At the tender age of just seventeen, Michael enlisted in the United States Army. He served three years as an enlisted man before being chosen to become an officer, receiving his commission in June of 1967. After Ranger leadership and patrol training, followed by Jungle Training with the Special Forces in Panama, he was sent to Vietnam as an Infantry Rifle Platoon Leader where he joined his new platoon during the heat of battle. He was the recipient of the Purple Heart for being wounded in action.

 

 

After the war he found refuge in acting and writing as an escape from his own demons and the fog of war. He is now an award-winning playwright having won First Place at the Smithfield One Act Play Festival and his plays have been featured in many locations in the U.S. as well as internationally. His very emotional play (Think Twice) about homelessness, was the second most read play on the internet and was produced by the Durban University Theater in Durban, South Africa.

 

 

Michael was once referred to as one of the lost veterans when he drifted into the mountains of Blue Lake, California, and lived alone in a trailer with his dogs. This is where he started the catharsis of writing, to expel all of the horrors he had experienced, and in his work are many of the truths he had to endure.

 

Michael was a part of the creative input and development of Vietnam War Stories, one of HBO's first successful mini-series.

He is also proud to say that he was invited to dance in the Circle of Warriors and is an honorary member of both the Shoshone and Nez Perce Indian Tribes. He learned many things from his native brother warriors. The one thing that he cherishes most of all is learning to walk the Red Road in harmony with all living things.

 

 

Michael's latest work, A Soldier's Final Act, hopefully will be produced in 2024. The play brings us closer to the alarming suicide rates of our Veterans. We are all familiar with the tragic statistics but very few of us actually know of one of these troubled souls.