Ronald served for 20 years as a commissioned officer, 16 of which were in Aircraft Maintenance (B-52s, KC-135s, and RC-135s) and 4 years as a Missile Launch Officer (MinuteMan 2). He served at U-Tapao Air Base in Thailand during the Vietnam War and then at northern tier bases. He spent 4 years at HQSAC at Offutt with 2 years in the Underground Command Post as a Logistics Controller. The second two years at Offutt were as the B-52 Project officer, where he was responsible for working with the depot to develop inspections and depot level maintenance necessary to continue the B-52 past its planned lifetime. He ended up at Eielson AFB in Alaska where he retired as the Assistant Deputy Commander for Maintenance Production.

The Farmer Veteran Coalition has helped to provide information and support for his farming business.

"After retiring from the military, I spent the next 20 years in higher education as a professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Due to unique circumstances, we started the first commercial peony farm in Alaska and ended up starting the entire Alaskan industry. Alaska is the only place in the world that has peonies during July, August, and September. Today, 80% of the peony cut flowers sold in the US come from Alaska."

To Ronald, it's very important to him how providing flowers for people makes them happy and helps to improve their mental health.