High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Carper was born in Beckley, West Virginia, son of Wallace Richard and Mary Jean Patton Carper. He grew up in Danville, Virginia and graduated from Whetstone High School in Columbus, Ohio. He then graduated from the Ohio State University in 1968, where he was in the U.S. Navy ROTC and earned a degree in economics. Serving as a Naval Flight Officer in the U.S. Navy from 1968 until 1973, he saw active duty in Vietnam, flying submarine hunting airplanes. He remained in the U.S. Naval Reserve for another 18 years and retired with the rank of Captain. Meanwhile he moved to Delaware and earned an MBA from the University of Delaware in 1975.