The Veterans Sound Off Podcast
On each episode of the show we will travel across the State of Mississippi and visit each American Legion Post and discover how the members there are still serving America in their communities.
The Veterans Sound Off Podcast
Combat, Cards & Coffee: How One Woman Won Peace
Navy Chief Debbie Miller never does anything by halves. Whether it's convincing her husband to join the Navy with her at age 34, playing cards with enemy faction bodyguards in war-torn Bosnia, or creating innovative virtual "mess meetings" for her American Legion post, her story exemplifies the resourcefulness and dedication of America's veterans.
In this captivating conversation with host Jerry Allhands at the American Legion Department of Mississippi Convention, Miller shares remarkable stories from her 24-year naval career that took her from Sarajevo to Kosovo, Germany, Hawaii, and ultimately England. Her vivid recounting of serving as the lone American attached to a British intelligence unit during the Bosnian conflict reveals how creative problem-solving and human connection can transcend language barriers and political divisions, even in combat zones.
Miller's post-military journey proves equally inspiring. After retiring as an E7 Chief in 2010, she earned her history degree from Southern Mississippi and dove headfirst into American Legion service. Now the incoming District 7 Commander, she bridges generational gaps by embracing technology to reach younger veterans through virtual meetings with former shipmates scattered worldwide.
Her perspective on military service reflects both profound patriotism and practical wisdom: "If you did your job, the sky's the limit." For women considering military careers, her experiences offer powerful encouragement about the opportunities available to those willing to serve with dedication and creativity.
Ready to hear more stories of veteran resilience and service? Subscribe to the Veterans Sound Off Podcast and join our community of listeners passionate about honoring those who've served our nation.
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This is the Veterans Sound Off Podcast.
Jonathan Michael Fleming:Hard, work, work. Let's get it going. Let's go Hard work work.
Jerry Allhands:I'm your host, jerry Allhands, a veteran of the US Air Force and US Army. I'm a past Department of Mississippi Commander of the American Legion and a paid-up-for-life member of the VFW. Each week, I invite you to join me as we visit with members of our veteran families and other groups and organizations that support military veterans. This week, I attended the American Legion Department of Mississippi's annual convention, held in historic Natchez Mississippi. It was in the Natchez Convention Center, where the coffee was always hot and the people were great.
Jerry Allhands:Hey, speaking of coffee, this series is made possible by the generous gifts and sponsorships of people just like you. This series is made possible by the generous gifts and sponsorships of people just like you. If you'd like to sponsor an ad in this series, please call 662-902-6658. Or you can become a sponsor simply by clicking on the Sponsor the Show button and you can make a donation on our page where it says Sponsor the Show. Hey, we really appreciate your help in making this program possible. I like that. We are at the American Legion Department Convention in Natchez, mississippi and talking with our local veterans today, and I have the distinct privilege of talking with a female veteran today and I'm going to ask you to please identify yourself and what position you might hold with the American Legion.
Debbie Miller:Okay, my name is Debbie Miller and I am my post-adjutant, and I am also the incoming District 7 commander. For the last five or six years, I was the district executive committeeman, with the exception of two years when my husband took it over for me to finish my degree or get my degree. So that's who I am.
Jerry Allhands:Now, what post number is that?
Debbie Miller:That's post 76, liberty Mississippi.
Jerry Allhands:Liberty Mississippi? Absolutely. Where's Jerry Clower when I need?
Debbie Miller:him? I don't know, because I think he's in heaven telling jokes to everybody I hope, keeping the Lord smiling.
Jerry Clower:First of all, I want you to know that I come from Route 4, liberty, mississippi. Now, that's 12 miles west of Macomb, mississippi, 65 miles due northeast of Baton Rouge, louisiana, and 116 miles due north of New Orleans, louisiana. It was there that I first saw the light of day out, at Amitt County, september the 28th 1926. I was born there.
Debbie Miller:The funny thing is that if you go into our little drugstore you'll find his coffee cups still there. Oh, it's so sweet because they have the whole row of them. Liberty Mississippi is God's country.
