Michael Kropp, Jr., Michael’s oldest son, followed in his father’s footsteps and joined the Navy out of college. He was a part of ROTC at the University of Southern California. He is a pilot by trade, originally flying the P-8A Poseidon across the world. He has been to Europe and the Middle East over two deployments. He enjoys flying, but treasures being a mentor and a leader to the sailors he supervised during his tours. His father always talked about how to best use his position as an officer to impact others. He is currently serving as a T-44 Pegasus instructor in Corpus Christi, TX and enjoys every minute of it. Being able to have a little bit of influence on the future naval aviators makes my naval career a success.
“Big Mike, Michael James Kropp Sr., is my father. I am his junior and I am proud to carry his name. My goal with Big Mike’s Bottom Line is to help change the narrative about bowel habits and all this poop. We need to normalize the conversation in order to bring awareness to how preventable this disease is. From my perspective, every single person in the military is at-risk for crc since the encroaching age range for crc is 20-49. People my age don’t think about screening for crc, yet we need to be aware of the signs and symptoms that may prompt us to get a colonoscopy. Too many young people are dying from this disease.
As a board member, I want to further my father’s mission to educate others about crc and bring awareness to the public about the signs and symptoms of crc and how to have a conversation with a medical team early.
I have already learned through the early inception of Big Mike’s Bottom Line is that when a community has a solid foundation to stand on, it can truly make a difference in someone’s life. The time and effort that the team is putting into BMBL is all worth it if it allows someone to get treated before this horrible disease takes control of their life.
