Maine soldier hurt in Iraq comes home

ROCKLAND – Sgt. David Miller had part of his right arm torn apart by a bullet fired by an insurgent in Iraq on Easter Sunday, but he still supports the U.S. mission there.

Miller, who returned to Maine on Saturday and expects to recuperate at his mother’s Rockland home for the next month, believes all but 2 percent to 3 percent of Iraqis support the U.S. occupation.

He also thinks most of the attacks directed at U.S. troops are coming from groups who have come into Iraq from Iran, Jordan and Syria.

Miller, 33, has lived in Rockland since he was 9 years old. An Army reservist, he was working at Fisher Engineering in Rockland late last year when he was called to service. He was shipped to Kuwait in January and arrived in Iraq on Feb. 3.

His job there was to drive 18-wheel tanker trucks hauling a specialized diesel fuel from Taji, 30 miles north of Baghdad, to U.S. bases.

“Most of the time, it would be pretty quiet,” he said. “Once in a while someone would take potshots at you. We had the occasional mortar attacks.”

But that changed in late March and early April, as resistance increased.

Improvised explosive devices, activated by remote garage door openers or cell phones, were used to try to destroy vehicles within the convoy of fuel trucks, Miller said. The explosions were timed to divide the convoy, he said.

Miller said American soldiers have no sense of the source of the attacks, noting that 13 groups or tribes have declared war on the U.S. Most locals, including the 2,000 to 3,000 civilians employed on the base where he was stationed, “are very friendly” and “were very happy to have us there.”

On April 9, Miller and his colleagues picked up a load of fuel at a depot and “rolled through a small ambush,” in which they encountered mortar shells, rocket-powered grenades and small-arms fire.

The next day, they were ordered to haul 40,000 gallons of fuel to Camp Faluja, on the opposite side of Baghdad. They waited for a promised armed escort, but it didn’t arrive, so the delivery was postponed until Easter Sunday.

On that Sunday morning, Miller’s outfit was told it didn’t need an escort, “so we rolled out,” with Miller in the passenger seat of a fuel truck.

About a mile and a half outside Baghdad, “I heard a couple of mortar shells hit,” the soldier recalled. Small-arms fire began coming from the left side, he said, and the driver began returning fire.

Miller then opened his half of the folding windshield, and “I started returning fire,” getting off “six or seven bursts.” His “camel back,” a water bag that was hanging near the dashboard, exploded, soaking Miller’s leg.

Then “some of the wet spots turned red,” he said, and Miller realized that a bullet had torn into his arm, exiting on the inside of his right forearm. Ragged flesh and a piece of bone were sticking out, he said.

“Everything began going in slow motion,” Miller said.

The truck stopped and Miller and the driver exited. The driver was shooting, and Miller yelled for him to get medical assistance. Miller then saw three men coming out of bushes at the side of the road, and he was able to aim and fire his weapon, in spite of the wound, killing all three.

“I don’t know how I managed to do it,” he said.

Later, Miller was told that he had continued to fire, hitting close to 30 of a group estimated at 200 to 300 insurgents attacking the convoy. It took other soldiers some time to convince him to put down his weapon, he said.

Miller said he has no memory of this part of the conflict.

After being evacuated to Germany, where he underwent surgery, Miller was flown to an Army hospital in Washington, D.C. He must return there for therapy in a month, but his prognosis for recovery is good.

Miller believes conditions for everyday Iraqis are improving steadily, especially since the capture of Saddam Hussein.

“We’re doing a lot of good work there that’s not being portrayed stateside,” he said, such as returning running water and electricity to Iraqis.