John M. Scanlan is a native of Circleville, Ohio, where he grew up as the oldest of eight children in a world that would best be described as a Norman Rockwell painting. John is a 1983 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, where he majored in mechanical engineering and played rugby. He retired from the United States Marine Corps as a Lieutenant Colonel with approximately 2,500 hours in the back seat of tactical fighter attack aircraft.