Students honor service of vets on Nov. 11

As the country honored those who served the country, it remembered the individuals who helped shape and protect America in years past. Vernon Miller Jr. and Steve Yackley are among those whose service continues to be remembered and appreciated.

Miller, a former member of the Army, served in Germany after training as a combat soldier headed for Korea. Only nine of the 340 soldiers in his unit had their orders changed while they were already on the front lines—Miller included. The nine were reassigned to Germany, though the reason remains unclear.

“I don’t know why they changed the orders to this day,” Miller said. “Although, all nine of us qualified expert on the rifle.”

Yackley, who grew up as an Army brat, later served as an infantryman himself. He deployed three times—to Wardak, Afghanistan; Baghdad, Iraq; and Kandahar, Afghanistan.

“Being able to be deployed multiple times and to fully do the job that I had signed up for was one of the things I’m most proud of in my service,” Yackley said.

While Miller served in Germany with the selected nine, half of the soldiers who remained in Korea were killed.

“I was one of the lucky ones,” Miller said. “When we got to Germany, every three months we had to guard the borders, and we were a mile from Russia.”

Some moments stand out with lasting clarity, offering a glimpse into one of Yackley’s defining memories from his time in the Army.

“My most memorable experience is surely the first firefight I got into in a remote village,” Yackley said. “We ended up having to call for our sister platoon to reinforce us so we could get out, and we fought together for 11 kilometers. We got the mission done, but with many injured men. It showed me how important training and practice really are.”

Serving in the Army didn’t just change Miller’s life—it changed it for the better.

“When I had 30 days of leave left, everybody went to Holland on vacation,” Miller said. “We walked into an ice cream bar on the first of April, and there were three girls in there who did women’s hair. I told my buddy I was going to take one of them home with me, so I had to stay an extra year. A week later, I married her. One of the best things that ever happened to me.”

Yackley was already married when he deployed, and in 2010 he and his wife, Teri, welcomed twin daughters.

“Being away from my wife was a big challenge,” he said. “She is very tough and super supportive. When we had Claire and Hannah, that made it harder for sure. Otherwise, it was a really great experience.”

Miller also learned lessons he never forgot—particularly after two close calls involving nervous soldiers from Chicago.

“He dropped a bomb on me, and the pin was already pulled,” Miller said. “I had to get out of the pit, and somehow the sergeant got it up in the air. Everyone dropped to our knees. We got hit with shrapnel on our backs, but nobody was hurt.”

A second encounter happened when another soldier mishandled a bazooka.

“Another guy from Chicago dropped a big bazooka,” Miller said. “If you can shoot it accurately, it goes 50 feet.”

Yackley said many of the lessons he learned in the military still guide him today.

“There is no substitute for hard work and commitment,” he said. “It is your job every day to show up and do the absolute best you can. I bring that approach with me every day, and it has been the single biggest factor in my career success after the Army. I may not be the smartest one in the room, but I’m going to be hard to outwork.”

Serving in the military also shaped how Yackley sees the world.

“I was able to gain an immense amount of perspective and experience in a short amount of time,” he said. “That has reshaped how I approach everything else in my life. I know that I am capable of so much more than you would learn without having the same experiences.”