Leaving a Legacy

By Becca Castellano and Rachele Pezzuti, U.S. Army Garrison Stuttgart

Memorial Day was designated as a day to remember the sacrifices of those who gave their all in the name of duty. It is a day set aside to mourn their loss and honor their legacy. Too many American service members stationed in Germany have deployed downrange never to return.

This Memorial Day, we recognize one who called Stuttgart home long before the Army assigned him to this post. And we remember the legacy he left when he laid down his life for the country he loved.

To those who knew Micheal Riley as a Soldier, the tough special forces veteran of six Afghanistan Deployments was a dedicated, driven Sgt. 1st Class who left no man behind. They describe a leader, a mentor and a friend who always had your back and would never let you fail.

Master Sgt. Micheal Riley provided additional security for then-Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to Kosovo in 2016.

Photo courtesy of Benny Brand

But to his father, Frank, Mike will always be the little lion, playing on a turn table in the basement of his house.

“He liked the Lion King so I always told him, ‘Hey, I’m the head lion, don’t you forget it’,” said Frank.

Mike was born in 1986 in Heilbronn, Germany – a small city 30 miles north of Stuttgart – to a German mother, Andrea, and an American father, Frank. Frank came to Germany as a Solider in the 80’s but stayed as a musician and professional singer after his contract was up. He believes Mike’s earliest exposure to music was listening to his father play drums while he was still in the womb.

“I never taught him how to play, but we bought him a mickey mouse drum set for his first birthday and one day he just sat down and started playing,” Frank said. “He could sing, but he never did. He preferred the DJ table.”

Mike received his first turntable when he was 11 years old, and he immediately found his niche in the music world. At the age of 15, Mike became the youngest person to enter and win a DJ competition in Stuttgart. His dad said the competition was fierce, but Mike knew how to read a crowd and mixed music like his fingers were made for that purpose.

“They didn’t want to let him enter but because he was so young but they allowed him to go last,” said Frank. “He just got up there and did his thing and the crowd went wild.”

As his popularity grew, Mike adopted the name DJ Mike Nice, and began performing all over Stuttgart. He pushed his music out through online channels like SoundCloud, and over time built a massive following. With his reputation as a DJ on the rise, another calling was pulling the artist away from his beats.

Mike Riley, center, went on tour with his father Frank, left, as a part of the musical group Frank Riley and the Boys.

Photo courtesy of Mike Riley

“Mike was always proud to be an American and talked about wanting to join the Army, since he was little,” said Frank. “He once said, ‘Dad I want to be just like you’ and I said, no son, be better than me. I didn’t realize how well he was listening.”

In 2006, Mike left Germany and headed off to Army basic training in Georgia. Nine weeks later he graduated as a U.S. Soldier. Those who knew Mike said his transformation was remarkable.

The Army sent Mike back to Germany, to serve at the 112th Special Operations Command Europe Signal Detachment in Stuttgart. While living in the barracks on Patch, he met Marine Capt. Michael Harris.

“I heard some music down the hall while unpacking and I went and knocked on his door to ask some questions about what he was playing,” said Harris. “As I learned throughout our long friendship, music was always his way of bringing people together.”

Mike dedicated his life to service but continued to create music and perform whenever he had the chance. He performed in Bulgaria, Hungary and Germany and even played a private event on a Yacht in France.

Mike Riley, also known as DJ Mike Nice, played his music at events throughout Southern Germany, Bulgaria, France and Hungary.

Graphic courtesy of Benny Brand

Harris said that people made sure to come out if they knew DJ Mike Nice was playing, but it was never about the notoriety for Mike, it was about the music and the people it united.

“He was that guy,” said Harris. “Driven with a great work ethic. He would play a show all night and then wake me up at 8 a.m. to go work out. He was motivated.”

While Mike kept his music career and his life as a Soldier separate, his work ethic led him far in both. He climbed the Army ranks quickly but confessed to his father that he craved something more challenging and hoped to attend the rigorous special forces qualification course.

In 2012, Mike achieved his goal of becoming a Green Beret. After graduating from the qualification course in North Carolina, he returned to Stuttgart as a member of the 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group and went right back to work promoting his music around Germany.

Master Sgt. Micheal Riley holds up a bluetooth boom box while deployed in Afghanistan.

Photo courtesy of Benny Brand

He visited family in Heilbronn often and during one of those trips, Frank reminded his son that he was still the head lion.

“I said let’s wrestle and he just looked at me and said ‘Nah, dad, you don’t want to do that’ and I said ‘Oh, you think you’re special now because you’ve had some fancy training? Remember, I’m still the head lion’,” said Frank, who immediately tried to tackle his son. “He put me in one of those headlocks with my arms straight out to the side and I said ‘Mike, you let me go right now or I’m gonna call the cops.’ We laughed so hard, and after that day, I never messed with Mike.”

Mike spent five years with the 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group, before moving to the 2nd Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group in Colorado in 2017. During this time, he completed five deployments to Afghanistan.

