Dennis Wesley Clark accumulated a diverse set of experiences that uniquely prepared him for insightful story telling.
As a youth, he became familiar with boating in the San Francisco Bay. Having grown up reading Ernest Hemingway and Jack London, he thought the wider world was full of adventure and his goal was to explore that exciting world. Coupled with that yearn for adventure was a sense of responsibility and purpose. The idealism of the Kennedy era helped forge his plan.
The first steps in his plan were duty to God and country. He volunteered for missionary work for two years with his Church in Costa Rica, Honduras, and Venezuela. He served two years in the army in Vietnam as an artillery staff sergeant. He attended college and earned a BS and MBA. He worked in the aerospace and defense industry at various locations in the United States and England. He specialized in fixing "broken operations".