My name is Paul Russell Parker III, and my social media pseudonym is PRP3 The Author. I’m a husband, a father, an author, a reader, a blogger, a book reviewer, an educator, and a USMC OIF Veteran.
I was born in California, but I currently live in North Carolina. My family and I lived in Tokyo, Japan for a year when I was a child, but I don’t remember much from my stay there. We mainly lived on US Marine Corps bases in California and in North Carolina.
My Dad was a career Marine, and married my Mom where he met her. In the Philippines. He retired from the Marines in 2005 as a Master Gunnery Sergeant. I have two sisters, and I’m an uncle.
I started high school in North Carolina, but I graduated in California. After graduation, I went straight into the United States Marine Corps. College didn’t appeal to me at all. Neither did living in the middle of the high desert in California. Nothing could convince me to stay, or to go to College. My mind was set on getting out of there, and to see the world.
I was active duty in the Marines from 2000 to 2004. I’m also an Iraq War Veteran. I participated in the Invasion of Iraq in 2003 with the 1st Marine Division. I was a Corporal when I EAS’d, but picked up Sergeant in the IRR. Strange, but a promotion warrant is a promotion warrant.
After the Marines, I went to college. I received my AA from Coastal Carolina Community College, and my BA from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. My academic achievements are some of my proudest accomplishments.
While in college, I met my wife while I was a student intern with the US Department of State. If you know any college sophomores, please tell them to check out the State Department website. They have a ton of internship opportunities in the US, and abroad every summer. They send thousands of college students to US Embassies all over the world.
As an intern, I was assigned to the US Embassy in Manila, Philippines when I met her. My future wife worked in my building. Or I worked in her building, since I was just an intern. She stayed in Manila while I got a job in Iraq.
Without going too far into it, I got a job with a company in Northern Virginia working on installing satellite telecommunication equipment. They sent me to Fort Benning, Georgia for civilians working in a dangerous area (CRC). Then to Stuttgart, Germany. I was able to travel to Switzerland, and Italy as well. I had to wait for my paperwork to clear before I could head to Iraq, so I spent a good month or so enjoying all what Germany, Switzerland, and Italy had to offer. Mainly, I took pictures of old sites, and drank beer.
Once my paperwork cleared, I traveled to Iraq and stayed there from 2007 until 2009. I installed satellite telecommunication equipment at sites all over Iraq; including Balad, Baghdad, Al Kut, Al Asad, Al Qa’im, and many more places in those areas and in between them. While I was there, my wife and I welcomed our first child.
I wanted to spend more time with my family, so I transferred from Iraq to Masirah Island, in Oman. I was able to bring my family with me to live on a Royal Air Force of Oman Air Base. There was a very small American contractor for the US military presence there, and we manned the contingency site for real world contingencies. My family and I stayed there from 2009 until 2011.
Then I took a transfer to a US Air Force base right outside of Doha, Qatar. That was a whole different kind of experience. We lived in Doha while I drove to the base for work. We were there from 2011 until 2014 and welcomed another child into our growing family.
In 2014, I brought the fam here to North Carolina. There were several reasons for doing so. The most important was that I wanted to give them a good family and social life. I applied for, but then turned down a few very high paying jobs in other places to come to North Carolina. I walked away from a lot… I was making great money, and had the opportunity to make more in large metropolitan areas, but the NC Crystal Coast is where we decided to go. It helped that my immediate family still lives in this area! In 2017, we welcomed a third child into our growing family.
I’ve been to dozens of countries, but I’ve never been to anywhere quite like the Crystal Coast, and the Southern Outer Banks of NC. Take a visit out to the barrier islands this summer, and you’ll see what I mean. We like to go fishing, cast netting, crabbing, and hiking. We hike on trails around the coast, and often visit the barrier islands. There are many places to visit throughout the whole state of North Carolina, so we’re often busy discovering other family friendly places.
We also like to take out of state road trips when the kids aren’t in class. We’ve driven to D.C., Orlando, and as far away as St. Louis to name a few places. When the kids are in class, we spend our free time at their dance and sports practices, games, and recitals.
After the high-paced, jet setting lifestyle I had, I love putting down roots with the fam. I’m pretty laid back, and enjoy spending time with all my loved ones. I love watching football. I play fantasy football, and head out to watch a NFL game in person at least once a year. Since I’m in NC, I head to Charlotte to watch the local team play. But at heart, I’ll always be a San Diego Chargers fan. Now that the San Diego Chargers no longer exist, I am torn. Do I follow the LA Chargers? Do I go back to my childhood team of the Dallas Cowboys? Do I go local with the Carolina Panthers? Or do I pick another team? I haven’t figured that out yet. Since I do like fantasy football, I end up liking players from many teams in the NFL. I may just become a football player fan, because players often go to new teams anyways.
And lest I forget, we have a one eyed dog of unknown breed or origin. He’s crazy, and we wouldn’t know what we’d do without him.
That’s pretty much all there is about me. I work a day job, and write novels at night. I published six books, and I’m working on my seventh. I can honestly say that I like to write. I have stories I want to tell. I may never be recognized, but if one person reads one of my stories, and enjoys them? Then that’s all I need to feel successful.
So if you read anything that I’ve written, let me know about it. Rate or review it on the website you bought it at (usually Amazon but leave a rating on Goodreads if you can). Then come talk to me about the story. I love connecting with readers and discussing aspects my books.
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Paul Russell Parker III 
You’ve led a fascinating life! Interesting to read about it.
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Thank you so much for your kind words
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