He spent most of his life as an artist, specifically in woodworking and making boxes. A visiting Starfleet relief effort came to assist a nearby settlement with a relief effort to recover from some sort of natural disaster in the wake of the Cardassian occupation and thus sparked his interest to join. He tried twice to get into the academy, failing both times for lack of conviction. After washing out of the program, he joined the Bajoran military to develop the skills that he lacked, focusing on small unit tactics, small hand weapons, hand to hand combat, rifles and piloting. It also gave him that missing conviction that he lacked during his previous attempts.
