He was a student at St. John Vianney High School and also attended the United States Naval Academy, where he played Varsity Division I baseball.
He left active service in 1992, and continued flying in the Navy Reserves with VR-52, on Logistics missions around the world.
He was the quarterback of his high school team and led them to their first undefeated regular season and first state playoffs.
Deitz finished in third place, behind Aras Baskauskas (winner) and Danielle DiLorenzo (runner-up).
He is also tied with Donaldson, Tom Westman, Ozzy Lusth, Mike Holloway, and Brad Culpepper for the record of most immunity challenge wins in a season overall.
Although Powers did not make it onto the season, the other three members all were voted in[5] and originally were placed on the same tribe, Ta Keo.
On November 1, 2006, Deitz hosted The History Channel's Modern Marvels show on the final flight of the F-14 Tomcat.
In 2008, Deitz began work on a pilot combining "history with some elements of Survivor and Survivorman" with his cousin, former All My Children actor Mark La Mura.