Mick Coyle enlisted into the Irish Guards in 1954 and qualified as a military parachutist at RAF Abingdon in 1956.He served with the Guards Independent Parachute Company in Cyprus and Suez later that year.

Mick transferred to The Parachute Regiment and subsequently served with 2 PARA, at Depot, and then with 1 PARA before discharge in 1970 as a corporal.

After emigrating, he joined the Australian Army in the 1970s and was awarded the Order of Australia Medal in the Military Division as a Company Sergeant Major in 1988.

Mick is a member of the Airborne Forces Association Western Australia.