Ward spent the first 17 years of his life traveling wherever his father's job as a Marine Corps attack pilot sent the family, a series of journeys that took them from California to Holland to Washington, D.C. with dozens of stops to attempt some semblance of normal life in between. His destiny was revealed to him during the summer of 1972 at a Who concert in Amsterdam; however, the ill-timed popularity of disco killed his fledgling rock star career in his late teens and pushed him into the United States Naval Academy from which he graduated in 1982. After a few years of flying around the world in the backseat of U.S. Navy jet fighters, Ward returned to the world of rock n’ roll, fronting The Cheaters, a three-piece alternative band based in Pensacola, Florida. Besides dominating the local club scene, The Cheaters are best remembered as the band who had their smash hit, "The Politics of Surfing," played once on radio station TK-101 and for, in the course of one Meat Puppets cover, driving hundreds of Marines and their dates out of the Pensacola Civic Center the evening of their birthday ball in 1988.

The Cheaters disbanded early in 1989, and Ward became the editor of Approach, the Naval Aviation Safety Review. He used the job as an opportunity to fully explore his cartoon artistry, and “Brownshoes in Action Comix,” a regular feature on the back cover of Approach, became and remains a cult hit among naval aviators. Ward fed off of the creative energy that surrounded the production of Approach and began freelance writing. His work has appeared in Hits, Golf World, and Proceedings. He was on the staff of Flash, a regional entertainment magazine, for four years, a job that made him enough money to buy new golf clubs and increased his CD collection one thousand fold. He also got to talk to real rock stars on the phone a lot and, in a moment of uncharacteristic altruism by his editor, was comp'd front row seats to an Indigo Girls show at Chrysler Hall in Norfolk.

Desert Storm forced Ward back into the cockpit, and, although by the time he arrived with the U.S.S. Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) the war was over, he did enjoy the peace enough to spend the next seven years attempting to preserve it. He was mostly successful, the one hiccup coming during the Great Bosnian War of 1995.  (Look it up.)

Ward left the action of the seagoing life in 1998 and worked for four years as sage mentor to the next generation of leadership matriculating at Annapolis. He taught English and ethics. In 2001 his first novel, Punk's War, was published to wide critical acclaim.

Ward now lives with his wife, Carrie, and two sons, Hunton and Reid, in southern Maryland. His fifth novel, Militia Kill, was released by Signet during the summer of 2006 before quickly finding its way to eBay and other after-market holes in the Internet.

Ward is currently working as the editor of Military.com.  He is also (slowly) writing his next novel, working title August of the Sea Wolves, about a group of Annapolis classmates who decide to sail up the Chesapeake for their 25th class reunion after the sudden death of another classmate.  (Check the blog for progress updates.)

In the meantime, his literary influences remain Vonnegut, Kerouac, Heller, Melville, Wolfe, and Forester. Any sense of meter he possesses should be credited to The Beatles. His main musical project since 2004 has been "Miles from Clever," a four-piece rock band that covers everything from Johnny Rivers to Kings of Leon.

Ward uses Gibson guitars and Marshall amplifiers because he wants the best.

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