Army Staff Sgt. Robert James Miller was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for protecting his Operational Detachment Alpha teammates in the Nari District of Kunar Province, Afghanistan. He was fatally shot while diverting gunfire from Taliban forces during the action in January 2008, which allowed his fellow soldiers to escape.
Miller was the youngest member of his unit, the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group.
Obama presented the award to Miller’s family in October 2010. “When the dust settled and the smoke cleared ... five members of his patrol had been wounded, but his team had survived,” he said. “Devotion to duty. An abiding sense of honor. A profound love of country. These were the virtues that found their ultimate expression when Rob ... met his testing point.”
