EDITOR’S NOTE — Veteran Voices is an annual week-long series introducing WYDaily readers to some of our local veterans. Each story represents a different person in the Historic Triangle communities and shares their stories of service.
WILLIAMSBURG — Mike Frazier was the product of a rough childhood.
“I knew nothing was going to be given to me and I really wasn’t going to be able to afford to go to college. I knew I needed to take matters into my own hands and I wanted to explore the world and do stuff,” Frazier says.
Originally enlisting in the United States Coast Guard, Frazier was ordered to a small vessel that patrolled the coast of California and Oregon.
“While I didn’t get too far, my Coast Guard service gave me the opportunity to get into the military,” Frazier said
Frazier was on board his Coast Guard vessel On Sept. 11, 2001.
“We went from doing our Coast Guard normal job to a more law enforcement agency. They put us through law enforcement schools and I eventually ended up going to a unique unit that is a deployable law enforcement detachment of the Coast Guard where we did federal law enforcement all over the world,” Frazier said.
He eventually exited the Coast Guard and did some civilian work. Still interested in the military, Frazier joined the service once again, this time working as a helicopter mechanic for the special operations branch of the U.S. Army, the Night Stalkers.
“If you’ve ever seen the movie Black Hawk Down, that’s primarily what the Night Stalkers are known for. There was a lot of training, a lot of missions that goes on, and a selection course that goes on to get into the unit, and it was just a wild ride afterwards,” Frazier said.
Having served in both the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Army, Frazier said his experience at the two different basic trainings were vastly different.
“Coming from the Coast Guard, it was a little bit more relaxed, it wasn’t as crazy. The training kind of made sense. When I got to the army, we had to do all this weird, crazy stuff that didn’t make a whole lot of sense at the time. Coast Guard training was really more mental, but Army training was more physical,” Frazier says.
While serving with the Army Night Stalkers, Frazier deployed multiple times to the Middle East, as well as South America.
“Deploying really brings up a mixed bag of emotions. If I had to do it again, I absolutely would. There’s a lot of people that couldn’t do what I did, and I’m not tooting my own horn, but each person has their unique abilities and traits. I got trained up to do certain things and I was able to fulfill that. It was tough being gone all the time. Being in the special operations community, you are constantly deployed, you are constantly traveling, constantly training. It’s nonstop, on the go, and being in that type of environment where you are constantly going nonstop, and add in being in combat and having bad guys wanting to kill you, it adds some extra feelings on top of everything else,” Frazier said.
Frazier also served on many missions where he couldn’t disclose his location — even to the closest of his family.
“It really makes it tough to communicate. Way back in the day, there was no cell phones or Internet service. You’d have to stand in a line and wait for a payphone with a phone card that you’d have to preload with minutes. You got a little bit of time to talk to your loved ones but you only have a limited amount of time. Even when you had the technology later on, you have to be very vague and very cautious. Plus, depending on where you are going and what you are doing, you don’t have anything that you can track and you are blacked out for a certain period of time with no communications at all,” Frazier said.
When he left the military, Frazier opened Tier One Services, a Williamsburg-based professional power washing and soft washing company for both commercial and residential properties. Frazier offers military and first responder discounts.
Frazier looks back with pride on his military career.
“I’m very proud of my heritage and the community that I come from. The soldiers and the people that I got to work with were some of the most unique people I’ve ever met. The sacrifice and time, energy, and effort that I put into my military career is something that I’m very proud of. I spent years of my life in combat and while it was a heavy price to pay, I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat.”
