Destiny

Destiny by Ronald Rucker Destiny is the story of Charles and how he became a hero while in the US Navy. Leaving family and friends in Florida, Charles travels the world and finds himself along the way as well as true love in Spain. From prostitutes and bars to “Smoker” boxing matches and specialized training, he enjoyed the experience of Navy life. When faced with the truest test of courage, Charles makes the only decision an honorable man can make. In Beirut, Charles and his team of peacekeepers are sent to thwart a Shiite Moslem terrorist’s plot of attaching a prototype nuclear warhead stolen from China to the hull of the battleship New Jersey, timed to detonate once the ship is strategically re-positioned in the center of the encroaching American fleet. The book takes you there.

Destiny by Ronald Rucker Destiny is the story of Charles and how he became a hero while in the US Navy. Leaving family and friends in Florida, Charles travels the world and finds himself along the way as well as true love in Spain. From prostitutes and bars to “Smoker” boxing matches and specialized training, he enjoyed the experience of Navy life. When faced with the truest test of courage, Charles makes the only decision an honorable man can make. In Beirut, Charles and his team of peacekeepers are sent to thwart a Shiite Moslem terrorist’s plot of attaching a prototype nuclear warhead stolen from China to the hull of the battleship New Jersey, timed to detonate once the ship is strategically re-positioned in the center of the encroaching American fleet. The book takes you there.

Destiny If it were up to Ronald Rucker, he would still be living in Panama. The St. Paul native and now Forest Lake resident said of his two-year hitch in Panama, while serving with the U.S. Navy was the best time of his life. “It was like paradise,” he said. Instead, the Navy wanted him to re-enlist and return to Florida. He didn’t, and returned to Minnesota. Then he took up writing about his five year experience in the armed services. Ruckers first novel, “Destiny,” was published by Waltsan Publishing. The book follows the story of Charles, a hard-nosed kid who joins the Navy. Rucker said his characters are a combination of his experiences and people he met on the way. The novel takes the characters through basic training to Lebanon in 1983, and his barracks were bombed. “I wonder why they bombed the barracks,” he said. “But now it’s clear it was a terrorist attack. (In the novel) I looked for an explanation for why they did that.” Rucker said he has written every day for years, even keeping a journal in the Navy to remember his thoughts. In the book, Charles is a boxer, which comes from Ruckers own past. In 1988 he was the St. Paul Golden Gloves Champion. Though he doesn’t box anymore, he still stays in touch with other boxers. Rucker currently is working to turn the novel into a screenplay. He said writing isn’t difficult. Sticking to the routine is the most important thing. “You need to have tenacity,” he said. “You just have to do it every day. I was at sea for three years so there wasn’t much to do out there.” Rucker works for the U.S. Postal Service and said he has many other stories in various stages of completion, and hopes to publish some of them in the near future.