who-have-you-seen-in-battle-a-new-thread-for-a-new-forum/

 

[Asym]

I grew up on the East Coast in one of the first "upper middle class" suburbs.  An interesting way to start life with Doctors, Senior Executives, Police, Deans of Universities (math and Physics - and an ex-WW2 SS officer that was a "research" PhD.) and high technology (Bell Labs) and computer types (IBM and GAC).....  The 60's was an interesting time.  All of the boys were destined to "sever in the military" as most of their parents had severed in WW2 and our grand parents in WW1.

Retired from the Military in the 90's (spent time with a SF unit and then, was an Armor officer for quite a while) and then, went to work in Aviation (experimental flight test no less).  Retired from there.  Now, teach, lecture and advise when asked.....

As my Forum picture shows, that's a 198 grain, 315 lead bullet (sized as necessary) I had a mold made for shooting in Russian imported weapons.   So, it is safe to say I "am very involved in shooting";  the reality of ballistics in hunting and target shooting;  and,  in competing with all sorts of firearms and weapons....  Since I was 10,  till today, is almost 5 decades of competitive shooting.  From Flintlocks and all sorts of black powder firearms to distances up to 1,000 yards.  The local herd of shooters are now at and over 2 miles (3.2 km).  It's amazing when you have all sorts of aviation and score of other engineers get bored.....you should see the .22 match rifles and the technology that goes into shooting a rim fire cartridge at 100 to 250 yards.....where 100-5x is the lowest score to be competitive.  [face slapping emoji]

Family is all grown and there are all sorts of Grand Children to corrupt.....errrrr.....teach the right way to...........[drive their parents nuts...]

BTW Wolfie, I used to build English longbows and competed in a lot of 3D matches all over the US.  Major hand injury put a damper on Archery.  

I officially joined WOWS in 2017 but wasn't very active till I finished my Masters and another BS degree in 2018 (up to 4 civilian degrees now).....  Grand kids want me to start my PhD or another Masters....sigh.  The spirit is willing but having to deal with academia now is an out right threat to sanity.....

 

[That WoT Player]

CIA information gathering is getting really good, huh? Lol 😄 

 

James, and you’ll find me under “Lord James” in a lot of other games. Born and raised Floridian, from central, rural Florida. Gators and wild pigs and poisonous snakes and all them damn bugs use to be my neighbors, but now I’m working down south in all the beachy tourist places on the Atlantic coast. Lot of kind and beautiful women down here; probably not gonna leave for a long time 🤫 

 

I have a lot of gaming experience, and have played a lot of different games. I’ve fallen away from pvp games, so many people are in it for themselves and not for their team. Joined this game while I was still in high school, in October or November 2015. Played WoT plenty before that. 

[palestreamer]

Ottawa, Canada. Age 64. Retired from careers in printing and city bus driving.

In grade 6 a teacher turned me on to the Hornblower series of historical naval novels, which got me interested in things naval.

My uncle Harry Lucas (picture at left in my avatar) served in the Royal Navy from 1927 to 1957 on a wide variety of ships including Benbow, Frobisher, Excellent, Concord, Iron Duke, Eastway, and others.

My father, a Royal Engineer, was on the beach at Dunkirk the same day as Gallant was damaged there. I often wonder if he witnessed that.

Love playing this game! (especially Gallant)

[Musket22]

Kelowna, B.C. 

72, retired RCAF after 30+ years - from Radar Tech thru running an IT Shop.

Still think that this game should veer more towards being a sim than the arcade game it is.

[Mordt]

3 hours ago, That WoT Player said:

CIA information gathering is getting really good, huh? Lol 😄  

That’s what I was thinking. Hope OP isn’t planning on doxxing anyone. 

I’m from, and live in the Midwest. Currently a senior is highschool, though thinking about taking welding classes at community college. 
 

Have a basic cashiering job at a store near me, planning/hoping to move to a less boring job within the store. In the future I’m hoping to weld as a career. That or maybe heavy machine operator. Still not totally sure. 
 

