Long story short I bought a 4 game pack from a store at the age of 5 to play Fighting Steel, the surface combat simulator. In that pack was Silent Hunter Commanders edition and I started gaining interest, especially after the release of U-571. After a long hiatus because of school and entering young adulthood I returned to SH3 in '07 and made an account here.
It's all been up, down, and around including through the hill ever since