Jerry Allhands:Oh hey, Look, all I can say is Jerry Clower got me through many a long night on guard duty.
Debbie Miller:I know it.
Jerry Allhands:Debbie, tell me about your military experience. I understand that you were thinking about joining the Marine Corps, but you decided to do something better and join the Navy.
Debbie Miller:Well, the thing is I come from a long line of Navy veterans, or at least a short line. My dad was a Navy veteran and when I was nine I tried to join the Navy. The recruiter was really sweet. He talked to me for like three hours and I wanted to join the Navy. The recruiter was really sweet. He talked to me for like three hours and I wanted to join. I wanted to sign up right then and he said you've got to come back when you're older. My program that I wanted was Navy nurse. That's what I wanted. So he said, well, gave me a business card which I looked at recently. Still have it Still have it.
Debbie Miller:I still have it. Still have it, I still have it. He wrote a famous Navy quote that's on every evaluation, when you're halfway decent, very motivated individual. I asked her to come back when she was 22. So he took all day almost with me. I never forgot that, except that I waited till I was 34.
Debbie Miller:Never was a nurse yet, but I joined the Navy at 34 and originally joined the Reserves, and so I joined in March 10th 1988. And at the same time he my husband, who was in the Navy prior, because I was a Navy wife to begin with. He had been in eight years and he did not want to join the Navy anymore. But the recruiter, he was lying to me. I was so shocked. He said I'm only recruiting couples, you've got to go get your husband.
Debbie Miller:So I kept going home for like two years telling my husband how he had to sign up because otherwise I couldn't join. And so finally he was on the 18th hole of the golf course and he called me up one day and he said hey, I'm feeling good today. I said are you? Because I got your paperwork for you to sign up? And he said I'm so tired of hearing this, okay, if you can get the paperwork over to me on the 18th 19th hole, which was the watering hole. If you can get it over here, I'll sign up.
Debbie Miller:So I walked into my boss, who was a Navy supply officer. I said, sir, I need you because Freddie says he'll join now. I need you to swear us in. And the recruiter got all the paperwork. By the time I got to him we were on the 19th hole and I signed, him and us the two of us up under my headlights of my car, and my husband was a little inebriated. So the next morning he said I keep having this dream and I think I might have joined the Navy. Last night I said no dream, sweetheart, we're both in you drill in two weeks.
Debbie Miller:But now he thanks me every time his paycheck gets here because he ended up retiring as a Navy chief, as I did, after 24 years in both of us I got no. 1996 is when I started going full time, and so I went from 96 to 2010. When I retired on December 10, 2010, as an E7 in Molesworth, england, raf Molesworth my husband retired like three years before me and he says don't forget, I'm senior to you all the time. In fact, he begged me not to stay another two years because I was really on a fast track for E8. It's a very good possibility. I was going to get it. So he didn't want me to be senior. So I just thought well, you know, he doesn't ask for much, poor man, I'll retire.
Jerry Clower:So that's what happened with my Navy that close. Oh it was.
Debbie Miller:Oh yeah, but anyway it was great. I had the best Davy career ever. I was a yeoman and that's an admin person Okay To an intel group, so I never left them. They recruited me from the beginning. So my favorite thing to watch are things about CIA and you know and people coming in with lie detector tests.
Debbie Miller:I remember that happening a lot, you know, but that was my thing. So when I retired I went back and got my degree. I had never gotten my degree before, so I got it. When I retired, after we restored a house down in Liberty, I started college for basically the first time and went straight through. Gi Bill was wonderful to me.
Jerry Allhands:No wait now. You got the GI. See, I got the old. We went from the GI Bill to VEEP the. Veterans Education Assistance Program which was the biggest ripoff to me. I used a year of it.
Jerry Clower:I think and financially.
Jerry Allhands:I still kick myself because the GI Bill at the time in the early 80s you could have one or the other.
Debbie Miller:Exactly.
