My name is Richard Turner, I was born with a condition known as Macrodactyly. The condition was limited to the single bone group making up my right middle finger. When I was 5 years old the Shriners Hospital for Children performed a surgery to stop the growth. 
Early on I was the self-conscious quiet kid with his hand in his pocket. I mean what kid wouldn't be if he had a baseball bat for a finger. At the end of elementary school I started realizing how much fun I could really have with it and the rest is history. Everyone always asks were you picked on as a kid and I smile and say not a chance I was proactive with it. I picked on everyone else. 
As an adult it has never held me back from anything. I grew up racing go carts then cars. I started working construction as a teenager and developed a passion for climbing. Some people are surprised to know I used to be afraid of heights! I later got into the crane inspection business at 19. I traveled the country climbing overhead crane runway systems. I became an accomplished electrician, mechanic, structural specialist, and inspector. I had 2 children around this time Richard III born in 2005 and Autumn born in 2009.
I moved to working in offshore oil & gas inspecting hoisting equipment in the Gulf of Mexico. I went on to learn industrial rope access, non-destructive testing, and began doing consulting work around special projects. 
In 2010 I got into general aviation and started flying airplanes but I didn't get around to getting a license. In 2011 I decided to get into skydiving. I later ended up as an instructor, a dropzone manager, then a dropzone owner. 
I met my wife Sabrina working in South Louisiana. I got her into skydiving and we had a son (Wyatt) together in 2017. 
For several years I have fought to get into the military. (MEPS sucks for the record) This year I have aged out of eligibility for the Army. After talking with several recruiters around the country, fighting to get medical records, and fighting to prove this finger can't stop me from doing anything I made a decision in 2020 to have it removed. I have started the path now for the surgery hopefully later in 2021. From there I plan to enlist in the Air National Guard after I prove the hand has been rehabilitated. 
In the meantime my goal has been to send this finger out with a bang! I have an awesome group of close friends who are like family and closer than most of my family. They have been pushing me to do something with the finger before it is gone. Everyone knows I have a million stories that will make you piss yourself laughing so it is time to share a few. I'm planning to do a few shows with some guys I have worked with or jumped with who now do Youtube, Pod Casts, etc. As I do these I'll post the links. I'm also going to produce a line of stickers for my Offshore & Skydiving family. So here goes nothing Finger Banging 2021!