By Peter O’Cain.

pocain@soundpublishing.com

So, I’m the new guy.

I moved to the area about two weeks ago after spending most of my life in Kittitas County. So please excuse me if I’m a little rough around the edges.

I grew up on a campground outside of Cle Elum where my parents worked as caretakers. I climbed a lot of trees growing up and I guess the monkey is ingrained in me. I’m in the process of trying out for American Ninja Warrior, an obstacle course contest that airs on NBC.

There were many things that attracted me to Kitsap County, its naval ties chief among them.

Long before I was a reporter, I was a U.S. Marine. I was active duty from 2003-2007 and served two tours in Iraq.

My first deployment was aboard the USS Tarawa. We we spent a few months in the desert, but we also visited quite a few liberty ports. During my second deployment, we set up infrastructure at a nearby Iraqi army base for the first six or eight weeks and then spent the remaining five months with our hands behind our backs at parade rest as our platoon sergeant chewed us out for a litany of nonsense.

I left active duty in 2007 and then began my Van Wilder-esque college career shortly after. I finally graduated from Central Washington University this past June.

While at Central, I wrote for the student newspaper and the student magazine. Between the two, I covered a wide variety of topics from immigration raids and student government to veterans and Seattle superhero Phoenix Jones.

Some of my experiences might be completely irrelevant in Bremerton, but if a man wearing a mask and body armor ever goes around shooting Tasers at rowdy citizens, you’re going to want me covering it.