thedrifter
10-02-06, 05:08 PM
MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII(Sept. 22, 2006) -- After being injured in Iraq, Marines who are assigned to Marine Corps Base Hawaii were sent back here to recover. For one Marine assigned to Combat Service Support Group 3, going home wasn’t on the agenda.
“The Army surgeon gave me the option to stay in Iraq or to go back home,” said Cpl. Jimmy, W. Miller, radio operator. “I chose to stay, because I couldn’t leave the unit that I was assigned to. Me and the guys in my platoon have been through so much that I couldn’t just leave them.”
Miller deployed to Iraq in February, where he was assigned as a gunner to a patrol scout platoon. His job for that platoon changed from radio operator to lead scout who was responsible for looking for improvised explosive devices.
Miller said, “We went ahead of the patrols and convoys and looked for them so they wouldn’t run into them. We don’t disable them like EOD (explosive ordinance disposal). All we do is identify them.”
Three months into his tour in Iraq, on Memorial Day, Miller said that he and his fellow Marines came across what appeared to be an IED.
“I looked through my ACOG (advance combat optical gun sight) and didn’t see any wires,” said the 20-year-old. “When I grabbed my binoculars to get a better look, that’s when it went off.”
Miller said the blast threw him against the turret of the Humvee he was in and knocked him out. When he came to, he felt pain on the entire left side of his body. That’s when he realized that he had been hit.
“I was in the vehicle and my gunnery sergeant was going around asking everybody if they were alright,” said the Madison, Ala. native. “It was then that I learned that I couldn’t respond, no matter how much I tried. That’s when he and a lance corporal pulled me out of the vehicle.”
Miller sustained a broken knuckle and had shrapnel on the left side of his body from the elbow down, including a piece that went in between his fingers, hitting a major artery. He spent two weeks in intensive care, where he was given the option to come back to Marine Corps Base Hawaii.
Although injured, it didn’t sway his commitment to the Corps or deploying to Iraq.
Miller, who joined the Marine Corps in September 2004, said he found out that his unit was deploying to Iraq, just three days before completing the Hawaii Combined Arms Exercise.
“I was excited when I found out I was going to Iraq,” he said. “My wife wasn’t as excited as me, though, because I had just spent a month out in the field, came home for a month, then left again for seven months.
“She had just gotten here, too,” he continued. “We had just gotten married, and she finally came to the island two months before I left for HCAX. She was very upset when I told her I was going to Iraq.”
Although he was injured on his first tour in Iraq, Miller said it would not sway him from returning for another tour.
“I loved being out there and doing my job,” he said. “It was exciting for me, because I didn’t know what to expect. Now that I know what it’s like to be out there, I would definitely go again.”
Ellie
“The Army surgeon gave me the option to stay in Iraq or to go back home,” said Cpl. Jimmy, W. Miller, radio operator. “I chose to stay, because I couldn’t leave the unit that I was assigned to. Me and the guys in my platoon have been through so much that I couldn’t just leave them.”
Miller deployed to Iraq in February, where he was assigned as a gunner to a patrol scout platoon. His job for that platoon changed from radio operator to lead scout who was responsible for looking for improvised explosive devices.
Miller said, “We went ahead of the patrols and convoys and looked for them so they wouldn’t run into them. We don’t disable them like EOD (explosive ordinance disposal). All we do is identify them.”
Three months into his tour in Iraq, on Memorial Day, Miller said that he and his fellow Marines came across what appeared to be an IED.
“I looked through my ACOG (advance combat optical gun sight) and didn’t see any wires,” said the 20-year-old. “When I grabbed my binoculars to get a better look, that’s when it went off.”
Miller said the blast threw him against the turret of the Humvee he was in and knocked him out. When he came to, he felt pain on the entire left side of his body. That’s when he realized that he had been hit.
“I was in the vehicle and my gunnery sergeant was going around asking everybody if they were alright,” said the Madison, Ala. native. “It was then that I learned that I couldn’t respond, no matter how much I tried. That’s when he and a lance corporal pulled me out of the vehicle.”
Miller sustained a broken knuckle and had shrapnel on the left side of his body from the elbow down, including a piece that went in between his fingers, hitting a major artery. He spent two weeks in intensive care, where he was given the option to come back to Marine Corps Base Hawaii.
Although injured, it didn’t sway his commitment to the Corps or deploying to Iraq.
Miller, who joined the Marine Corps in September 2004, said he found out that his unit was deploying to Iraq, just three days before completing the Hawaii Combined Arms Exercise.
“I was excited when I found out I was going to Iraq,” he said. “My wife wasn’t as excited as me, though, because I had just spent a month out in the field, came home for a month, then left again for seven months.
“She had just gotten here, too,” he continued. “We had just gotten married, and she finally came to the island two months before I left for HCAX. She was very upset when I told her I was going to Iraq.”
Although he was injured on his first tour in Iraq, Miller said it would not sway him from returning for another tour.
“I loved being out there and doing my job,” he said. “It was exciting for me, because I didn’t know what to expect. Now that I know what it’s like to be out there, I would definitely go again.”
Ellie