President Barack Obama awarded the Medal of Honor Wednesday to the family of an Army Green Beret who grew up in Wheaton, IL. Staff Sergeant Robert Miller died in the line of duty in Afghanistan in 2008. The Medal of Honor is the nation's highest military honor. At 24, Miller was the youngest Green Beret in his squad. The solemn ceremony was held in the East Room of the White House.
Miller was a Pashto-speaking Special Forces weapons expert who led a joint U.S.-Afghan patrol — and allied aircraft — in attacking a suspected Taliban compound in northwest Afghanistan's Kunar province, near the Pakistani border.
In pre-dawn darkness on Jan. 25, 2008, as Staff Sgt. Miller and the lead element of the patrol entered the mouth of the narrow valley, they confronted an insurgent hiding behind a large boulder. Refusing to surrender, the insurgent leaped from the boulder and yelled, “Allah Akbar!” and began firing on the lead element from approximately five meters. Staff Sgt. Miller stepped forward to return fire and killed the insurgent instantly.
This contact initiated a near-ambush from a company-sized group of insurgents. The patrol was completely vulnerable, in the kill zone and without cover in a complex ambush with insurgent fighting positions located to the front, the left, and the right.
It soon became evident that numerous insurgents occupied prepared, elevated and hardened fighting positions in the mountain rock with overhead cover along the North and South valley ridgeline.
As enemy fire erupted from the high ground, Staff Sgt. Miller called out the contact report to his team members and his detachment commander located behind him. He simultaneously engaged multiple insurgent positions.
In the face of devastating insurgent fire, the members of the Afghan National Army, who were located directly behind Staff Sgt. Miller broke formation and bound away downhill and out of the kill zone, leaving Staff Sgt. Miller alone and with no support in the open terrain.
To the front of Staff Sgt. Miller’s position one insurgent cluster was inflicting devastating hostile fire on the retreating ANA members. Understanding the potential for catastrophe, Staff Sgt. Miller boldly charged the enemy and accurately engaged the entire force with his automatic weapon, thus eliminating the threat.
With heavy fire from insurgent forces from all sides of his position engulfing him, Staff Sgt. Miller continued to engage at least four other insurgent positions, killing or wounding at least 10 insurgents.
The highlighted muzzle flash and the distinct sound from his gun, a SAW, instantly marked Staff Sgt. Miller as an easily identifiable target. Cognizant that his vulnerability increased with every burst from his SAW, Staff Sgt. Miller continued to engage the enemy courageously drawing fire away from his team and onto his position. Within seconds, Staff Sgt. Miller began receiving a majority of the insurgents’ heavy volume of fire.
Realizing that his team was pinned down and unable to actively engage the enemy, Staff Sgt. Miller, with complete disregard for his own personal safety, continued to charge forward through the open area engaging multiple elevated insurgent positions and purposely drawing fire away from his trapped ODA members.
During his final charge forward, Staff Sgt. Miller threw two hand grenades into fighting positions, destroying the positions and killing or wounding an additional four insurgents. Only when Staff Sgt. Miller realized his fellow team members were out of immediate danger, and in positions to support him, did he attempt to move for cover.
As he directed his fire to engage enemy positions above him, an insurgent shot him through the right side of his upper torso under his right arm; the area not protected by his body armor. Staff Sgt. Miller immediately turned toward the enemy and shot and killed the insurgent who had wounded him. During this time, Staff Sgt. Miller’s detachment commander also sustained gunshot wounds to his upper chest and shoulder.
The perilous situation forced the detachment commander to order the ODA to fall back to cover. Staff Sgt. Miller realized his commander was seriously wounded and that, as the point man with ODA’s only SAW, he had the highest potential to inflict the most casualties on the enemy. Again, with complete disregard for his own personal safety, Staff Sgt. Miller remained alone at the front of the patrol, so his team could bound back.
Ignoring the severity of his critical wound and still completely exposed to intense, direct enemy fire, Staff Sgt. Miller continued to low crawl through the snow, incessantly fighting uphill into the valley to engage insurgent positions to the East and South in order to draw fire away from his wounded commander and identify insurgent positions to his fellow ODA members.
Despite suffering a second and fatal wound, Staff Sgt. Miller remained steadfast and continued his selfless acts of heroism. He provided essential disposition and location reports of insurgent actions and he relentlessly fired his SAW until he expended all of his ammunition and threw his final hand grenade.
At the first opportunity, members of Staff Sgt. Miller’s team bound up to his position to render aid and recover him. Enemy reinforcements overwhelmed the recovery team with direct fire causing the team to seek cover. During the recovery attempt, the enemy’s precision was clearly evident as team members sustained multiple hits from small arms fire to their body armor and equipment.
Approximately an hour and 45 minutes later, a quick reaction force arrived, which allowed the ODA to lead a patrol back into the valley to recover Staff Sgt. Miller.
The entire battle lasted nearly seven hours.
Post-battle intelligence reports indicate that in excess of 140 insurgents participated in the ambush, more than 40 were killed and over 60 were wounded. Staff Sgt. Miller is credited with killing more than 16 and wounding over 30 insurgents. His valor under fire from a numerically superior force, complete selflessness and disregard for his own life, combined with his unmatched ability to accurately identify and engage insurgent positions, allowed his patrol to move to the safety of covered positions.
An Army website, http://www.army.mil/medalofhonor/miller>army.mil/medalofhonor/miller honors Miller and details his bravery during battle. Click on the "battlescape" tab at the top of the site to see the animation recreating the battle.
"I wish Rob was here to receive this himself," said Phil Miller, his father. "I looked to my right to see where he was. I literally saw him charging the enemy." said Staff Sgt. Nicholas McGarry, Us Army.
"He saved my life and the lives of numerous soldiers that day - both American and Afghan," said Major Robert Cusick, U.S. Army.
"His ability to engage the enemy allowed us and myself to be medevaced off the battlefield and allowed the rest of the team to pull back and get back to the base alive," said Major Cusick.
President Obama talked about Miller's family, his siblings, especially one of them who is now becoming a soldier following his brother's footsteps by training to become a Green Beret.
Staff Sgt. Miller moved to Wheaton at the age of 5. He attended St. Michael School and graduated from Wheaton North High School where he was captain of the gymnastics team.
Miller is the third U.S. Military member who has served in Afghanistan to receive the Medal of Honor.
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