For fun I mountain bike a lot, just got a sweet new carbon full suspension Trek Top Fuel. There’s a decent number of trails around me, but not enough downhill or flow trail for my liking. Also a fan of Lego, build mostly mech and military vehicles. No warships yet, though might do that someday. 
 

Read too, not as much as I used to, but I do. Big fan of the Murderbot Diaries and Discworld series. I’m also a huge audiophile, absolutely love listening to music. Especially metal(Sabaton, Rammstein, Slaughter to Prevail, Lorna Shore, Raubtier, Leo, Dethklok), but I also listen to EDM stuff(Thorax, Uamee, Alan Aztec, Basshunter, Venjent) and a lot of other random stuff(Weird Al, Epic Rap Battles of History, Really Slow Motion, Clamavi de Profundis)

 

Game quite a bit, you can find me with the name Mordt on Steam as well. Play WoWs, but also play Project Zomboid, Battlebit and Unturned. Also played Terraria and Civ 5 but haven’t played those in a while. Started playing WoWs a couple years ago, though I’ve taken several breaks during that time. Saw an ad for it on YouTube, saw it was F2P, and got hooked. 

Edited October 22, 2023 by Mordt

[hipcanuck]

60, still working as an industrial painter but ex Canadian navy sonar tech (loooong ago), come from a line of people who served all the way back before WW1. I had always planned to join the navy, even as a little kid, got a medical release after my first term.

Beta tester in WoT, just got into WoWs alpha testing for a very short while before weegee went to beta. I want my Akagi back!!!!

[desmo_2]

Mid-Missouri native.  I joined the US Navy upon graduating high school and served 6 years in VP-60 (P-3 squadron), and ended up an AT2 (aviation electronics, E-5).  I developed an interest in military aviation early, which was cemented by the movie Top Gun which came out when I was in high school.  My apologies to my Air Force brethren, but Iron Eagle was an embarrassment. 

I returned home after the Navy and worked a couple of years as a state prison guard.  OMG, that sucked.  But, I had taken a strong interest in law enforcement and the prison job kept food on the new family's table until I finally got hired by the Missouri State Highway Patrol (it took a few attempts before I got selected).  I have been there for 27 years and am retiring in 3 months.  It has been an amazing career, including 9 years on SWAT and 15 years on motors.  But, the world sucks, now (IMO, and get off my lawn), so it is time for me to retreat to my little lake house and nearby modest plot of woods.  I spent a lot of my childhood on my grandparents farm and in the woods, and am growing more "country" by the day.  I lived in Chicago for five years, but now take pride when city folks call me 'redneck' or 'hillbilly'.

I still have the internet, however, so you folks still have to deal with me.

But seriously...

 

[Guest]

17 hours ago, desmo_2 said:

Mid-Missouri native.  I joined the US Navy upon graduating high school and served 6 years in VP-60 (P-3 squadron), and ended up an AT2 (aviation electronics, E-5).  I developed an interest in military aviation early, which was cemented by the movie Top Gun which came out when I was in high school.  My apologies to my Air Force brethren, but Iron Eagle was an embarrassment. 

I returned home after the Navy and worked a couple of years as a state prison guard.  OMG, that sucked.  But, I had taken a strong interest in law enforcement and the prison job kept food on the new family's table until I finally got hired by the Missouri State Highway Patrol (it took a few attempts before I got selected).  I have been there for 27 years and am retiring in 3 months.  It has been an amazing career, including 9 years on SWAT and 15 years on motors.  But, the world sucks, now (IMO, and get off my lawn), so it is time for me to retreat to my little lake house and nearby modest plot of woods.  I spent a lot of my childhood on my grandparents farm and in the woods, and am growing more "country" by the day.  I lived in Chicago for five years, but now take pride when city folks call me 'redneck' or 'hillbilly'.

I still have the internet, however, so you folks still have to deal with me.

But seriously...

 

Rural Missouri here..it's the best place in the world to live IMHO. I too am a retired LEO with 32 years of service back in Houston. Moved to MO. and never looked back. God's country. 

