Mike was stationed with the 523rd Air Force Band at March Air Force Base in Riverside California. The base was actually home to 15th Air Force so it was often referred to as the 15th Air Force Band. The band was called the Air Force Band of the Golden West, or the "fighting 523rd" to those in the know.

Although his original job in the Air Force was as a photographer, Mike tested and was accepted to the Defense Language Institute in Monterey where he learned Russian. Before being stationed overseas, he auditioned for and was accepted to the AF Band at March. He was in the Air Force from 1978 to 1984, serving with the band at March from 1980 to 1984.

In that time he served in several of the bands including the 45 piece concert band, the 18 piece jazz ensemble and the group where he would spend most of his time, the rock band, Ides of March. (Everybody was involved when the marching band went out.) When he first joined the band, there were no dedicated audio positions in the AF band system, so Mike pulled double duty as an audio and recording engineer. During his enlistment, the position was added as a regular job position.

The Ides of March was one of the hardest working bands you were ever likely to see doing as many as 300 concerts a year. This was one of many iterations of the 523rd AF Band's rock ensemble. The group was stationed in Riverside California at March Air Force Base, home of 15th Air Force and since the Ides was the 15th of March... well you get the idea. Seemed like a good name at the time.

In this shot is Winifred McDuffy - Bass, Vernia Wallace- Vocals, Mike Overlin - Sax, Marcie LeVang - Vocals, Bernie Rone - Guitar, Mark LeVang - Keys and Earl Hassan - Drums.

This was yet another configuration of the Rock Ensemble with Eddie Annibale on trumpet and Mike Overlin on sax. This was a very typical concert at Sea World in San Diego.

The roles of the band were recruiting and public relations, so concerts could be anywhere anytime. It was not at all out of the ordinary to do two engagements a day, sometimes at two different locations. This was very common when it came to High School concerts which were often the bread and butter of this small group. A military rock band playing in a 1980’s era high school has got to be one of the strangest gigs imaginable.

The 15th Air Force Jazz Ensemble at the Mission Inn in Riverside California most likely in 1983 or 1984. This was an outstanding field band and benefited from the fact that we had Alan Yankee, a Stan Kenton alum, on board as an arrange and sometime bari sax player. At this time, there were 17 field bands in addition to the AF band at the Air Force Academy and THE AF band stationed in Washington DC.

Some familiar faces are Art Bouton from the University of Denver all the way to the left and Saul Miller 3rd from the left. Mike Overlin is leaning against the pole on the left like the shirking short timer that he was. At the time of this shot, the band was led by Sgt McDuffy with vocalist Mel Suguitan.

This is a typical public relations shot of the band taken on the runway at March Air Force Base. It probably would have been fairly useable except for Sgt Overlin, who seemed to think that he was all that AND a bag of chips, deciding to tip his hat back in a most un military like way.

This young man was clearly dealing (unsuccessfully) with authority issues.