Domenique Cino was born in Inglewood and raised in Long Beach, California. He joined the U.S. Navy May 5, 2011, and served until May 2015. First sent to San Antonio, Texas, for hospital corpsman training, he then transferred to Great Lakes, Illinois, for hull technician training. From there, he was stationed on the USS Stethem, then moored in Yokosuka, Japan, from 2012 to 2015. He served on seven deployments ranging from operations in the Persian Gulf to escorting missions in the Western Pacific, and earned the rank of petty officer second class by the end of his Navy career. Domenique lives in Berkeley, California, and is working toward degrees in history and anthropology. He hopes to one day be an archaeologist, as well as a published author.