Johnathan P. Blackwell was born in Honolulu, Hawaii and lived there until age twelve. As a military brat, Blackwell traveled to Kentucky, Tennessee, Colorado, Kansas, and California. He graduated from Washington Union High School in Freemont, California in 1962 and worked for Bishop Moving and Storage in Long Beach before joining the U.S. Air Force in 1964. Blackwell spent sixteen years in Japan and nine months in Vietnam before being medevacked out. He served in the U.S.A.F. for twenty-six years. He later drove trucks, some long haul, for thirteen years.