Colorado Springs, Colo. –
U.S. Army Cpl. Brian Miller has a lot to live for today. Family, career, and extracurricular activities abound for this Warrior Transition Unit Soldier who lost a leg during combat operations while deployed to Iraq supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Miller and 49 additional Soldiers and Army Veterans competied at the 2012 Warrior Games in Colorado Springs, Colo. April 30 - May 5.
Warrior Games is a partnership between the U.S. Olympics Paralympics Program, and the U.S. Department of Defense. This year's competition took place at the USOC's National Training Center, and at the Air Force Academy, in Colorado Springs. Wounded, ill and injured Soldiers, Airmen, Marines, Sailors, Coast Guardsmen and Special Operations Service members competed in archery, cycling, shooting, swimming, sitting volleyball, wheelchair basketball, and track and field events at the third annual Warrior Games.
As the Army worked to win gold at Warrior Games, the team was in its final push during a series of pre Games clinics, scrimmages and training sessions at Ft. Carson and the Air Force Academy in the Colorado Rockies.
Miller, a Littlestown, Pa., resident, trained hard for this year's Games and will be competed in sitting volleyball, swimming and track and field. He prepared himself well and attended numerous Warrior Transition Command Adaptive Sports led clinics across the country. But, athletics and the benefits derived from competing in adaptive reconditioning sports is only part of this well-rounded Soldier's portfolio.
Miller delivers inspirational speeches, hunts deer, helps fellow wounded, ill and injured Soldiers and veterans by constructing prosthetic limbs, and still finds time to excel as a member of the Army Sitting Volleyball team. Yes, the tall and slender Miller with a killer serve with great court instincts could be a poster child for a vintage '80's Army TV commercial.
'Cpl. Miller does more before 9 a.m. than most people do all day.'
Watching Miller play volleyball, it is easy to see he is a quiet leader on the team that won a silver medal at the 2011 Games. He easily offers recommendations and advice without being overbearing. In stellar Army values fashion, he leads by example - always sliding and moving across the floor in anticipation of the next pass, shot or opportunity to score. He's an unselfish player who seems to take it all in and knows exactly what he is doing and where is at all times.
At sitting volleyball clinics in Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Maryland, Miller and his teammates fine tuned techniques and skills for playing winning volleyball and building on last year's silver medal performance.
Being a leader on or off the court aren't skill sets Miller always possessed.
The Army Scout enlisted at 38 but didn't go to basic training until he was 41. Early on he was rather introverted and somewhat reserved, but much of that changed after a fateful day in Iraq on a hot, dusty, heavily traveled road nicknamed 'Route Tampa' north of Baghdad near Taji. A formerly restive area known to harbor improvised explosive devices and vehicle-borne explosive devices. Miller and his team knew the area well, and routinely traveled and helped clear routes, making them safe for Soldiers and civilians.
"I was a Stryker turret gunner in 2009 when our vehicle was struck by a huge explosively formed penetrator that blew thru the Stryker. My lieutenant was knocked to the floor," continued Miller. "I took a lot of shrapnel in my leg, with much of it blowing through that leg and going into my right leg. Surgeons removed a huge bolt that penetrated my right leg, too."
His injuries were so severe that ultimately would lose his right leg to amputation, but on that day he was in damage control mode. "The adrenaline kicks in, and you can do things that you didn't think possible and continue to operate."
When Miller tried to lift the 50 caliber machine gun, he couldn't do it, he was spent. His teammates lifted him out of the Stryker, put him on the ground and began to administer first aid.
"I couldn't feel too much," he said. "The doctor started packing my wounds, and I felt cold as the he put a tourniquet on my left leg to stop the bleeding, it was only then that I felt the extreme pain.'
Miller was transported to the Baghdad Community Support Hospital for surgeries to stabilize him. Then he was flown to the Balad CSH, then to Germany and finally to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, all in the course of four to five days.
He was on the Army's 'fast track' returning from the battlefield to the United States. His subsequent recovery and physical therapy would be anything but fast. Miller spent 16 months at Walter Reed and endured 14 surgeries. However, Miller continued to experience chronic pain.
"The doctors gave me three options: keep my leg, have the leg fused, or amputation. I felt amputation was the best option for me, so my leg was removed in October 2010," he said. Miller and his fiancée, Rachel, jokingly refer to his prosthetic as his 'bionic man leg.'
"We took a cruise last year and she entered me into the ship's sexiest legs competition," he joked. "Well, with a $60,000 bionic leg, I couldn't lose! I also won the ship's 'Sexiest Man' competition. I was on a roll." Miller ultimately had the last laugh, and arranged with the activity director that upon receiving the award would propose to Rachel.
Miller thinks his injuries were a time of reflection for him, and he really began to open up more during his recovery and after meeting Rachel.
"I'm doing quite a bit of public speaking, telling my story to young Soldiers and others interested in hearing it. Anytime I can help, I want to do what I can to assist," he said. Miller spoke at the CBWTU-Virginia's muster last month, and plans to do more.
On the employment front, Miller was hired full-time by prosthetics manufacturing company close to his home in nearby York, Pa. The job offer came a few weeks ago, and followed an extended internship with the company.
"I really want to thank the folks with CBWTU-VA for helping me with career options," said Miller. "I was offered an internship as a prosthetics technician about a year ago, and now it has evolved into a full-time position. Really, it's great to help other Soldiers, veterans and civilians by providing them with prosthetics."
Miller's employers are supportive of his Army Warrior Games participation but look forward to his return following the Games in early May. Miller's biggest obstacle these days is not his missing leg, but cramming in everything he wants to do as he continues to open doors and explore options on his path forward.