Jerry Allhands:And they pushed the VEAPs hard. You know, for every dollar you gave they would give two or three or whatever. Kids today, young people today in the military, have got it made with the GI Bill and I was actually remember.
Debbie Miller:I was old but I was new, so I'm a Desert Storm Desert. I'm the Middle East Desert Storm.
Jerry Allhands:So you got the new GI Bill, I got the GI Bill, I got the.
Debbie Miller:Gulf War GI Bill. So I had the wonderful one that had the. Oh yeah, absolutely without a doubt, it was a wonderful, wonderful one. My time to be just a little jealous, I know. I mean I graduated from. I did two years at Southwest Community College.
Jerry Allhands:Okay.
Debbie Miller:And then I went on to Southern Miss straight through community college and then I went on to Southern Miss straight through. I'm a history um history major and minor in geography and have my degree as of 2020. Now I kind of blame myself, because not hell didn't freeze over in 2020, but a worldwide COVID outbreak happened, so I didn't get to walk across the stage until 2021.
Jerry Allhands:I did, I stayed okay so you got to go across the stage oh, absolutely.
Debbie Miller:There was only like six of us that stick around and did it yeah but I did it.
Jerry Allhands:Oh, I do too absolutely man, I was talking with our adjunct a while ago and she got her her degree through the community college of the air force back in the day, yes, but I didn't.
Debbie Miller:You know, that's how I did it. And then I joined. Did you want to talk about when I came into the Legion? Yes, please, okay, I came in 13 years ago. I was recruited by Mary Tony.
Jerry Allhands:Our National Executive Committeeman now, yes. Former Department.
Debbie Miller:Commander Right, I mean, I moved to town, we were at an event, somebody had just introduced us as the new people of liberty and we came over from england. I bought a house. I was living eight years in england working as a you know navy chief eight years.
Debbie Miller:That was my last assignment and I came and they, when I opened my, they thought I was supposed to be English and I said no, I'm a New Orleanian. But I found liberty. Somehow. It was inspired, heavenly inspired. And Murray came running up and found out we were both veterans, so he signed us up. So we've been 13 years in.
Jerry Allhands:Yes, so it's all Murray Toney's fault.
Debbie Miller:It's Murray Toney's fault that I got here, and I'm very grateful to him for it.
Jerry Allhands:So has your Legion experience. Has it been the whole time with Liberty?
Debbie Miller:Yes, the post there yes.
Jerry Allhands:How has your experience with the Legion affected your?
Debbie Miller:well, let's just say your life Well. Well, I never lacked for patriotism, because I really have a hard time not crying for a lot of things when things happen, especially because I was in DC within 30 days of the attack. So that whole thing it just kind of reinforced it. And then the four pillars of the American Legion has just been really so. It's just been a great thing. Now we are trying really hard in our post to do more things with the community. But right now we do a Memorial Day program and a Veterans Day program. We do a lot of things with tomorrow and Wednesday we're having a fundraiser for one of our people in town who was burned over 50% of his body and he's not a veteran but he's a community member. So that doesn't have any bearing. But we're doing two different fundraisers this week to help him have any bearing. But we're doing two different fundraisers this week to help him.
Debbie Miller:And Legion is a really wonderful way to go. We've done a lot of recruiting. In fact I have a what would you call it? It's a virtual wing of our unit, of our American Legion post. They're my Navy chiefs and they're all over the world. So we do. We have we call them the mess meetings once a month or when we can get to them, because sometimes we can't. We all get together in all these different time zones. People in England I got like four people still in England. I've got them all over the country. But you have to meet these young folks where they are and they're electronic. So we get on and we do a messenger thing or we'll do a Zoom meetings.
Debbie Miller:So we'll all get up there and we just basically keep in touch with each other. So we're recruiting all the time that way, because that's where people that's what they want to be. They don't want to meet in a meeting with a bunch of 80-year-olds, they want to be. You know, I say that because I'm 71, so my 80-year-olds but I'm getting there.
Debbie Miller:But still they want to. You have to beat people where they are, and so you know we're, we're expanding all the time because they're they're taking in the new chiefs that come in and they go. Hey, you know why don't you do this?
