Phil Norris was born in Hamilton, Alabama, in 1961. Throughout his life in small-town Alabama, he was surrounded by patriotic family members, friends and teachers. Two of his older brothers served in the Army during the Vietnam Era and he had a first cousin that was a Naval Academy graduate and another cousin that was in the Navy Submarine program. He grew up, like most children of that era, in awe of the U.S. Space Program, and by 5th grade in school, he had decided that he wanted to be an astronaut or nuclear scientist. He concentrated on Math and Science subjects in Junior High School and High School and also playing sports. He also began flying lessons at age 15. He knew that astronauts needed to be physically and academically fit. In his 11th grade Physics class, he heard a presentation about the U.S. Navy Nuclear Power program that sparked his interest. After his summer between 11th and 12th grades, he decided that the Navy Nuclear Power program was his career choice and he also planned to volunteer for submarine service. He passed all the necessary tests to qualify as a student at the U.S. Naval Nuclear Power School and he entered the Navy in 1979. He went on to complete his Navy Nuclear Power Training and eventually, he served on 5 nuclear submarines during the Cold War Era. His first submarine, the USS Thomas Jefferson (SSN 618) was designated a special operations submarine and was retrofitted from a missile submarine to be able to transport and deploy Navy Seals in covert operations. During the volatile Cold War period in the 1980's, Phil served as a Reactor Plant Supervisor on two nuclear-powered Attack submarines and 3 nuclear-powered ballistic Missile submarines. He retired from the U.S. Navy in 1994.Since Phil's retirement from the Navy, he has worked extensively in the Nuclear Industry and has remained a staunch advocate of the U.S. Nuclear Submarine community. His book "Family Gram: Memoirs of an American Cold War Submariner" grew out of a desire to document the culture and unique experiences of U.S. Navy submariners during the Cold War. Although there is a considerable amount of history in the book, Phil chose to write about the everyday life of a nuclear submariner; chronicling the unique challenges and triumphs of a small-town boy from Alabama. Phil has published several articles in national magazines and several technical documents in the nuclear industry in addition to his recent book. In his professional career, he has served as a Plant Manager, a Chief Executive Officer, an Operations Manager and as a Radiological Engineer on nuclear waste remediation projects. He currently resides in Birmingham, Alabama.