Raymond was born and raised in Chicago. He, and his family, were fiercely proud to be American and held themselves to strict standards. So, when America fought in Vietnam, and many sought to avoid the war, Raymond signed up when he was 18 and was soon in the jungles of Vietnam.
Raymond fought bravely and watched many of his friends die, he watched as both armies commit atrocities that he could not believe, and he watched as everything he believed in was shattered.
Like many, he turned to drugs to deal with the pain and trauma of his life and the war. Raymond was there, in Vietnam, at the end when everything crumbled. He was one of those being pulled out by helicopter and he watched as mothers begged them to save their children.
Raymond was haunted by his time there and the vision of those mothers and children that were left. When he did land in the U.S., he couldn't return home and he couldn't face his family. Even though he had awards and medals and commendations for his time in service, Raymond was no longer the man that had left. Because of this, he left and wandered. He drifted from city to city, a refugee from himself and his past.
One night, while in New Orleans, he met a beautiful woman. Her eyes were so full of light and his veins were so full of drugs that he had no idea what was happening as she bit into his neck. She drained him dry and in her, now drug induced, haze she embraced him. When she came to her senses she began to teach him the basics of being Malkavian.. of being a Kindred. But, since his embrace wasn't according to protocol, she was slow to teach him the ways of the Sabbat.
She began to speak the dark whispers of the Sabbat sect and the Camarilla, but Raymond was going through withdrawal so it was all confused and muddled.
Ashlee left him after only a few months to fend for himself.
Raymond is now one of the newest inhabitants of Miami and its newest Hound. Everything is new to him.. he feels more... "at home" with these Camarilla kindred and much of his early days were a complete blur since he was coming down from the drug cocktails that he had been on.