1930-1933: 

Graduating from Woodward School for Boys in 1930, Ron enrolls at George Washington University. Here he studies engineering and atomic and molecular physics and embarks upon a personal search for answers to the human dilemma. His first experiment concerning the structure and function of the mind is carried out while at the university.

Ron joins the 20th Regiment, Company G of the US Marines, becoming a Drill Instructors and turning out a prize-winning company. He performs as the balladeer for the local radio station WOL and writes serial drama shows. He also becomes a surveyor as part of a team sent to verify the Canadian/US border in Maine.

Taking his thirst for adventure to the skies, he is introduced to glider flying and quickly becomes recognized as one of the country’s most outstanding pilots. With virtually no training time, he takes up powered flight and barnstorms throughout the Midwest. Due to reports he files on airport conditions, twelve unsafe airports are closed.

A national aviation magazine reports that Ron set a national soaring record for sustained flight over the same field.

Writing for the nationwide Sportsman Pilot magazine, Ron details the latest aviation developments and advises fellow pilots on flight procedures in adverse conditions.

He helps run the university flying club and is secretary of the George Washington University chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers. As an editor and writer with the college newspaper, The University Hatchet, he writes his first published fiction story, Tah. He also wins the Literary Award for the best one-act play, The God Smiles.

In the spring of 1932, Ron organizes and heads the Caribbean Motion Picture Expedition. The two-and-a-half-month, 5,000-mile voyage aboard the 200-foot, four-masted schooner, Doris Hamlin, proves a unique and rewarding experience for over fifty college students. The voyage collects numerous floral and reptile specimens for the University of Michigan, and photographs are sold to the New York Times.

Shortly after L. Ron Hubbard’s return to the US he embarks on another adventure, the West Indies Mineralogical Expedition. Through April of 1933, Ron not only completes the first mineralogical survey of Puerto Rico, but writes articles for Sportsman Pilot magazine on flying through the Caribbean islands. He additionally investigates and explores some of the area’s diverse cultures and beliefs, including that curious blend of Catholicism and voodoo known as Espiritismo.

Returning to the mainland in the spring of 1933, Ron begins his professional fiction-writing career. Ron writes a story a day and after a few short weeks of work nets his first sale to New York publishers. February 1934 sees the publication of Ron’s first adventure fiction story, The Green God.