CDR Beck's career was in Special Operations and Naval Intelligence. He served on active duty several times over 33 years in the Reserves. When not on active duty, he was a Senior Operations Officer in the Clandestine Service, until retiring from the Central Intelligence Agency in 1993.

He joined the enlisted Reserves in 1964 and was commissioned through OCS in January 1968. He began his career as a frogman and demolitions expert. In 1969 he served as a Forward Observer with 3rd MARDIV in Vietnam, engaging in numerous combat actions along the DMZ.

While in Vietnam, he was selected for advanced training as a special warfare officer with CIA's Special Operations Group. From 1971 into 1975, he served in remote locations in Laos and Cambodia as an advisor to guerrilla forces and to indigenous Lao and Khmer infantry units. At the end of the war, he established escape routes from Cambodia, and led 200 men, women, and children to safety during, and after, Operation Eagle Pull.

After the end of the Indochina War, he entered into a series of military, intelligence, and diplomatic assignments in Africa, Asia, Central and South America, the Middle East, Europe, and the Soviet Union. He served in combat or hazardous duty tours in Angola, the Western Sahara, Sudan, El Salvador, Honduras/Nicaragua, Beirut (Multinational Force), Panama (Just Cause), Colombia, and the Gulf War.

During Operation Desert Storm, CDR Beck was recalled to active duty and served as the Navy's official Combat Artist with Navy and Marine forces. Following his retirement in l993 from the Clandestine Service, he was again recalled for ADSW for assignments with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (J2), and the Defense POW/MIA Office.

CDR Beck is a credentialed NCIS Reserve Agent, and has been a Reserve Commanding Officer, Executive Officer, and Department Head in five Reserve Intelligence Area 19 (Washington, D.C.) units.

CDR Beck was awarded 30 campaign, service, unit, and personal awards. He is a Navy Diver and Navy Parachutist. In 1996, he retired from the Navy Reserves and makes a living as an editorial cartoonist and a writer.

During his tour with the Defense POW/MIA Office, CDR Beck became convinced that American POWs were transferred to Soviet Gulags in W.W.I, The Depression, W.W.II, Korea, the Cold War, and Vietnam. As of 2000, he is continuing his investigations into this mystery as a journalist and has traveled to both former and current communist countries in this pursuit.