About Me & NECKTIE Gaming
I was born in 1973 in Watertown, SD, and graduated from Watertown Senior High School in May 1992. A month after graduating, I was at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, TX, for Basic Training. I spent 16 years in the military and held two different career fields.
When I enlisted, my career field was Security Forces (Security Police at the time), and in 2001, I retrained to Operations Intelligence. I was actually at Goodfellow Air Force Base, San Angelo, TX, for intelligence training when the Sept 11th, 2001, attack happened.
During my 16-year career, I was stationed at Nellis AFB (Las Vegas, NV), Osan AB (South Korea), Grand Forks AFB (North Dakota), Charleston AFB (South Carolina), Dyess, AFB (Texas), Baghdad, Iraq, and Scott AFB (Illinois). I also deployed to Tirana, Albania, and Ramstein, Germany, and spent some time in Kuwait for training.
After I left the military, which I discuss in my Road to $5 Million Series, I worked as the receiving clerk at Lowe's Home Improvement in Belleville, Illinois. During the few months I did that, I interacted with a lot of truck drivers, which led me to look into getting my CDL.
I went with Swift Transportation because they paid for my training. Once I got my CDL, I joined their Flatbed Division. I was a company driver for about 6 months and then became an owner-operator and did that for a year. I wasn't having a good time at Swift, so I found another driver to take over my lease so I could move on to other things.
I took a break from driving and went back to school, but I quickly realized that was not my cup of tea. I started with TMC Transportation out of Des Moines, IA, in 2012 and pulled flatbeds and step decks for about a year. I became a member of their driver safety support team and moved to the Specialized Division, which handled the John Deere accounts.
I left TMC in 2014 because they had an issue getting me home regularly (once every 2-3 months for a 34-hour break). That's when I found Transport America. They needed a driver for a dedicated run from Forest City, Iowa, to Kansas City, MO. Since I lived 50 miles from Kansas City, it was perfect. I was home every weekend and knew exactly what I was hauling. I did that for 6 months as a company driver and decided to return to the Owner Operator game.
On October 1st, 2021, I took advantage of the truck shortage during the pandemic and sold my truck, as I was tired of being on the road. I then became a Domestic Engineer because I am fortunate enough, that where my wife is at in her career, I don't have to work.
I've played games since I was a kid. The first game I remember playing was Oregon Trail on a Commodore 64 my parents had rented from the local library. Growing up, I never had a gaming system, but my neighbors had an Atari 2600. We used to play Space Invaders and Pitfall. I also had friends in school who had the first Nintendo, and we would spend hours playing Tecmo Bowl and Super Mario Bros. The first system I owned was the Super Nintendo because I was in High School and had a job. On one of my deployments to Germany, I bought an XBOX, and my love for Halo and Gears of War started. Since that first XBOX, I have owned everyone, and I currently have an XBOX Series X connected to the TV in my office. I have also owned every Playstation system and have a Playstation 5 as well. I am a controller player at heart, and while I would like to learn Mouse and Keyboard, it just isn't conducive to my SIM Rig setup.
My background is in First-Person shooters. I started back on the original XBOX with Halo. I moved to Gears of War and Call of Duty in 2007. So, except for COD 1-3, I've played all the others. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon series and the Sniper Elite Series were mixed in the Call of Duty years. My bonus kids got me into Fortnite. It was halfway through Chapter 4, season 3, when I started. I swore I would never play Fortnite, but had I known they released a Zero Build; I would have probably gotten into it sooner as my brain couldn't comprehend nor keep up with the building. My channel started with me playing through the Campaign in COD4, and then I decided to switch it up and make an American Truck Simulator Series, so that is where most of my subs and community are from. However, that game is dead to me, so it will be mainly Fortnite from here on out, with possibly some Asseto Corsa mixed in. I need to get use out of my SIM rig and the gear for it somehow.
NECKTIE Gaming
NECKTIE Gaming started because those close to me (my wife, bonus kids, and Jay) continuously told me I should make a YouTube channel. My wife and kids because they would watch me play and see me get frustrated and talk to the screen, which they thought was hilarious. Jay because in his mind, if I was playing anyway, why not make videos? So, here I am. I'm trying my best to put out good content. It hasn't been easy either, as I am a perfectionist. I also know what I'm not particularly eager to watch. If the video or audio quality suck, I will instantly move to the following video. So, I try my damndest to ensure my videos are squared away. I also use the videos as a form of therapy. I want my channel to be a place where people can come to take their minds off of whatever bullshit they are dealing with in their life. I also talk a ton about my mental health in hopes it will either help someone or, at a minimum, make them realize they're not alone. I am also well aware that I may not be everyone's cup of tea, and that's ok. Hell, I don't even like me most of the time. The bottom line is I'm just me being me. If that rubs people the wrong way, that's not only their problem, but I also see it as their loss. If you read all of this, Love ya, mean it, and I hope to see you in a live stream sometime!