Michael can remember being shy and fearful his young life, and even as a teenager couldn’t muster up the strength to talk to girls until he took swigs from a bottle of Crown Royal his friend swiped and brought to the school dance. His love of alcohol began then, and spent high school blackout drinking. Michael enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in order to avoid being a responsible college student and have enough time to drink often, but injuries forced him to end his military career shortly after it started which sent him into a suicidal fit and abuse of illicit and prescription drugs.