Michael Donnelly was born in Florida and joined the Army after speaking with a local high school recruiter.  He served thirteen years on active duty and ten years in the National Guard in both Florida and Utah.  

During Donnelly’s first deployment to Iraq, he served as a Team Leader in 1/9th Infantry Battalion. During a routine clearance mission, he took grenade shrapnel to the right shoulder which took him out of action for about two weeks. During his second deployment to Iraq as a Weapons Squad Leader with the heavy weapons company, he and his fellow Company were pinned down by a Machine Gun bunker in an insurgent occupied house.  As the Weapons Squad Leader, he maneuvered his squad to assault and destroy the machine gun nest, freeing the rest of the Company from enemy fire.  

On his first combat tour in Afghanistan, Donnelly served as the Brigade Personal Security Detachment for the Brigade Commander, Brigade Sergeant Major and Deputy Commanding Officer as well as the head of a downed aircraft recovery team.  During this time, he defended Observation Post Bari Alai for over twenty-eight days from a fierce Taliban attack.  During those twenty-eight days, his platoon fired more rounds from their mortars than had been fired by the rest of the Allied Forces in the country of Afghanistan combined during the same time frame.  When the fighting was over, his platoon had taken one American casualty which Donnelly noted was “still one too many”.  

While serving in the National Guard in both Florida and Utah, He oversaw the Noncommissioned Officer School, Master’s Leaders Course, and Officer Candidate School.  He stated that he was a true believer that the Noncommissioned Officers Corps was the backbone of the United States Army, and he was proud to help shape the future of the Army.

Donnelly shared a personal note: “It’s not comfortable to talk about yourself.  It feels good to be recognized for an individual achievement, however I did all of this as part of a team.  I would like to think that everything I did was for the people next to me.”