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Seasoned Vet
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Issue Date: November 03, 2003
Guardsman earns Silver Star for actions at Roberts Ridge
12-year veteran, pararescueman is latest honored for battle
By Bruce Rolfsen
Times staff writer
The military’s third highest honor — the Silver Star — will be presented Nov. 1 to an Air National Guardsman for his service in Afghanistan during what has become known as the Battle for Roberts Ridge.
Tech. Sgt. Keary Miller, a 12-year Air Force veteran, is a pararescueman assigned to the 123rd Special Tactics Squadron in Louisville, Ky., a component of the Kentucky Air National Guard and the Air Force Special Operations Command.
Among those expected to travel to Louisville for the presentation are Air Force Secretary James Roche and Army Gen. Bryan D. Brown, head of U.S. Special Operations Command, who also will serve as the ceremony’s keynote speaker.
The Battle for Roberts Ridge saw some of most intense fighting of Operation Anaconda, which happened in the first year of Operation Enduring Freedom. By day’s end, seven servicemen lost their lives and several more were wounded.
“You’re not so much concerned about yourself as you are your buddies,” Miller told a National Guard writer months after the battle. “You never think you’ll be the one to get hit. I never thought they were going to hit me. I just did my job.”
Miller is the latest serviceman to be recognized for his performance at Roberts Ridge. In a series of ceremonies at Air Force and Army bases held over the past 14 months, about two dozen troops — from fighter aircrews to Army Rangers have been honored for their heroism that day.
Two Air Force Crosses were awarded posthumously — one to Miller’s partner that day, pararescueman Senior Airman Jason Cunningham of Moody Air Force Base, Ga., and one to Tech. Sgt. John Chapman, a combat controller from Pope Air Force Base, N.C., who was assigned to a SEAL team.
In the predawn hours of March 4, 2002, Miller was part of an Army and Air Force quick-reaction team given the mission of finding a missing Navy SEAL. Petty Officer Neil Roberts had fallen from a helicopter that was under attack at Takhur Ghar mountain during the opening hours of Operation Anaconda.
Miller was the senior medical person aboard an Army MH-47 Chinook that carried 21 crew members and passengers.
As the MH-47, call sign Razor 1, neared the ridgeline, it was raked with machine-gun fire and rocket-propelled grenades. One grenade struck the rear tail rotor, knocking Razor 1 to the ground.
The soldiers and airmen had little time to react. Small-arms fire continued to rain in on the helicopter for hours. Four Rangers immediately were killed, and the two pilots and a gunner were injured.
The number of wounded would grow in the 15 hours of fighting that followed.
Miller, Cunningham and an Army medic began treating the injured inside the helicopter while the soldiers went on the offensive, moving up the ridgeline toward an al-Qaida bunker where the enemy was firing on them. But enemy mortar rounds were landing within 100 yards of the helicopter. Concerned Razor 1’s hulk was too attractive a target, Miller decided to move the wounded outside.
The Ranger’s ammo supply was depleted as the day wore on. At one point, Miller grabbed an aircrew member and took bullets and 40mm grenades off the dead and wounded and rushed them to the soldiers engaged in the fierce firefight.
“The way they went across open danger areas several times to get more bullets and to assist was incredible,” Staff Sgt. Gabe Brown, a combat controller at the battle, told Air Force Times in 2002.
The Razor 1 team got much-needed help from Air Force jets flying danger-close airstrikes and later a team of 10 Rangers who had struggled up the mountain.
As the Americans fighters appeared to have gained the upper hand, Miller began getting ready for a medical evacuation. He found a flat landing zone about 250 feet from the helicopter. But as the wounded were moved toward the landing zone, the al-Qaida renewed their fire, striking Cunningham and the Army medic.
Navy and Air Force jets continued attacking al-Qaida positions. But still no one was willing to risk calling in an evacuation flight for fear that helicopters would be lost.
Miller’s new enemies were evening cold and time. Insulation from the helicopter was ripped out to help keep the injured from suffering hypothermia. But time and loss of blood were claiming the life of Cunningham.
Shortly after sunset and with the cover darkness, Army helicopters arrived to fly out the wounded.
Bruce Rolfsen can be reached at (703) 750-8647 or brolfse@atpco.com.
------------------------------------------------------------ Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results. ------------------------------------------ 
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OIF Veteran
 
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GO GUARD![thumbUp]
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Trooper
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| It's about time this HOOAH was recognized for his service! Outstanding job PJ!!!
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