Jerry Allhands:so if somebody wanted to join your post or join your mess meetings how would they do that?
Debbie Miller:well, they would. They would actually. We're on facebook and we're on the Messenger and you could just email me. My email address is DebsMiller D-E-B-S-M-I-L-L-E-R at yahoocom If you wanted to join my group.
Jerry Allhands:Let's do that again, because I'm slow. It's okay, I'm sorry.
Debbie Miller:I've been up a long time today.
Jerry Allhands:Coffee hadn't kicked in yet, has it?
Debbie Miller:No, I only have one cup today. Okay, so it's Debs D-E-B-S Miller. All one word at yahoocom.
Jerry Allhands:Okay.
Debbie Miller:And there's also a group, the mess group is called Mama Chief and that's the messenger group and because that's what I was called in the navy at my last command and my husband was papa chief, so you know, that's what. That's what they named it, mama chief, and that's where we get on and we make appointments and we decide when we're going to get together. And it's great I mean, it wasn't just chiefs, because I've got a bunch of officers who have just joined us too that I was stationed with.
Jerry Allhands:You let officers in the room, absolutely Okay.
Debbie Miller:Because now they're out and we're all equal yes. Let them live it down, yeah we have to, but anyway, that's my story.
Jerry Allhands:Let's pause for a moment to hear from some of the people who have made this series possible. It's like family when you were in the military. We form a bond and you all watch each other.
Speaker 4:That's the same with American Legion.
Jerry Allhands:Every time I come here I meet somebody different.
Jerry Clower:I found the Legion to be welcoming from the time I walked in the door. You need something that guy over.
Jerry Allhands:There is the guy. That guy's an electrician, that guy's a plumber. Oh, you've been having troubles with the VA. That guy knows a good VSO.
Speaker 4:It's been fun. I mean we do a lot of stuff for the community, we do a lot of support, we give out a lot of money. I really like that. We go out and do volunteer work when we can we do. People that are involved are passionate about helping veterans, helping their families and their communities. I don't have family that lives in Anchorage, but the Legion is my family.
Speaker 5:What better way to meet people when you're new to an area and also meet people who have a shared experience with you.
Speaker 5:I think it's an incredible organization and I'm proud to be a member of it and honored and happy because it really serves my joy. To be here Thanksgiving and Christmas and doing walks, I think, is a big impact. Picnics in the summertime, fourth of July, memorial Day it's more family-orientated now. It may sound cheesy but you know, I feel like it's a place to belong. I enjoy the company. I enjoy the mentorship that I get here.
Debbie Miller:Searching for that Brotherhood and I found it here in the Legion and it gives me a sense of security that Brotherhood can't be replaced anywhere else. There's a respect and there's an understanding that we are a group of people that are here for the community, for our veterans and for their families.
Speaker 4:I want to come and get some peace and quiet. Oddly enough it's at the Legion. I'd say that for their families. I want to come and get some peace and quiet. Oddly enough it's at the Legion. I'd say that for many others, it's given a fantastic face to this organization.
Jerry Clower:I learned some very valuable information about what family means to veterans and to each other.
Speaker 5:I feel accepted and people want to know what's going on. I want to know what's going on with them. You feel like you're part of a family, part of a community, and it's really awesome to see the diversity in the room too. I believe we're the future of the American Legion. We want to be out there. We need to be out there. It's exciting.
Jerry Allhands:For more information on joining the American Legion, go to legionorg forward slash, join or call 601-352-4986. Again, that's 601-352-4986.
Speaker 5:Nothing hurts my mom, but she showed anyway.
Debbie Miller:She'd always say you do what you need to do to take care of yourself. But she thought that meant she had to do it on her own.
Speaker 5:We were trained to help others, but there's strength in finding help for yourself too.
Debbie Miller:We're in this together.
