Mike is a native of South Carolina and has been a resident of Palm Coast, Florida since 2006. Prior to moving to Palm Coast Mike enlisted in the United States Army as a Chemical Operations Specialist in July of 1988. While an enlisted soldier he served with the 82nd Airborne Division stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, with one tour of duty in Korea with the 2nd Infantry Division. As an enlisted soldier, he served in positions ranging from Team Leader to Platoon Sergeant, with a deployment to Operation Desert Storm/Shield from August 1990 to April 1991. His final assignment as an enlisted soldier, after achieving the rank of Staff Sergeant, was as a Senior Drill Sergeant at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri from 1999 to 2002.

He received his commission as a Field Artillery 2nd Lieutenant in June of 2002, graduating as a Distinguished Military Graduate from the U.S. Army Officer Candidate School, Fort Benning, Georgia. While assigned as a Lieutenant, Mike served as both a Firing Platoon and Supply Platoon Leader during Operation Iraqi Freedom and the Liberation of Iraq/Transition of Iraq campaigns from March 2003 to November 2003. He was promoted to Captain in November 2005, and graduated from Cameron University, Lawton, Oklahoma in December of the same year, with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science. After completion of the U.S. Army Field Artillery’s Captains Career Course in 2006, he was selected to serve as a Military Transition Team member as a Field Artillery Fires and Effects Coordinator. He, along with his team, deployed to Iraq and participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom, National Resolution from January 2007 to December 2007.

In January 2008, he was assigned as an Assistant Professor of Military Science for the U.S. Army Reserve Training Corps (ROTC) at the Georgia Institute of Technology. While in that assignment he served as the primary U.S. Army staff officer at Kennesaw State University, responsible for the professional development of the university’s Corps of Cadets. His final assignment before retirement was as the Human Resources Manager for the Jacksonville Recruiting Battalion. Serving as the Human Resources Manager/Personnel Officer for the battalion, which consisted of 6 recruiting companies and 34 recruiting stations, with 306 military and civilian personnel, geographically dispersed over 58,680 square miles in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.