Born and raised in eastern Connecticut, Dean served in Afghanistan and Iraq as a U.S. Army (Reserves) Counterintelligence Agent. Deployed to Bagram, Afghanistan in 2002 as part of Combined Joint Task Force-180 (XVIII Airborne Corps), Dean conducted human intelligence (HUMINT) analysis within CJTF-180’s Joint Intelligence Support Element.

The following year in Iraq, Dean conducted HUMINT collection in Baghdad as a member of two separate Tactical HUMINT Teams—first with the 3rd Infantry Division then the 1st Armored Division. Between these assignments he served on a helicopter-borne Mobile Interrogation Team based at Balad Airbase.

In 2004, Dean graduated summa cum laude from Eastern Connecticut State University with a Bachelor of Arts in economics.

Dean later spent three years living near the U.S./Mexico border at El Paso, Texas. He now lives in New Hampshire, right alongside the Maine border.