Speaker 5:We're in this together. Even the toughest of us might not know where to go to get a little support. Encourage women who have served to learn more about the VA care and benefits they've earned. The VA Women Veterans Call Center connects veterans with personalized information on VA services that can make a difference. Call 1-855-VA-WOMEN or visit wwwwomenshealthvagov.
Speaker 4:You can join in the mission to remember our fallen heroes, honor those who currently serve and their families, and teach younger generations about the value of freedom. A $17 donation to Wreaths Across America sponsors a fresh balsam remembrance wreath. These wreaths have become a symbol of America's respect for those who have served and no longer walk with us. Sponsor a wreath today, Visit wreathsacrossamericaorg or call 877-385-9504.
Jerry Allhands:And now back to our visit with the Department of Mississippi's American Legion Convention in Natchez, Mississippi.
Debbie Miller:But anyway, that's my story. A little strange. I've been married 54 years. I got married at 17. It wasn't supposed to last.
Jerry Allhands:Look at you. Yeah, I know we're going strong. Yeah, yes, so on your military tours, was England it Well?
Debbie Miller:no, no, I started. I went active duty. I ended up with about 14 years of active duty out of the 23 or 24. No, I was stationed in well, my 96th. They sent me to Bosnia, which was a whole lot of fun. 96 they sent me to Bosnia, which was a whole lot of fun. I almost got shot by a Turkish torrent because I was getting pulled in the woods by two Bosnians who had killed the police and they had stolen a car and they had their uniforms on. And I was running down the road with some of the SAS people in our unit and I was training with them and they had promised they weren't going to leave me behind. But I hit this mud puddle and I had a bad knee, so they didn't realize I got left behind, so a no-man-left-behind kind of thing. Well, they were circling back when this police car green and white police car pulled up and these two guys were trying to pull me off into the woods. They had already killed two policemen and so I knew the guys on the Turkish tank.
Speaker 4:Sorry.
Debbie Miller:Yeah, it was Turkey, yes, the Turkish tank. And they screamed to me no, problem, sergeant M. We got him in the sights and I turned around and screamed problem, sergeant M. We got him in the sights and I turned around and screamed no, you'll kill me. They didn't even realize that they were trying, they were just. They didn't know what to do because they couldn't leave their tank. So I stood there and stayed in the mud and one guy was pulling one way, the other was the other way, and I said they're too stupid to kill me, don't worry about it. So then came back the SAS and they came and got me. So that was kind of funny, because my husband had asked me never, please, when you go to Bosnia, don't leave the camp. And I said right, I can't do that. So I was a bodyguard on the third day to the colonel, british colonel. So I've had a lot of adventures in my naval career. So I've had a lot of adventures in my naval career.
Jerry Allhands:The company you were keeping, british Special Air Service which is the special forces of the British Army.
Debbie Miller:Right.
Jerry Allhands:Bosnia-Herzegovina yes, in Sarajevo.
Debbie Miller:I landed at the. If I can tell you one more quick story, at the time I got called from my unit and unit and they said, hey, can you be in Bosnia on Monday, sarajevo on Monday. I said I don't know, can I be on Bosnia on Monday because it's like Friday afternoon. And so he said I think we can get you there. I said, all right, sure I can. I go home and, of course, my husband's having stroke because, see, he never did get mobilized in those last many years and he wanted me to become a cook like him. But I could, you know I did what I was going to be, you know. So anyway, um, I ended up there in, but when I landed I didn't have time to get all my banking stuff in order. This was 96. And I told him, as I was leaving out the door, I'll just use my ATM card until I get everything going right, not thinking clearly.
Debbie Miller:Until I landed at the Sarajevo airport and it was a building. All the glass was gone and it was a metal frame building and I said to myself I can't use this ATM card here anyway. So, and then there was nobody picking me up, because I showed up three days early. So I talked the French Foreign Legion into a ride to my camp, which was called the ARC, the Atlantic Rapid Reaction Team. So I that's how I got there, but I only could speak a few words of French, growing up in New Orleans, enough to make them understand that I needed help. So I'm going through sitting in the back of a deuce and a half, I think they call them because I was Navy and this is a bunch of Army.
