Staff Sgt. Robert J. “Rob” Miller didn’t look like the square-jawed “GI Joe” people imagine when they hear “Green Beret.” He was a former high-school gymnast, band kid, Boy Scout and part-time surf bum who liked classical music as much as hard rock. He just also happened to be the guy who would one day charge a valley full of enemy fighters so his friends could live.
Robert Miller Was Shaped by Family and Values
Miller was born in Pennsylvania in 1983, the second of eight kids in a family where military service was basically a family tradition, stretching back to the Revolutionary War. He was named for both grandfathers, World War II veterans, and grew up around stories of war and oppression, including tales from Cambodian refugee friends about surviving the Khmer Rouge. It left him with an early sense that there were, in his words, some truly bad people in the world.
The Millers moved to Wheaton, Illinois, when Rob was five years old. He grew up into the kind of overachiever every coach loves: gymnastics team co-captain, state-level competitor, baseball and basketball, track, Boy Scouts, and school band. If there was a thing to do, he did it, usually at full speed. He was also a history nerd who soaked up his parents’ stories about living in the Soviet Union and Berlin during the Cold War, which only sharpened his appreciation for American freedom.
A Life Defined by Service Over Comfort
He wanted to take that love of country to the U.S. Naval Academy, but colorblindness killed the plan. He went to the University of Iowa instead, still orbiting the gymnastics world and still thinking about service, especially after 9/11. When he watched classmates casually crumple up an American flag after a meet, he made them fish it out and taught them how to fold it properly.
This was not a guy on the fence about what he believed in.
In 2003, after his family moved to Oviedo, Florida, Miller enlisted directly as a Special Forces trainee. He crushed Infantry Basic, Airborne School, the Special Forces Qualification Course, and the Weapons Sergeant Course, earning his SF Tab in 2005 and joining A Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Fort Bragg. On his first Afghanistan deployment in 2006–2007, he earned two Army Commendation Medals for Valor.
Robert Miller Led From the Front in Afghanistan
Rob also attacked language like everything else: he picked up French, German, some Russian, and Pashto, which made him the natural point man and talker on patrols. By his second tour in late 2007, the 24-year-old was a seasoned weapons sergeant in Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) 3312, 3rd Group, rolling into one of the nastiest neighborhoods in Afghanistan: the Gowardesh Valley in Kunar.
Before dawn on January 25, 2008, ODA 3312 and about 15 Afghan National Army soldiers moved into the valley to clear insurgent safe havens and stop attacks on nearby villages. Surveillance showed 15–20 armed men hiding in a compound in the valley. Miller, fluent in Pashto and trusted by the Afghan soldiers, took point for the combined patrol as they crossed into “Ambush Alley,” a steep valley with nearly vertical cliffs that looked exactly like the kind of place you’d never want to be ambushed in. Which, of course, is exactly what happened.
Trudging through the snow in the freezing morning, the force encountered two insurgent-placed boulders blocking their path, a sure warning of what was to come. After blowing their way clear, the team headed for the target compound. Upon arrival, they took their positions and used a drone to confirm the insurgents were inside. Miller jumped into his truck’s turret, opened up with the Mk-19 grenade launcher, and calmly walked the Air Force onto target over the radio. A-10s and F-15s dropped ordnance on the compound, shredding the first group of fighters.
Robert Miller Gave His Life to Save Others
Once the bombs hit, the team pushed forward on foot to see who was left. As they crossed bridge into the steep valley, an insurgent popped up from behind a boulder just a few meters away, shouting and firing. Miller stepped forward and dropped him, but that was the trigger. A company-sized enemy force of roughly 140 fighters erupted from the ridgelines and valley floor with PKM machine guns, RPGs and AKs, hammering the patrol from three sides at ranges under 25 meters.
There was nowhere to hide, but Miller did the opposite anyway. He yelled for his teammates to fall back to cover, then charged straight into the teeth of the ambush with his SAW, engaging multiple positions and wiping out the machine gun and rifle team that had torn into his patrol. Somewhere in that sprint, he was wounded by small arms fire. He kept moving, kept firing, and then pushed farther forward again, deliberately dragging enemy fire onto himself so everyone else could move.
Miller threw grenades into fighting positions, killed or wounded more insurgents, then crawled through the snow, still talking on the radio, still calling out targets even as his detachment commander was hit and ordered the rest of the team to fall back. Only when Rob was sure his teammates were out of immediate danger did he try to find cover himself. A second round, again under the arm and into his upper torso, fatally wounded him. But even then, he kept firing until his SAW ran dry and he’d thrown his last grenade.
The firefight raged for nearly seven hours. Post-battle reports credited Miller with killing at least 16 insurgents and wounding more than 30, out of a force that suffered over 40 killed and 60 wounded. His actions let seven Green Berets and 15 Afghan soldiers survive an ambush that should have wiped them out.
For his bravery and dedication to duty and to his fellow soldiers, Miller received a posthumous Medal of Honor. President Barack Obama presented the medal to Miller’s parents, Phil and Maureen Miller, in a White House ceremony on Oct. 6, 2010.
Rob Miller didn’t live a long life, but he did live exactly the kind of purposeful life he’d been aiming at since he was that kid in Wheaton correcting flag etiquette. The gymnast, band kid, and linguist grew up to be the Green Beret who chose, in the worst possible moment, to be the one standing between his friends and an entire valley of guns and never step back.
Read About Other Profiles in Courage
If you enjoyed learning about SSG Robert J. Miller, we invite you to read about other profiles in courage on our blog. You will also find military book reviews, veterans’ service reflections, famous military units and more on the TogetherWeServed.com blog. If you are a veteran, find your military buddies, view historic boot camp photos, build a printable military service plaque, and more on TogetherWeServed.com today.
SHARE:
0 Comments