Michael Gene ‘Mike’ Snell was born in Cape Girardeau, MO on April 10, 1947, the son of Al and Aileen Snell. Although born in the continental United States, Mike, or ‘Sneller’ as he was known to his many friends, arrived at West Point via congressional appointment from Puerto Rico. Mike called Puerto Rico home. He grew up in Santurce, Puerto Rico and spent his formative years there. Although a blonde and blue-eyed transplant, Mike was as Puerto Rican as any native. He appreciated the culture, spoke fluent Spanish, and had a keen fondness for the Puerto Rican people. He appreciated their customs, enjoyed their food, and shared their passion for living life to its fullest.
Sneller was not the greatest of cadets, but he was talented and very smart. Those who knew him well marveled at how effortlessly he met the challenges of West Point. He was not a star man, not that he couldn’t have been. Mike simply chose to direct his energies and aptitude in other directions. Most notably, he used most of his energy to navigate around the Tactical Department without being noticed as anything other than a model cadet. Mike was prone to enjoy an adult beverage on occasion. Not surprisingly, this enjoyment was sometimes outside the bounds of West Point regulations. Had anyone chosen to inspect Mike’s footlocker in the storage rooms of Old South Barracks, he would have found an ample supply of Puerto Rican Barcardi 151 rum. Over his time at West Point, Mike learned and grew, but he never lost his identity. He somehow managed a maximum of risk with a minimum of punishment.
Mike’s experience at the Academy honed his potential as a leader. Upon graduation, Mike could have joined any branch of the Army. He was commissioned in Infantry because, in his mind, that was what being a soldier was all about, and that was where he would apply his talent as a leader for the next 24 years.
Mike’s military service was distinguished, took him to wherever there was action, and gained him several early promotions. He thrived on the opportunity to lead soldiers and was the kind of leader who would never ask anything of his troops that he could not do himself, as evidenced by his many military schools and qualifications, including Airborne, Jumpmaster, master parachutist, free fall parachutist, scuba diver, and combat infantryman.
Mike served and was wounded in Vietnam. He graduated from the Special Forces Qualification Course in 1970 and was assigned to the United States Special Operations Group stationed in Okinawa, which guaranteed him multiple classified short tours in Vietnam as a Special Forces operator and advisor.
He commanded B Company, 3rd Battalion, 39th Infantry Regiment at Fort Lewis, WA. Mike so impressed senior leaders with his tactical prowess that when the major assigned as the battalion S3 (operations officer) was reassigned Mike was chosen for the job, although he was still a junior captain.
As a lieutenant colonel, and during the Cold War in Europe, he was assigned the critical position of S3 of the Berlin Brigade. The brigade was much larger than a normal U.S. Army brigade, was commanded by a general officer, and was responsible for the defense of the U.S. sector of Berlin, a city of several million people surrounded by the armies of the Warsaw Pact and with the potential of making world news headlines, or worse, on any given day.
Colonel Mike Snell commanded the 193rd Infantry Brigade in Panama in 1989 and during Operation Just Cause, the U.S. operation that removed dictator and reputed drug trafficker Manuel Noriega from power. As tensions between the United States and Panama grew, Mike developed and executed an intensive training program to prepare his brigade for the inevitable confrontation. Mike and his soldiers distinguished themselves during the operation by providing protection for U.S. families and facilities within the Canal Zone while simultaneously conducting operations to neutralize the Panamanian Defense Forces. The success of Operation Just Cause is due in no small part to the leaders and soldiers of the 193rd Brigade under Mike Snell’s leadership. Mike retired from the U.S. Army on June 30, 1993 and began the next phase of his life.
Given his military experience, Mike was initially hired by Wells Fargo in the San Diego area to supervise some of their security and alarm systems work. Understandably, Mike found this work dull and unfulfilling. He was eventually hired by MPRI, a services company run by retired and former military officers, with multiple contracts in support of the United States government and its operations overseas. Even in retirement, Mike sought to serve his country and relished the responsibility that such work entailed. He became a trusted employee of MPRI, spending a significant amount of time in Colombia, Bosnia, and Afghanistan in support of MPRI and United States policy.
Mike was stricken with a brain hemorrhage in May 2010 and was airlifted to the University of Virginia Hospital in Charlottesville. He passed away on May 11, 2010. He is survived by his son, Michael, a colonel in the United States Air Force, and his daughter, Pamela, of Miami, FL, both of whom loved him dearly. He is also fondly remembered by his many friends and by the thousands of soldiers and families whose lives he touched in so many positive ways while wearing the uniform of the United States Army.
— GEN William S. Wallace, USA, Retired