Debbie Miller:Well, whatever the foreign Legion is, I was with them and I'm in the back of their equipment holding on while we're hitting the bumps in sarajevo and I'm looking, we write down suicide alley and I'm thinking, okay, if my friends could see me now, because they were telling me not to join to begin with. And so I. That's how. That was my first thing. I never stopped being on active duty, pretty much from the rest of it, wow, my whole time. But I've just had a good bunch of adventures.
Jerry Allhands:That would just about top them all right there. And that was just the beginning.
Debbie Miller:That was the beginning of it. Yeah, it was the beginning.
Jerry Allhands:How long were you in?
Debbie Miller:Bosnia. I was there six months.
Jerry Allhands:Six months.
Debbie Miller:I stayed with them, Okay and oh, and I left. When I left, 55 days into my tour, the last 55 days we were going to be, the Americans were coming to take over the camp and we were at the place where the Olympics were held. That's where we were. Intel was so there were some funny stories about that too like a big old, because they don't have the British are not very shy about things Like in the female dorms they had naked men on the walls in posters. Well, there was one poster that was in a bad position because I couldn't really see it well, so I went to move it and it was a hole about that big in the wall. This was August. It was covering up that big old hole. So I thought, well, I guess I can't enjoy that poster. So I put it back.
Debbie Miller:And then we were all just laughing about my silliness. But you know I'm that's my nature, I'm quite silly. So anyway. But then I had to get used to you walking through departments and they, one guy had a full blown up size of his wife on the wall and it was like audio visual and I thought, okay, well, you, it's a good thing. I'm not like really shy and easily because I'm in another command. Sure, I'm in the Brits, I'm with the Brits, so that was pretty hilarious to me. But there was a lot of things Like you had a. They were out of everything when I got there because it was the end of their tour.
Jerry Allhands:Now you were in the Muslim sector or the Christian sector.
Debbie Miller:No, I was in the Muslim sector, oh my goodness.
Debbie Miller:Yeah, it was Sarajevo section, but the French were supposed to be in charge of us but really I was with the Brits, which we were all together. It was the NIC, so the National Intelligence things, and I was always making up new ones. You know, like the Philip, because it had a big bunch of mailboxes up and it had the GE, the German, no, it was the GE, the G-NIC and all the different NICs. So I started making up new ones. I put the Philippine Islands, it was the picnic you know I just made just to amuse myself when you do a 14-hour shift and you have to do things. So it was always pretty comical. They never knew what I was going to do next to make them laugh.
Debbie Miller:But the last 55 days the incinerator went down. My colonel who I had been his bodyguard, said will you stay behind, since you came in the same day? That I did late because they had been there 18 months, this poor group. So I come in to kind of relieve them. So he said to burn all the, get all the secret documents from everybody and get rid of them in the incinerator. Little did I know that on the second day the incinerator went totally down. The second day the incinerator went totally down and I was up on the roof in a blizzard for 55 days because it snows like crazy there with burning secret documents. I'd already done all the thing and matching everything, so I was burning in a 55-gallon drum everything.
Jerry Allhands:With the mesh grill across the top, right with the thing. Yeah, Right.
Debbie Miller:So you know. But there was hilarious other things about it. One is when he made me the okay, my husband said do not go off the camp. I laughed and said whatever the mission goals, I'm doing Right. He looked at me and shook his head and said say goodbye to your mommy because I'm not sure she's coming back this time. Of course I'm coming back. Well, anyway, the colonel, the British colonel who had just gotten there the same day I did on the same well, the next day. Sorry, is this going?
Jerry Allhands:too long. No, no, you're fine, you're fine.
Debbie Miller:He said he came into his office with all of his British people.
Debbie Miller:It was all his little corpsmen, not corpsmen, corporals and everything. And he said to me to them, I need someone to get the weapons out the armory. And I was the armorer. And he said sign them out. And we got to go out with the factions and you'll meet on the hill with the factions.
