By Cliff White 

Staff Writer

Progress.

That is the word Buxton’s Stephen Miller, a soldier on his third tour of duty in a war zone, uses to describe the situation on the ground in Iraq.

“Sometimes we’re surprised ourselves when we see our progress from where we were a year ago,” Miller says. 

The 37-year-old major in the Army’s 1^st Cavalry Regiment, 2^nd Infantry Battalion, is a man who believes in his mission while recognizing its complexities. He refuses any oversimplification of the conflict, instead using terms like “kinetic operations,” “inadvertent consequences” and “non-conventional war” with similar ease as General David Petraeus giving a news conference. 

At the same time, Miller is simply devoted to his fellow soldiers – the reason he has stayed in the Army.

“I’ve got the utmost respect for these kids, knowing when they volunteered at age 18 they would end up in a war somewhere in this part of the world,” Miller says. “These kids aren’t here for the money. They’re here to be soldiers. The number of reenlistments we’ve done over the past month or so is a testament to that.

“These guys could easily get out and with their experiences here could easily set themselves up with a job that’s less intrusive to their lives, pays better, and provides a whole lot less heartache. But they’re standing up because they see what they’re doing means something – they’ve involved in something important, and bigger than themselves,” he says.

Miller, born and raised in Buxton and a 1987 graduate of Bonny Eagle High School, joined the Army in 1993.

“The life – moving every couple of years – was a little bit difficult to get used to, but now it’s my life and I have been doing this for so long that it has become my mindset,” he says.

Miller served in Haiti in the mid-1990s, spent three years in Korea, one tour of duty in Afghanistan and is currently on his second tour of duty in Iraq. His experience as a career soldier and his subsequent travels abroad have helped him cope with the situation in Iraq, he says.

“For young soldiers it’s a little bit more difficult to deal with the degree of poverty and the trials of everyday existence in this part of the world,” Miller says. “There is a period where they have to get stabilized here before we get started with the work that needs to be done.”

What that work entails is constantly changing to fit the circumstances of Iraq’s evolving situation, Miller says. Miller’s unit is based in Forward Operating Base Warhorse, in Baqubah, the capital of the Diyala Province, northeast of Baghdad. A major transition in the area where Miller’s unit is serving has been Diyala’s evolution from a kinetic situation – or active battleground involving frequent fighting with insurgents – to a mainly non-kinetic one, Miller says.

“A year ago we were fighting daily in multiple locations,” Miller says. “Today, there has been a vast reduction in direct-fire attacks, indirect fire attacks and IEDs (improvised explosive devices), to the degree that we are now moving with members of the provincial reconstruction team and escorting State Department employees and contractors into villages and towns that a year ago would have been unthinkable.”

Miller says his unit provides protection for those who are helping to rebuild Iraq’s infrastructure – what he identifies as a vital part of the United States’ plan in the region and country.

“Now that the area is secure, businesses are starting to open back up. There are the beginnings of the refunctioning of society here. We’re pushing city and county governments to stand back up and be effective, and we’re getting to the point now where Iraqis are fixing Iraqi problems,” Miller says.

Miller defines “the enemy” as “those elements that do not want to see Iraq become a stable society.”

He rejects the idea American forces are entrenched in a defensive stalemate.

“We’re not in a defensive posture – we’re 100 percent offensive focused,” he says. “We don’t take a town and assume a defensive posture. We continue to push past the village and push the enemy out. The space we provide between the extremists and the population center is how we provide that security that is necessary for the towns to feel safe enough to begin the work of rebuilding.”

Miller refuses to speculate on how long Americans will remain in Iraq.

“It’s a fair question, but it’s above my pay grade,” he says. “Way above my pay grade. All I can tell you is what it looks like from my foxhole, which is that we have made substantial progress, if progress is defined as reducing violence. Is there concern the progress we’ve made may revert back to what we saw a year ago? It’s possible, yes. But at that point, it will be up to the Iraqis to stand up and help insure that does not happen.”

Miller did predict a continuation of what he called “spectacular attacks” – events such as suicide bombings with high rates of casualties which make world news headlines.

“The press coverage they buy the enemy seems to have turned them into a frequently-used tool in the enemy’s kit,” Miller said. “But levels of direct fire attacks, IEDs, even the number of suicide bombings, have all decreased.”

Miller says Iraq occupies a different era in warfare, in which one wrong move by a common soldier can instantly become of major importance in the entire war effort.

“We constantly have to be thinking that at any time we could do something even inadvertently which could hit the news cycle in a matter of minutes and have repercussions at the national leadership level,” Miller says. “We try and put ourselves in a position where that won’t happen, but you can’t guard against it all the time.”

While the military is on new ground in regard to its operations, Miller says he and his fellow soldiers have found common ground with the needs and desires of the Iraqi people.

“I’ve found the Iraqi mothers and fathers are not that different from the mothers and fathers in the U.S.,” Miller says. “I think if you went down by Tory Hill, to Weymouth Park, and asked a bunch of parents what their primary concern is, they’re more than likely going to say its the education of their children and ensuring their children have a better quality of life than the one they have.

“I have conversations all the time with locals here in Baqubah and they have the same concerns,” Miller says. “They’re worried about their safety, about their economic situation and most of all, they worry about their children’s futures.”