Master Sgt. Micheal Riley deployed to Afghanistan six times.

Photo courtesy of Benny Brand

“Mike really loved the states,” said Frank. “He bought a house there and was hoping to move his younger sister over from Germany so she could attend college under his watchful, big-brother eyes.”

As a senior non-commissioned officer, Mike enjoyed leading young Soldiers and took his responsibility to bringing them home safely very seriously. But the decorated veteran was beginning to consider a life free of combat zones. As he geared up for his sixth deployment to Afghanistan, Mike confided in his father and his best friend, Benny Brand, that he was thinking about starting a family and settling down.

“He was seriously considering leaving the Army but he only had seven years left until retirement so it was a tough decision. In just 13 years he had become a Sgt. 1st Class,” said Brand. “To climb the ranks like that shows you how dedicated he was.”

Master Sgt. Micheal Riley gives a thumbs up while deployed to Afghanistan in 2019.

Photo courtesy of Benny Brand

As Mike prepped for deployment and contemplated his future, he took leave to visit family and embark on a three-week DJing tour around Germany. Brand accompanied Mike and said his friend was taking lots of photos and videos with his buddies on tour.

“It was like he really wanted us to remember this tour,” said Brand. “And after he deployed, he sent so many videos and photos and kept in touch more than usual.”

Master Sgt. Micheal Riley looks through his weapon’s scope during a deployment to Afghanistan.

Photo courtesy of Benny Brand

In January of 2019, Mike’s unit deployed to the Uruzgan province of Afghanistan. For the next six months, he was in and out of contact with family and friends while he completed his sixth and final deployment as a United States Special Forces Soldier. It was a title he was so proud to hold, and one he would give his life for on June 25, 2019 when his team came under enemy fire.

“It kind of destroyed everybody when he didn’t come back,” Frank said. “I got the call but they didn’t have to say anything, I already knew, I felt it. That’s how close Mike and I were.”

Master Sgt. Micheal Riley looks out over the snowy landscape while riding in a helicopter during a military exercise.

Friends and family said Mike had hoped to bring people together again around his turntables once he returned home. Instead, they came together to honor his legacy.

On July 26, 2019, Germans and Americans, gathered at the cemetery in Heilbronn to pay their respects to a man who left a giant hole in so many lives.

“I saw some of the strongest grown men crying at his funeral. They couldn’t even talk. And that let me know that Mike was loved as a leader,” said Frank.

On both sides of the Atlantic, Special Forces units grieved the loss of one of their own and honored Mike with a posthumous promotion to Master Sergeant.

Lasting Legacy

After the loss of her son, Andrea started the Green Beret Youth Initiative-St. Louis foundation in Mike’s honor. During his last deployment, Mike had talked about wanting to do something to support the youth in Stuttgart’s sister city of St. Louis, where his father grew up and where some of Mike’s siblings lived.

The foundation’s mission is to support and develop leaders of tomorrow by teaching healthy lifestyles and competent behaviors through coached workouts, nutrition education and affordable meal planning. In addition, the foundation works with local schools to support reading programs, alternative learning and tutoring. They also provide a community-based mentorship program to help youth develop and achieve goals, build self-esteem and become resilient.

President of the foundation’s board, Command Sgt. Maj. Kevin Dorsh, served with Mike in Germany and said he was thrilled to work alongside the GBYI team toward such an admirable objective while honoring a true hero and brother.

Several other tributes have been made in the Green Beret’s honor including “The Hero Workout” organized by Brand and some of Mike’s former teammates. The workout is held around June 25 every year at U.S. Army Garrison Stuttgart, U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden and at Fort Carson.

Every Monday, #MikeNiceMonday pops up all over social media as friends and family share photos and stories to keep his memory alive and in 2020, fellow DJs he toured with finished and released a mixtape with some of Mike’s music worked into their own.

Frank Riley holds the Purple Heart medal awarded to his son, Mike, who was killed in action in Afghanistan in 2019. A Purple Heart is awarded in the name of the President of the United States to those wounded or killed in action while serving.

But in Heilbronn, where the soldier was born and raised, and where he was laid to rest, his father remembers fondly when his son said ‘Dad, I want to be just like you’ and he replied, ‘no son, be better’.

He believes Mike did that every day of his life.

“I was Army, he was special forces. I performed all over, he performs all over and has a ton of followers. That boy succeeded as a Soldier and as a musician, and anything else he put his mind to,” he said. “People come and go so fast, but it makes me happy to know that Mike made the most of his time here doing what he loved. Those are the memories I hold onto.”

Frank wears a watch his son left him, that despite the best efforts of a jeweler, still beeps every day at 8 p.m. -- for what he doesn’t know.

“It’s the damnedest thing, no one can get it to stop, but I like it,” he said. “It reminds me every day how grateful I am to have shared this life with him. And when I miss him so much that the tears come, I pull myself together and remember all the good he’s done for people, how lucky I am to have known him and, most of all, how proud I am to have been his father.