Debbie Miller:Nobody got up and so he repeated himself His name he's Colonel Barr. He is a sir now. But anyway, he, he repeated himself, he cleared his throat and nobody, none of them got up. So I looked up at him and I said sir, do you do you would like me to be your body? He said I need a bodyguard and he said. I said do you have an objection to me being your bodyguard? And he said not at all.
Debbie Miller:So I, and of course I had changed, I had put on the board, because when I first arrived the day before the petty officer thing that was in the Navy, they wanted me to go clean all the toilets and I was out ranking everybody. So I became the Sergeant M of the group. It was like no, no, no, I was not his sentient for that, you know. So we took care of that one just by having me become Sergeant M. So he said Sergeant M, I would appreciate it. So I got in the car with him and sat there while they met for like five hours and we had a different location every day. So his first words to me were in the car, as we, as I'm driving. The British, uh, cannot drive themselves. They have to have a, an enlisted person, it's oh, yeah, yeah officers.
Debbie Miller:so he says to me um, I'm really confused by your country. Do you have children? I said I have three and I have a husband. Why would they send you here? And I said well, sir, we don't discriminate against our soldiers, and if that person agrees to do it, they don't just send you home because you're female. They will let you do it. So he said okay, I understand. So the next day when I went out, I decided I was way too bored. So I got a deck of cards and I met the other bodyguards and I brought sandwiches and I gave each one of them a sandwich and taught them how to play 500 Rummy.
Debbie Miller:Oh boy Didn't speak to any of them. None of us spoke English, but one guy had a cooler of drinks and he came with his cooler of drinks. So for the next five and a half months every day I went out. It was such a pleasure to get out of the office, to get out there by the time it was over. The colonel had told me that if they had sent me as the peacekeeper, the war would have been over way before, because we would put our weapon underneath our leg and play cards with each other. They would teach different card games to me and it was really quite. It was amazing, you good, really it was amazing, you know. So at the end he told me that. He told me a really nice thing in my going away party that the country had sent their very best.
Jerry Allhands:Oh yep, and so it begins. Bosnia.
Debbie Miller:Bosnia. Wow, yeah, it did.
Jerry Allhands:Where did you go from Bosnia?
Debbie Miller:From Bosnia I went to. I started going to Europe again I went to I think it was Italy. Next I did. I did Sigonella, I think it was Sigonella.
Jerry Clower:No, yeah, it was.
Debbie Miller:Sigonella Okay, it was Sigonella. And then I did Germany.
Jerry Allhands:Was that your reward for going from Bosnia?
Debbie Miller:No, not really. It really wasn't. It was what I would choose At the beginning. It was me getting to choose.
Jerry Allhands:So my memories of Bosnia are not.
Debbie Miller:Like that.
Jerry Allhands:Somewhat of a pretty country.
Debbie Miller:It was pretty. The people were beautiful, weren't they?
Jerry Allhands:It was Somalia to me was horrible.
Debbie Miller:Oh yeah, I didn't get to go there.
Jerry Allhands:Bosnia. Yeah, yeah, the war itself, you know, was what it was. It was right.
Debbie Miller:Were you there as well, then, I guess. Then I went back to Kosovo. Yeah, okay, okay. So I got to do that one. And then after that, I think Kosovo was 90, I can't remember 91? Yeah, no, not 91. Early 90s. Early 90s. Yes, it was after I'd come back from Bosnia. Then I went to Kosovo briefly. And then I went to Germany afterwards and I was on a Kosovo mission in Stuttgart.
Debbie Miller:Okay, so, that was a reward. I had nine months there and then the next, right after that, I got nine more months in Germany, and let me see what else happened after that. I'm operating on two hours sleep, so I'm a little bit crazy here. But then I did, which is nothing different than what I did in the military operation, because I am a bad insomniac, so you know, this is kind of normal. Okay, then I did Germany and then I did.
