Heroes come home: Batallion return bittersweet for Miller family

To the sound of motorcycle engines revving, horns blaring and family and friends cheering and applauding, a contingent of more than 100 soldiers from the 158th Infantry Battalion returned to Phoenix March 27 from Afghanistan.

For one Ahwatukee Foothills family, however, the return was bittersweet. David and Maria Miller, the stepfather and mother of 2006 Desert Vista High School graduate Pfc. Mykel Miller, came to honor their fallen son and his comrades along with members of Mykel's motorcycle club, the Devil Riders.

"It's great to see the support," David Miller said of the Patriot Guard and Devil Riders, who lined the tarmac waving American flags and saluting the soldiers who had come home. "I think my wife and I are going to join the Patriot Guard because of what they do. They have a bigger purpose than I ever imagined."

Eyes red from the tears of emotional reunions with some of Mykel's fellow soldiers and embraces with family and friends who had come, David said the day was an emotional roller-coaster.

"It's very difficult to see everyone else come in and not see our son," he said.

Miller was killed Sept. 6 during a security patrol in Zabul Province when his Humvee rolled over an improvised explosive device. Miller's death was the second the battalion had faced, having lost Florence native Charles Browning, as well as suffering injuries to 24 of the battalion's men during their deployment.

Mykel's fellow motorbike enthusiasts, the Devil Riders, were on hand not only to honor Mykel's memory, but to pay tribute to the returning and departing soldiers serving in the military.

"It's not just Mykel, we have a lot of soldiers over there," said club president Jerry Fisher of the high number of soldiers who are members of the Devil Riders.

One of those, James Schulz, has returned once from a tour in Iraq and is scheduled to depart anytime for an additional tour. He said seeing the soldiers come home, while knowing there were those like Mykel who hadn't, was difficult in the face of his own pending departure.

"The experience is mixed, because you are leaving your friends and family behind," Schulz said. "As close as we are, it's almost like a family in our motorcycle club."

Schulz said that same family atmosphere applies to the camaraderie shared by those in the military overseas, something that showed through with Miller's compatriots.

"I would like to add to your story that this young man was a great soldier, citizen and friend," wrote 1st Sgt. Donald Robertson from Afghanistan shortly before Miller's funeral in Phoenix, Sept. 18. "He will never be forgotten."

The 158th is made up of soldiers from across the state and the Valley, including Chandler, Phoenix and Ahwatukee Foothills, and a portion of the battalion's 600 soldiers returned home from their one-year deployment Thursday. The remainder will come home in phases during the coming days and weeks.

For Ahwatukee resident Danielle Gonzalez, the wife of the battalion's ranking officer, Lt. Col. Alberto Gonzalez, she was grateful to see the troops come home.

"As soon as they hit American soil I could not worry anymore," she said. "I'm so proud of all the guys. This has got to be the hardest (deployment) because it was the longest and most dangerous.

"When the first guy was killed, it made this thing very real."

Gonzalez, unlike most who had gathered at the Air National Guard's refueling wing at Sky Harbor Airport, had several days of waiting left in store as her husband would be one of the last in the battalion to arrive back in Phoenix. While difficult, she said she felt a sense of relief knowing this return for her husband was for good.

"He's been through Desert Storm and Kosovo before," she said, noting that each return involved "every emotion you can imagine."

The Afghani deployment of Gonzalez and others in the 158th earned them international fame in February when Black Hawk helicopters carrying Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) and Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) were forced to make an emergency landing under blizzard-like conditions far from a secure U.S. base. The 158th, nicknamed the "Bushmasters" rode to the rescue of the senators, who each wrote the unit a letter of gratitude and commendation upon their return to the United States.

"Thank you for getting us out of the mountains, but more important, thank you for everything you do, every day, to keep our country secure and free," Biden wrote. "Welcome home."

The 600-plus soldier deployment for the 158th was the largest Arizona National Guard single-unit deployment since World War II. During their time in Afghanistan, those soldiers, coupled with the 100 Hawaiian National Guardsmen, who rounded out the battalion, earned 10 Bronze Stars with valor devices, 33 Army Commendation medals with valor devices, 60 Bronze Stars, 23 Meritorious service medals, 410 Army Commendation medals and 26 Purple Hearts.