HUNTSVILLE, AL (WAFF) -
Charles Miller served 26 years in the Army, but leaving his uniform behind hasn't stop him from playing an important part in the U.S. military presence overseas. In just over a week, he'll be going back to Afghanistan for a second civilian deployment. Army leaders asked him to return to his post as the night battle captain for the 401st Army Field Support Brigade.
"Regardless of if it's hard on me or not, I'm helping soldiers do their job which makes my life better," Miller said.
In 2006, Miller went on his last military deployment to Iraq. He led a team of U.S. soldiers conducting hostage rescues. They lived in a safe house among Iraqi Special Police forces.
"There were 11 of us with about 150 or more Iraqi Police," said Miller. "Our lives depended on them."
It turns out, though, the house was anything but safe.
"It came out that the people we were working with were crooked," Miller said.
One night on a hostage rescue mission, they were ambushed. With explosions and small arms fire going off, more than 100 Iraqi Police officers laid down in a ditch, leaving the 11 Americans to fend off the attack. Miller said the Iraqis didn't shoot or get shot. Their excuse later was that they had bad bullets.
"I put a lot of blame on myself for it. Just things on the mission didn't feel right, and I kept following orders and doing what I was told to do even though it didn't feel right to me," he said.
After returning home, Miller didn't feel the relief you might expect. He missed the fast-paced life of theatre and working with soldiers. That's why he signed up for his first civilian deployment.
"I didn't know if going to Afghanistan would help me get closure, but it did," Miller said.
Miller will be gone for one year and hopes the financial benefits of deployment will help him buy a home for his parents.
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Miller poses for a photo with the Iraqis who eventually turned on his team.
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