Debbie Miller:2004 is when I got this call and they asked me to come to England to do reserve management. So I was like the head hunter I had done that in Stuttgart too. I'd find the people, the intel people that they needed for their different holes in their command. And so I did that in Stuttgart and then I left. And then they immediately called me and asked me to go to Molesworth, which had the same job, and so I asked them how long did they want me? And they said for the rest of your natural life. And I said okay. So at that point I got my husband to retire from his thing, because he said if you go, and I said, if you don't retire from your post office job right now, you will be left behind.
Debbie Miller:Oh, I also did some time in a whole summer from Bosnia. That was my reward. I got sent to Hawaii Hickam Well, not Hickam, it was Camp Smith and worked for this Air Force guy who didn't understand the Navy way. So he was always getting in trouble and he was about to get fired because the sink was, of course, a four-star Navy Sure. So I got brought in. He was the country desk officer for Russia, mongolia, russia and Mongolia. So I did that.
Jerry Allhands:And this is all shortly after the wall has fallen.
Debbie Miller:Oh yeah, oh yeah, the.
Jerry Allhands:Soviet Union has just collapsed. It's become Russia, right? Yes?
Debbie Miller:So it was kind of that was a cool one, because my unit guy who got me that set of orders told me that it had been his college roommate who was about to get fired and he was an Air Force guy, I won't mention any names. He was a nice man but just didn't get it. You know he would like take the thing and he'd march it to the four-star's office, but you know it's like that's not how this works in the Navy. You've got a one-star, two-star, three-star and a four-star. So they got me to and he said you can probably tell him the ropes. Anyway, you might have to because he's about to get fired, so I did that for six months Wow.
Jerry Allhands:Saved his career.
Debbie Miller:I did actually, but he got fired right after I left. It was sad, but then he got sent to the.
Jerry Clower:Pentagon and he was almost killed.
Jerry Allhands:Oh, wow.
Debbie Miller:He was standing. He had just gotten fired by that office and the officer that was talking to him said pack your bags, you got to retire. You can't figure this out, go. So he was walking down the hall bags, you've got to retire. You can't figure this out, go.
Jerry Allhands:So he was walking down the hall and that whole division got blown up.
Debbie Miller:Oh my goodness, yes, man so yeah.
Jerry Allhands:First time in his life he was happy to be fired. Exactly, I can understand that.
Debbie Miller:Okay, wow, yeah, that should be the end of this story.
Jerry Allhands:Let's leave on a good note, debbie. Yes, this is so interesting. We may do this again after you've had another pot of coffee. Just something to eat? Yeah, that would be nice too. Yes, Listen, I really appreciate you so much. Thank you so very much for spending some time with me today Talking to the young women in our audience, who may not be veterans yet, Maybe they're just you know. They're hearing our podcast for the first time and considering joining the military. What would you say?
Jerry Clower:I would say well, you see.
Debbie Miller:I kind of put a plug in for my Navy, because to me they treated we were just treated with such respect. It was wonderful, I mean, if you did your job. If you did your job, the sky's the limit as far as they're concerned. And it was the most I wanted to do it all my life and it was the best thing I ever did, absolutely. And then next best other than my well, first best was my family, but the next best in my career was the Navy and the next thing was joining the American Legion.
Jerry Allhands:We're so glad to have you. What are your future plans for the Legion?
Debbie Miller:Well, it looks like I've moved from executive committeeman to commander, I mean to the District 7 commander. So I guess I'm moving along that way.
Jerry Allhands:We're so glad to have you. As the past department commander myself, I welcome you to the ranks and hope that you'll just keep moving right along and enjoy yourself and being a good mentor to our Legionnaires.
Debbie Miller:Yeah, anything I can do to help, I will certainly do.
Jerry Allhands:Be sure to join me next week for more from the American Legion Department of Mississippi Convention right here in Natchez, mississippi. And don't forget to hit the follow button to subscribe to this podcast and drop us a text message. And, if possible, please consider supporting this show. All the buttons are right here on our page, so don't forget to subscribe, sponsor and leave a text message. Hey, we'll see you next time. On the Veterans Sound Off Podcast, a production of All Hands Media LLC, with offices in Reno, mississippi. All rights reserved.
