WHO IS THE SARGE? From Bangkok to the Battlefield to the Stage

The Sarge performing on stage, Colorado Springs artist

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: The Sarge LLC
Email: THESARGE10MHX@GMAIL.COM
Phone: (719) 229-5212

WHO IS THE SARGE? FROM BANGKOK TO THE BATTLEFIELD TO THE STAGE — U.S. ARMY VETERAN TURNS LIFE STORY INTO COLORADO SPRINGS MUSIC MOVEMENT

Colorado Springs artist, producer, and promoter builds the Bust Out the Box residency while joining Witch Hound on stage October 24 as a vocalist for their "Second Summoning" show that may be its last for a while

Colorado Springs, CO — September 18, 2026 — Before he was The Sarge, he was little Mike Ung — a toddler in Bangkok, Thailand, wearing a name tag that read "KENG PINMEE," standing beside his foster mother in 1987. Decades later he is a U.S. Army Infantry veteran, a hip-hop and pop-punk-rock artist, a music producer and sound designer, the CEO of The Sarge LLC, and the founder of Bust Out the Box, the monthly multi-genre music residency at the Wagon Wheel Sports Bar & Concert Hall in Colorado Springs.

The name wasn't given. It was earned.

THE FULL ARC

Bangkok, 1987. The earliest known photograph of Michael K. Ung shows him as a toddler in Thailand with his foster mother — a striped shirt, a hand-lettered name tag, and a story that starts an ocean away from Colorado. That image anchors everything that follows.

East Coast kid. Born in Bangkok, Thailand, on March 20, 1984, Mike was raised between Clifton Park and Brooklyn, New York — the choir kid on Sundays, a tae kwon do student on Saturdays, nicknamed "the Unginator" for the way he carried himself even then. He spent a year and two summers at the New York Military Academy and graduated high school in Toms River, New Jersey, in 2002. Discipline, performance, and heart were already the whole personality.

U.S. Army Infantry. He joined the Army in 2004 out of Elizabeth, New Jersey, and shipped to basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia, in May 2004. First stop: 1-22 Infantry "Regulars by God," 4th Infantry Division — deployed to Iraq for OIF 5-7. He reenlisted to move to Fort Drum, New York, with the 10th Mountain Division — 2-22 Infantry "Regulars by God," then 2-87 Infantry, 3rd Brigade "Catamounts," under Col. Kimo Gallahue and Sgt. Maj. Andy Spano — and deployed to Afghanistan's Wardak province for OEF 9-10. Back home he helped stand up 2-5 Infantry, 1st Armored Division, at Fort Bliss, Texas, where he finished his service — medically boarded out with combat PTSD, anxiety, severe depression, and more. He served as an E-5 Sergeant — a non-commissioned officer. "You only call officers sir — we worked for a living," he says of his NCO years. The rank, the bearing, and the name all come from that service: The Sarge is who the Army made him. In 2015 he landed in Colorado Springs — and started building.

The artist and producer. Out of uniform, the characters come out. The Sarge is a hip-hop and pop-punk-rock performing artist, a music producer and sound designer with a BS in Audio Production from Full Sail University who is currently a music major at UCCS, published and featured on Billboard Hip Hop and featured on HipHopSince1987. From the studio board to the master, if it hits your speakers, he touched it.

The promoter. He doesn't wait for a stage — he builds one. Bust Out the Box is his monthly multi-genre music residency at the Wagon Wheel Sports Bar & Concert Hall in Colorado Springs, co-run with AntiFamouz Ent: every month a different genre, one stage, and a night you can't get anywhere else. Between 2016 and 2021, his former company Mountain High X Entertainment left its mark on the local scene; today that chapter is legacy, and The Sarge LLC carries the work forward.

The student. He's currently a UCCS student — choir, voice, Pitch Peak a cappella, theater — still training, still leveling up, still in the classroom with his oldest daughter.

The dad, the grandpa. He's a proud father of four daughters, all in college, and a grandpa. Family is the engine under all of it. His creed, on every stage and every post: "Stay Different."

"I went from a name tag in Bangkok to stripes in the Army to a mic in Colorado Springs," says The Sarge. "Every rank I ever held, I earned — E-5, artist, producer, promoter, dad. Nobody handed me this name. And I'm just getting started. Stay Different."

On October 24, 2026, he joins Witch Hound on stage as a vocalist for their "Second Summoning" show at Vultures in Colorado Springs. Word is it may be Witch Hound's last performance for a while — don't miss it.

About The Sarge LLC

The Sarge LLC is the independent music company of Michael K. Ung, aka The Sarge — U.S. Army Infantry veteran turned hip-hop and pop-punk-rock artist, producer, and sound designer. Published and featured on Billboard Hip Hop. Founder of BUST OUT THE BOX, the monthly multi-genre music residency at Wagon Wheel Sports Bar & Concert Hall in Colorado Springs. Stay Different.

Media contact:
The Sarge LLC
THESARGE10MHX@GMAIL.COM
(719) 229-5212
https://www.thesarge.net/
https://poplme.co/hash/fAAZ8IVA/1/s

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MORE FROM THE SARGE:

- ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: WHO IS AUSTIN TOKER?

- ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: WHO IS RICHARD HUEMPFNER? COLORADO SPRINGS PROMOTER AND THE ANTI-FAMOUZ MASK BEHIND BUST OUT THE BOX

- Witch Hound Summons "Second Summoning": CD Release Party and Costume Contest Hits Vultures in Colorado Springs, October 24

- Bust Out the Box #13: UCCS Night Hits Wagon Wheel November 21 — The Sarge LLC × Robin Hood Initiative Charity Night in Colorado Springs

- The Sarge LLC Presents Bust Out the Box #12: HALLOWEINER — Assassinate Headlines All-Horrorcore Halloween Bash, October 30

- The Sarge LLC Presents Bust Out the Box #11: Jazz-Funk-Rock Night at Wagon Wheel, Colorado Springs, September 26

- Artist Spotlight: Who Is Lil Chin? Colorado's Emo-Rap Outlaw