David Barrett

Born and raised in San Diego, an only child to a single mother. I grew up fast as a latch key kid and was always very mature for my age. I always did the best I could in school and fared pretty well with grades. Graduated high school and joined the Marine Corps for an extremely busy tour of service on behalf of the America I was raised to love. Honorable discharge as a veteran of the first Gulf War and Somalia. Married while in the service and went on to have 3 beautiful children. 2 wonderful boys and 1 gorgeous daughter. I went into retail and worked my way into management after my discharge and found myself in the Loss Prevention arena with my last few years. It wasn't long before realizing that to many things in my life deserved my attention and that I had lost myself along the way. I now spend a lot time writing and am currently trying to get my first book published. During this last couple of years I have become an extremely avid reader of all types of books and find motivation in each day actually stopping to take time and "Smell the Roses", so to speak. I know that with time and continued effort, no matter how low I may feel at times, that I will be the success I've always known I would become with my "Never quit, never give up, and never say 'Die' " attitude. The only reason I'm even entering this contest is because I'm forcing myself try new things I never would have tried even just one year ago. I'm 41 years old and currently unemployed and still wake up daily trying to improve upon my current situation. "Tough times don't last but Tough people do!" Should this work out, then I will be simply fulfilling another new effort on my part taking a chance I never would have tried before never having really taken a gamble on myself.