

During an operation in Bangkok, Trace and Tawanroong were tracking down a weapons racket when a bomb had been discovered. It was during this time that he met Detective Apha "Aruni" Tawanroong of the Royal Thai Police. He brought his experiences and skills to the FBI, where he spent fours years as a field agent with the Hazardous Materials Response Unit. After his second tour of Iraq, Trace returned to the U.S., enrolled at Texas A&M, and earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry. Following his first tour of Iraq, he obtained enough experience to volunteer as an explosive ordnance disposal technician. Trace joined the Corps straight out of high school, making him a fourth-generation Marine. Due to the town having a major concentration of Chinese Americans, Trace grew up to have a conversational level of Mandarin.
