When I last wrote my son Patrick was finishing his tour in Mosul, Iraq (Nov 2003). My son Tom was deployed to Iskandriah, Iraq in January of 2005. He went out of his way to volunteer with the Mississippi Army National Guard with the 155th Infantry. He didn't have to go. He told us that he wanted to do something that mattered. He was a Captain, (Capt. Lowell T. Miller II) graduating from Virginia Military Institute in 1993. Tom volunteered for many assignments. He went to various training sessions up to two weeks at a time, learning all the aspects that he could to be a total soldier. He took care of his troops, sometimes at his own career expense. This is the thing that I most admired about him as his father was an enlisted man in the Navy. He sought my council many times when dealing with a situation with some of his enlisted troops. He took care of the good people and weeded out the dirtbags. Performance is what he looked for, and he would assist anyone to reach that performance, but he needed more time for slackers. He was Rowan; he could take a message to Garcia.
He returned home on the first of July 2005 for three weeks' leave. On returning to Iraq, he had volunteered to train Iraqi troops. Prior to that, he had a safe job inside the wire working the night shift to coordinate operations and retrieve disabled equipment. He didn't go to Iraq for that; he wanted to be where the action was and could be of the best use. He never sent a man to go where he wouldn't or ask anyone to do anything he would not do himself. .......

Just six short weeks after reentering Iraq, Tom was killed by a single sniper bullet at about 8:30 pm Iraqi time on 31 August 2005. He was with the men he was training to search for insurgents they had intel that they were in a house known to them. He went to the second floor and was singled out because of his 6ft 3in frame and an officer. He died on the scene after heroic efforts to save his life. The past year has been a roller coaster of emotions as the first events came and went. The first Christmas missed, was his birthday, his daughter's birthday, Mother's Day, and Father's Day. We have tried to fill in and do the things he would have done for his two daughters. We don't try or would want to take his place. We are trying to fund a scholarship in his name at VMI.

Patrick our youngest is still serving at Fort Lewis, WA with his wife and daughter. They are expecting a son in October. This will be our first grandson. He was going to get out last December, but after his brother got killed, he decided to stay in for a while. Patrick was promoted to Captain in March 2006 and wears bars that were worn by Tom.

Jennie our daughter is still serving in the Navy Reserves. She is an E5 and has just taken the advancement exam of E6. She is deploying to Germany in October for one year to work in the hospital where the wounded from Iraq and Afghanistan are medevac'd. She is a hospital corpsman and a surgical tech. She is also studying to be a registered nurse. When she gets done with that she will be commissioned.