After 38 years at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Dave retired in January 2020 as its Performance Improvement Manager. At 61 years old, he launched his second career as novelist D. S. Wall, publishing his first thriller, titled On American Soil: Jihad, in December 2020. The second book in his Preserve, Protect, and Defend series was published in September, 2021 and is called Anarchy. Book 3, The Hunt, will be out in the Spring of 2022.