David Sommers was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on February 18, 1943, and attended Bishop DuBourg High School.

Upon the completion of training, he was assigned as a Browning Automatic Rifleman with Company E, 2nd Battalion 1st Marines at Camp Pendleton.

He transferred back to Parris Island the following year for duty as a Senior Drill Instructor with Company E, 2nd Recruit Training Battalion.

Ordered back to Camp Pendleton, he was assigned as the First Sergeant of the Marine Corps Tactical Systems Support Activity.

Sommers was assigned as the first enlisted Director of the Staff Noncommissioned Officer Academy at the Marine Corps Combat Development Command in Quantico in June 1987.