Pictures From My Military Tour In Germany!

Our cross country vehicle.

Fitch jamming to Reggae on the bus. The beer was not mine!

After checking into Spangdahlem Air Base early, we traveled to nearby Trier, one of the oldest cities in Germany. There were a lot of old Roman ruins to explore.

If you look to the left in the picture, you can see Fitch wandering around like the kung-fu guy, searching for answers.


Fitch and I doing a radio interview...intensely!


Hanging out at the USO Warrior Center


One of our 4 scheduled signings. This one was at Ramstein Air Base.


Talking to a class of Airmen about physical fitness, diet and nutrition.


This servicemen gave me the patch off his uniform that he wore the whole time he was in Iraq. He said it was good luck and he wanted to pass it on to me. It meant a lot and will be framed on my office wall along with the military coins I received from this trip.


Teaching a seminar with Jon Fitch and Dan Hardy at Spangdahlem Air Base. All of these guys were very familiar with MMA and they even had a base combatives program. I am starting to see these forming at a lot of military bases now. Its good to see!


I don't know what I was doing here. I guess I was showing how to throw a hand grenade from your back.




Seargant Major O'Neal escorted us through the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center to visit the wounded servicemen. Their stories were touching and heroic, though they all kept a humble demeanor. I gave them all T-Shirts and Caps from my new clothing line. It was only a small token considering what these guys give every day, but they were very gracious.








The next day we surprised the wounded servicemen by showing up at the airfield to escort them onto the C-17 airplane, which will transfer them back to the States for further treatment.


This is one bad dude right here! He suffered from an explosion and had shrapnel all in his legs. Before we took this photo he was strapped down to a gurney about to be transported onto the plane. When he saw us he made the nurse unstrap him so he could stand up and take a picture. Must have been really painful, absolutely incredible!

Seeing the guys who were wearing the T-shirt I gave them the previous day was touching. The small things say it all. I will blog more about this experience in my next blog...


Sitting in the cockpit of the C-17 before takeoff. Its a little more intricate than the 1979 Cessna 172 Skyhawk I use to fly in flight school. Quite a bit heavier as well!


The Rest Of The Photos Will Be Posted In The Photo Galleries On MikeSwick.com In The Next Day Or So....

So Check There For More!

Greetings From Germany!

Germany is beautiful! We arrived yesterday but had a jam packed day so this is the first time I have had a chance to update the blog. We landed yesterday at 8am and drove straight to Spangdahlem Air Base. After arriving we checked in then Fitch and I toured a couple surrounding cities. We made it to Luxembourg to see Pattons grave and got there just at closing time. We also toured some ancient Roman ruins. We got back to the base at about 8pm and I crashed out.

I woke up at 4am this morning and took a long run. We all met up at 7am for breakfast and then visited the ALS/FTAC to give a lecture on diet and nutrition to the Airmen class. We talked and answered questions for about an hour or so and then headed over to the Base Martial Arts Club and gave a 2 hour MMA seminar.

At 11am we held an autograph signing which lasted about 2 hours. Then we enjoyed a much needed lunch!

By 3pm, we were on our way to Landstuhl Medical Center to visit with wounded troops. We visited 3 wards and talked with several patients. It was great seeing how much they appreciated us coming. I gave them all T-Shirts and caps from my new clothing line and they were very gracious. I met some real heroes today.

It always blows me away to hear these guys say how we are their inspiration and that they look up to us, when I feel the same about them. I mean as far as civilian life goes, we are pretty extreme.... but these guys are the real heroes. They go out to Iraq and Afghanistan and get into firefights that they sometimes don't come home from. Then, even when they make it out alive, it could be at a great cost. I have all the respect in the world for our military and always will. It was great seeing the character of people who represent our country today. I was so humbled.

After visiting with patients for several hours and having dinner with them, we drove to Ramstein Air Base, I checked into the hotel and am now writing this blog. Long day for sure but worth every second.

Tomorrow we have another packed day starting at 7am again. We plan to go to the Armed Forces Network studio and record some commercials. We are also going to the flight line to witness the uploading of patients onto C-17 Military Aircraft. After that, we will do an autograph signing here at Ramstein and then head to Wiesbaden Army Airfield, which will be the last base we are visiting.

I tried to upload photos from the day but I am having technical problems with linking the camera to my Mac so it might be a day or so before I get the photos uploaded, but I will soon!

Stay tuned for more!

Our Mexican Get-Away Pictures...

After several weeks of consecutive hard training, I decided to sneak off to Mexico for a long weekend before hitting the last 8 week stretch of my fight camp. Mary and I decided Cabo would be the right place and we were off. I have been so busy since getting back, with training and traveling, that I am just now being able to post these photos...

Even on vacation, I still can't stop playing poker! The scenery was amazing though!

Mary and I rented a boat and received the Cabo tour.

During the tour we visited a cave....

Then I went inside the cave... Sat Down... Then felt that sitting in a cave was totally overrated...

After hanging out on the beach and relaxing for a couple days, Mi Amigo from the hotel told me that there was a really cool "Old City" outside of Cabo and it would be cool for us gringos to hang out at and take photos. He said it would take about dos hours to get there so we looked it up and took off... Quatro hours later, we were still driving!

After going to the spot on the map, all we found were a few cows...

Feeling frustrated, I put my hands to the side because that silently expresses frustration.

After further investigation, we found the amazing city!

But it wasn't so amazing and definitely not worth a day of driving on the longest and most boring road ever built...

Again I cleverly express frustration, even without using my hands this time...

This opportunity just seemed too good to pass up!

Orlando Seminar Photos...

Here are some photos from the seminar I held this past Sunday in Orlando, Florida. The seminar, presented by Ground And Pound Athletic Wear, was a success and I had a blast meeting everyone and helping out! Ironically enough, I did this seminar at Tiger Martial Arts, which is a gym that is about 4 miles from my next opponents... Ben Saunders! What a Coinci-dink!

Fort Bragg Photos...

Here are some photos from the Spring BBQ at Fort Bragg from this past Friday. Oakgrove Technologies and myself came out to raise money for the family readiness program. At the end of the days festivities, I presented a brand new SIG P220 to the lucky winner of the charity raffle.

On Saturday I will head to Germany to visit a few more military bases. I am very excited about this trip. I will be posting photos and videos on this blog and my webpage so check back! MikeSwick.com