About Michael
Michael was born in Montgomery, Alabama in 1959. By the time he entered elementary school, his family had relocated to Tallahassee, Florida, where he lived until graduation from High School. After retiring, Michael’s father bought a small farm and moved out "into the country".
At the young age of 17, Michael joined the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. He attended Recruit Training (Boot Camp) at Parris Island, South Carolina, followed by Tank School at Fort Knox, Kentucky. Over the next year, he was assigned as a reserve recruiter in his hometown of Tallahassee.
In 1978, Michael left home for good, joining the Regular Marine Corps. His first assignment was with 2nd Tank Battalion at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. After several months there, he was sent overseas to Okinawa, Japan, returning to the United States in 1981. It was during this time that he changed job specialties, and after some schooling in Ft. Huachuca, Arizona and Monterey, California, he became an Interrogator-Translator. He spent the rest of his career in various Intelligence related assignments. |
Michael spent the next few years traveling the world on various assignments. His duties took him to Southeast Asia, the Pacific Rim, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and even such out of the way places as Diego Garcia in the middle of the Indian Ocean. His most interesting assignment was the three months in 1989 spent living in a coastal village in Mauritania, West Africa, where he served as part of a small team of Marines assigned to organize and train the Mauritanian Naval Security Force.
But life as a Marine was not always filled with "leisurely fun". In addition to the routine assignments, Michael also served in several combat and contingency operations, such as Operation Desert Storm (Kuwait); Operation Guardian Retrieval (The Congo), Operation Silver Wake (Albania), Operation Restore Hope (Somalia), Operations Provide Promise and Deny Flight (Bosnia), among others. |
In 1998, after 22 years of honorable service, Michael retired from the Marine Corps at the rank of Gunnery Sergeant.
Michael's military awards and decorations include the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Navy Commendation Medal, the Joint Service Achievement Medal, the Navy Achievement Medal, the Joint Meritorious Unit Award, the Navy Unit Commendation, the Navy Meritorious Unit Citation, the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, the Southwest Asia Service Medal, the Korea Defense Service Medal, the Armed Forces Service Medal, the Humanitarian Service Medal, the Navy Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, the Navy Arctic Service Ribbon, the NATO Medal (Yugoslavia), the United Nations Service Medal (Somalia), the Kuwait Liberation Medal (Saudi), and the Kuwait Liberation Medal (Kuwait). Michael is married to the former Linda Diane Colclasure of El Paso, Texas, and together they have six children and enjoy fourteen grandchildren. |