[Jakob Knight]

Lived in Pennsylvannia for most of my life, except for the six years I spent on active duty in the U.S. Navy.  When I was a child, I got on a tour of the U.S.S. Olympia, and the conditions sailors had to endure made me vow never to get into the Navy, but a campout at a Navy base when I was a Boy Scout got me hooked on the french toast they served at the Galley, and I decided things had changed.  Put in my 20 and somehow retired.  Got interested in Naval games from my Dad, who used them as an education tool.  That probably got me into gaming and I've been a gamer my entire life, from tabletop RPGs to simulations and MMOs such as Star Trek Online, Lord of the Rings Online, Knights of the Old Republic, Star Citizen, and Mechwarrior Online.  My Dad was a philosopher and self-made astronomer, and I inherited my interest in both from him (though not as dedicated as he was).  Dabbled in trying to write stories and was proven to have a better backing in philosophy when I finally knew how much I didn't know and resigned to just digitally sinking ships.

 

Edited October 24, 2023 by Jakob Knight

[Aethervox]

On 10/22/2023 at 6:04 PM, hipcanuck said:

just got into WoWs alpha testing for a very short while

You saying you didn't get the Iwaki Alpha?

[Aethervox]

Grew up in BC & live there. Worked on Tugboats & mostly on Ferries, commercial mariner. Have always liked history including some naval. Both grandfathers in WW1. Several uncles in WW2. Retired now. A long time board gamer. I've made many Risk clones decades ago & some very recently (many as good as or better than the original). A 2D computer game Steel Panthers afficionado (if only that game could be done 3D). Played WoT (not anymore) & got into WoWS near end of Alpha so I did get both Iwaki & Arkansas - even tho they are just T4, they are still fun to play. 

[Asym]

15 hours ago, Jakob Knight said:

Lived in Pennsylvannia for most of my life, except for the six years I spent on active duty in the U.S. Navy.  When I was a child, I got on a tour of the U.S.S. Olympia, and the conditions sailors had to endure made me vow never to get into the Navy, but a campout at a Navy base when I was a Boy Scout got me hooked on the french toast they served at the Galley, and I decided things had changed.  Put in my 20 and somehow retired.  Got interested in Naval games from my Dad, who used them as an education tool.  That probably got me into gaming and I've been a gamer my entire life, from tabletop RPGs to simulations and MMOs such as Star Trek Online, Lord of the Rings Online, Knights of the Old Republic, Star Citizen, and Mechwarrior Online.  My Dad was a philosopher and self-made astronomer, and I inherited my interest in both from him (though not as dedicated as he was).  Dabbled in trying to write stories and was proven to have a better backing in philosophy when I finally knew how much I didn't know and resigned to just digitally sinking ships.

 

What is/was your favorite mech? Mine was the Mad Dog since I really was into the LRM/CSRM game play !

[Jakob Knight]

1 hour ago, Asym said:

What is/was your favorite mech? Mine was the Mad Dog since I really was into the LRM/CSRM game play !

 

That's a tough one in the same way deciding on a favorite ship in WOWS is for me.  I started on tabletop Battletech, and that probably set the Battlemaster as the mech in my heart.  For MWO, while I still take my Founders Catapult against anyone, the Hellbringer is probably the mech I most enjoy. 

 

Edited October 25, 2023 by Jakob Knight

[ArIskandir]

Now for some exotic flavor...

Caracas, Venezuela. 46. Mechanical Engineer but I've worked in a lot of different fields (including Organic agriculture, got 2 farms certified under CERES), currently working on alarm systems, CCTV surveilance and electronic security in Mexico. I'm a son of migrants (like many Venezuelans), my grandfather (dad side) was an ambulance driver in the Spanish CIvil War, that's my closest relation to actual War... a bit weird because I've always been fascinated by War, my kinder teacher was very worried because I was always drawing and painting nuclear mushrooms and battles instead of puppies or whatever a 5 yo kid is supposed to do. To no surprise, I grew up consuming, learning and studying whatever War related knowledge: History, Games, Movies... 

