That Spring, Robin finally boarded the train that would take him on a naval career that would last ten years, before finally getting under way on his real career in publishing. All his various physical activities, from childhood through adolescence, will serve him well in the navy. His trumpet playing will help perform the duties of Radioman (RM) with a keen ability to receive and send Morse code sequences faster than any of his team mates; fit and sharp, Robin will attend a special training school and serve in a special component of the navy -we now call Navy Seal; through actions beyond the call of duty he would soon be promoted to officer status, serve as the commander of a small training boat and, before leaving the navy for a 40-year career in publishing, serve as the second in command of H.M.C.S. Fort Steele on escort duty to the Royal Yacht Britannia on the St. Lawrence River and the Thousand Islands archipelago during the 1976 Summer Olympics.
Robin Scottshouse would never forget that cloudy day, twenty years ago, when he was taken from the idyllic countryside to the urban jungle and the vicissitudes of adolescence; as well as that glorious day, when he boarded a train that would take him to the west coast of Canada. What a journey this little coureur de bois had to undertake from the chemin rural to a ship of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II! a journey that glorified his imagination and validated his wildest childhood dreams. The concordance and convergence of his masculine virtue had answered the call of duty... and served as the springboard to a fruitful, 40-year publishing career.