I joined the Canadian Forces (CF) in 1979 and spent a few years in the infantry (2nd Battalion, the Royal Canadian Regiment). I gained qualifications as a reconnaissance patrolman, sniper, machine-gunner and small arms instructor (foreign and domestic). After a brief stint in CF Air Traffic Control trade, I transferred into Military Intelligence (let's skip the obvious jokes). My specialty was Imagery Interpretation (you know, from the spy planes, and stuff?). I eventually became an expert in biological and chemical warfare.
In November 1999 I completed 20 years of military service and went to work for a company that does satellite imagery intelligence analysis. So basically I'm doing what I was doing in the military, but for more money!
I played my first game of paintball in June of 1984. I really sucked. I still suck, just not as bad. I played off-and-on until the summer of 1991 and them I started working at a local field (since closed--not my fault, that camp fire was completely extinguished when I left) and I played pretty much every weekend. Our club, the Canadian Contingent, plays about twice a month.
In case you're wondering, I was born in 1959, you can do the math yourself. :)
I started my paintball writing career in 1992 when Action Pursuit Games magazine published my first article in the February issue. At one time or another I pretty much wrote for all the paintball magazines:
Action Pursuit Games
Paintball Sports International
Paintball Industry Magazine (now defunct)
Paintball News
Paintball RAGazine (now defunct)
Paintball Magazine
Since 1992 I have had close to two hundred anf fifty articles published (it's amazing how far a little creative photography -- of the magazine's editor -- can go). As Randy Kamiya (the editor of Paintball Industry) so nicely put it, "Durty Dan is the most prolific writer in paintball. (We didn't say he was good, he just writes a lot."
My knick name, by the way, had nothing to do with paintball. I was on my qualification course for Military Intelligence [insert tired and obvious joke here]. I decided to take it seriously (something I rarely do). Because I was so quiet and unassuming, one the fellows on course decided I needed a "rep". He started calling me Dirty Dan (note spelling). The nick name followed me to Ottawa because the guy that gave it to me was the supervisor for the section I worked in. Pretty soon every body started calling me that. The spelling came about when a friend of mine (a fellow American Civil War enthusiast) wrote me a note. We had a habit of writing notes and reminders to each other in a southern drawl. The note read, "Come to yur desk. Ya'll wern't here. Whar is ya'll, Durty Dan?". The rest is history. My original paintball nick-name was "Tex" because I wore American Wild West costumes when I played.
I live in Carleton Place, just south-west of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. In a very large and famous Canadian community of Carleton Place. I was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia (same country) and lived in Moncton, New Brunswick (still the same country) from 1970 until I joined the Canadian Forces (of the same country).
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