In a Nut Shell…

Coming from humble beginnings, Michael Angelo Brown was born in the Philippines. Growing up and moving from military base to military base his entire life, he found himself joining the United States Air Force after graduating high school in Layton, Utah.

Michael’s first assignment was with 435th Services Squadron at Ramstein AB Germany. There he worked as a short order cook at the main dining facility, prepared sandwich box lunches for incoming and outgoing passengers at the Jawbone In-flight kitchen, and also volunteered for mortuary affairs duty.

One of the duties of mortuary affairs was the re-icing of bodies of the fallen soldiers coming in from the Middle East. These bodies were en route to the United States, where they would be reunited with their loved ones. During one of these duties, Michael Angelo had come across one of his childhood friends, Michael Avery Pursel. Devastated, he remembered a promise that they had made back in Jr. High. Pursel wanted to become a Green Beret and Brown wanted to become an Army Ranger. He was determined to keep that promise.

Michael Angelo quickly filed his paperwork to switch from the cushy life of a cook in the Air Force to the grueling lifestyle of Airborne Infantry in Ranger Battalion. Although his management thought he was crazy, 125 lbs. Airman 1st Class Brown trained for a year while he waited for his paperwork to process.

After a psyche evaluation and a plethora of paperwork, Michael was approved to attempt to go through the journey of becoming an Airborne Ranger. He would have to go through a series of schools such as Warriors Training Course, One Station Unit Training for Infantry, Airborne School, and the dreaded Ranger Indoctrination Program.

Although coming across a few snags and failures, Specialist Brown overcame his obstacles and completed R.I.P. and earned the coveted tan beret. Brown did 2 deployments with 2/75 RGR RGT in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

After finishing up his contract in the military, Michael transitioned to the civilian world and went to college to pursue his passion, photography. Michael Angelo graduated from the Art Institute of Hollywood and began his new life as a fashion photographer in Los Angeles.