United States Navy (retired) graduated from Oak Park High School in 1969. After attending college for two years he enlisted in the Navy in 1972 eventually retiring after 31 years of service in 2003 spanning a period in American history from the Vietnam War, the end of the Cold War, DESERT STORM, and the current Global War on Terrorism.
His service as a submariner for 29 years and as a submarine Independent Duty Corpsman for 27 years was unparalleled in the Navy. During his career he served in a wide variety of both attack and ballistic missile submarines (USS GURNARD, USS SEADRAGON, USS DANIEL WEBSTER, USS MICHIGAN), deep submergence (DSV SEACLIFF, DSV TURTLE ) and submarine rescue vehicles (DSRV AVALON, DSRV MYSTIC) while supporting missions of search and salvage, scientific and historical research, submarine rescue and submarine operations of national security importance including deployments to the Western Pacific, Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf and under the Arctic icecap to the North Pole.
He served as the senior Hospital Corpsman at Submarine Development Group 1 in San Diego CA, Submarine Group 9 and Submarine Squadron 17 Bangor, WA. In addition to his submarine service Mike was selected for duty with the On Site Inspection Agency a joint DOD/US State department command tasked with ensuring nuclear weapons treaty verification. Mike was additionally assigned to provide medical support to Joint POW/MIA Commission search teams in Cambodia and Laos leading to the recovery and repatriation of American service member's remains from the Vietnam War.
As the team "Doc", he took care of not only his team mates but also host country military personnel and civilians in the local communities and villages. In addition to his military duties, Mike volunteered for a number of years with both the National Park Service and the US Forest Service working with trail maintenance and building crews, as a wilderness ranger and wildland firefighter. To quote the former Commander in Chief US Strategic Command, Admiral Hank Chiles, Mike's Commanding Officer on USS GURNARD , "... during an extraordinary career your professionalism, good judgment and capable leadership have been outstanding. You've been a superb shipmate; always put others first and excelled in a tough business."
