Birth

Mr Gray was born in Odessa TX at the Womens and Childrens Hospital to his father, a local Sheriffs Deputy for Ector County, and his mother.

Early Childhood

Casey was raised in Odessa, on Winchester street, a few blocks from Permian High School. His father was a Sergeant and his uncle was a Lieutenant at the Ector County Sheriff Office. He attended Ireland elementary school where he played on his first football team. Mr Gray went on to attend Hood Junior high school. In August of 1997 Mr. Gray had seen a movie about the US NAVY and begged his mother to allow him to become SCUBA trained. This was a large financial investment, however his mother found a way to make it a reality and Mr Gray earned his basic and advanced qualifications from NAUI in 1997.

High School

Mr. Gray attended high school in central Texas in a small but powerful town of Bangs, TX. He played football, track, cross country, powerlifting and golf for the Bangs Dragons. It was during high school that Mr Gray began training for the US Military under the guindance of Msgt Lonnie Goins, Bangs Police Dept officer. This training led him to the Central Texas Detention Center where there was one of the few local pools. This was not a pool available to the public, however Mr Gray explained his situation to the warden of the prison and he granted Mr Gray a special use permit. The pools heater was shut off to help Mr Gray acclimatize to the future on the US Military. We can assume that Mr Gray was not favored by the inmates that had use of the pool.

Early Employment

While attending Bangs Highs School Mr. Gray started off his early employment at the age of 15 years old in the oil fields of Texas for a company known at the time as IRI international, now known as National Oilwell Varco. While attending high school Mr. Gray needed a summer job and his Aunt Shannon financed a red cross lifeguard class, and Mr Gray was hired as a life guard for the Central Texas Baptist encampment for the Summer. During his sophomore year at Bangs he began work for Frank Vasquez of Frank Vasquez Concrete Construction as a day laborer learning the trade of Concrete craftsmanship. At the same time Mr Gray worked part time for the Historic Stephens Texaco for the Stephens family in "Downtown" Bangs, TX pumping gas, changing automobile / tractor tires and doing small vehicle maintenance such as oil changes.

US NAVY

Being inspired by the local town Police Officer Lonnie Goins (RECON Marine) and Dr Stephens (US Navy MD) Mr Gray joined the US NAVY at the age of 17 yrs old.