Beyond War-themed content, I love music, cinema and literature in general, being an obsesive reader and living with an actual soundtrack (there's usually some music playing wherever I am). I'm also a life long Gamer, having my first PC (a Commodore 64) when I was 8-9 yo, got hooked into programming and all the computer "geeky" stuff and actually sustained myself through University building, selling and repairing PCs and pirating CDs (yes, I was one of the pioneers in my country, when "burning" CDs was mostly a College thing, before it took the streets). 

Don't want to bore you about what went on in Venezuela, that's a long and depressing story, suffice to say like Renton in Trainspotting I "chose life"... so I left over 15 years ago and never looked back. 

Did I mention I was a father at 16?, yeah... that's another story and a life defining role. My son is living now in Uruguay, and is flying on his own since many years ago. Currently my life orbits around my lovely 13 yo teenage daughter, badass bass player, gamer (still not as good as dad), rookie skater, and top grade student (except Maths, I blame her mom for that)... and my wife of course. They make my life wonderful even if all around it is ... less than ideal. 

 

[Asym]

2 hours ago, Jakob Knight said:

 

That's a tough one in the same way deciding on a favorite ship in WOWS is for me.  I started on tabletop Battletech, and that probably set the Battlemaster as the mech in my heart.  For MWO, while I still take my Founders Catapult against anyone, the Hellbringer is probably the mech I most enjoy.

Oh yes, my tricked out Hellbringer was absolutely devastating.  My absolute, got to have was the Night Gyr (BEFORE, the same kind of nerf we have had in WoWs neutered it....)  It lost 30% of it's mobility, 20% in weapons and the skill tree only had 10% of either to select !!!  What a loss and the beginning of the end for our 58 member clan that played almost 5 nights a week !  We had Trials to qualify for MWO's version of clan battles.....  Oh my, it was such a great game while it lasted.

[Jakob Knight]

6 minutes ago, Asym said:

Oh yes, my tricked out Hellbringer was absolutely devastating.  My absolute, got to have was the Night Gyr (BEFORE, the same kind of nerf we have had in WoWs neutered it....)  It lost 30% of it's mobility, 20% in weapons and the skill tree only had 10% of either to select !!!  What a loss and the beginning of the end for our 58 member clan that played almost 5 nights a week !  We had Trials to qualify for MWO's version of clan battles.....  Oh my, it was such a great game while it lasted.

Yeah.  I joined my Clan to play MWO, and they came over to WOWS.  Over the years, they've moved on to newer games while I've stayed and kept the flag flying as it were.  The Battletech setting has such a rich background that I always hated that MWO all but ignored it in favor of chasing arena E-Sports, but that's a topic for another discussion.  I've played once or twice since they redid the skill trees, but I haven't had time to really relearn it yet.  Too many games, too little time....

 

Edited October 25, 2023 by Jakob Knight

[ArIskandir]

3 hours ago, Asym said:

What is/was your favorite mech? Mine was the Mad Dog since I really was into the LRM/CSRM game play !

Didn't played MWO for long but I was either a light mech guy (yes that guy being sneaky burning your back plate with laser fire) or a Jaeger with full Autocannon build, really loved the dakka-dakka even if it wasn't particularly meta.

[Gillhunter]

71 here. Currently in North Georgia, but an Indiana native. Joined the Navy after high school. (got my draft notice while in boot camp). Served on the Springfield (CLG-7) and the Little Rock (CLG-4) as an Engineman. Married my high school sweetheart. After the Navy I went to work in industrial maintenance during the day and went to school at night. Became a manufacturing engineer and later a manufacturing plant manager. Retired, got bored, went back to work part time (only 30 hours a week rather than 60+).

Still married to my high school sweetheart. 3 children, 4 grandchildren. Besides WOWs, the only game I play, I enjoy woodworking, fishing and cooking.

[hipcanuck]

15 hours ago, Aethervox said:

You saying you didn't get the Iwaki Alpha?

Correct, didnt even get to play a game in Alpha.....I may have even been the last person accepted to alpha lol