Ron, originally from Villa Rica, GA, is a motivational speaker. A fan of the movie “Top Gun,” Ron became a pilot flying Apache helicopters after joining the Army. While fighting in Iraq, Ron was among seven POWs who were kidnapped by Iraqi insurgents on March 23, 2003. He was a Chief Warrant Officer when his helicopter crashed in Karbala. He and his comrades tried to elude capture, but were captured by an Iraqi group who took them to Saddam Hussain's hometown, Samarra - about 25 miles south of Tikrit. They were rescued on April 13, 2003.
Ron is very competitive and admits he’s a thrill seeker. His primary motivation for participating in the Race was strictly for the adventure. Ron and his teammate Kelly’s relationship appeared to be strained during the Race. Ron said they actually had stopped talking about two months before the show began and although it seemed like the couple fought constantly, Ron said he actually had thought other teams argued more often.
Ron said he enjoyed visiting five continents and 12 cities in a short amount of time. Among his favorite places were Africa, where they saw all types of wildlife, Argentina, which he said has the most gorgeous scenery he has ever seen, and London.
His worst experience was the eating challenge in Argentina, when one member of each team had to eat four pounds of meat. “Eating four pounds of ice cream would be pretty hard,” Ron said, but meat is much worse. He said his throat was sore for about three solid days afterwards.
Ron said he would be willing to do the Race again, but with a different partner.
