Mike Russo is a twenty-one-year veteran of the United States Navy. After enlisting in the navy in 1981, he began his career as an F-14 Tomcat mechanic. From 1983 to 1984, he deployed on board the USS John F. Kennedy for eight months and participated in UN operations off the coast of Beirut, Lebanon. In 1990, he earned a bachelor's degree in political science and was commissioned as an ensign. In 1993, he made another six-month deployment to the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Bosnia on board the USS Saratoga and from 1997 to 1998 on board theUSS George Washington, where his team participated in Operation Southern Watch off the coast of Iraq. He was awarded the US Navy's prestigious F-14 Tomcat Maintenance Officer of the Year Award for 1998. He has had the pleasure of working with so many great Americans throughout his career. He retired from the navy as a lieutenant commander in 2002 and began a career in private industry.Mike has a master's degree in management and continues to write technical proposals and public relations articles for both private and public defense issues. He has two grown sons who are awesome-and he became a grandpa last year. He lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where he enjoys the company and love of so many friends and family members.