Oregon Public Broadcasting

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been keeping tabs on the Millers, a military family in Eugene that’s been sorely tested by the war in Iraq.

Brian Miller is an Army veteran who answered the call to service, traveling three times to Iraq.

Now Brian, his wife Laural, and their five kids are homeless, living in a travel trailer, trying to rebuild. April Baer has the final installment of our series, Portrait of a Military Family.

The Millers have moved around a lot in the military.  Laural says she didn’t necessarily expect to be back in her home town again. But here she is, driving around the quiet streets of Eugene.

Laural Miller “It’s the place where you always come back to. When you’re 19, 20, you can’t wait to get out, but when you get older, you remember how good it is to grow up here.”

Laural’s mom Kiernan O’Rourke-Phipps is picking up three of the five Miller kids on a Friday afternoon. They're planning some quality time.

Kiernan O’Rourke-Phipps:  “We’re going over to our place, and have chili on baked potatoes and pie...“

Lathan: “I got new shoes!

Kiernan O’Rourke-Phipps: “...and watch the Last Mimzy. So are you guys hungry?”

Laural likes that the kids are getting to know their grandmother. She likes the schools they’re attending. But the road that brought them here was not one most parents would choose.

Early this summer, Laural and her husband Brian were fighting a lot, worn down by his three deployments to Iraq.

Neither one of them was working. The adjustable rate mortgage they’d taken on during one of Brian’s deployments had become unmanageable, and the bank foreclosed.

Back when Brian was on combat duty, the family’s financial standing was pretty good.  He earned his pay, plus a rations allowance, a housing stipend and hazard pay. But after he retired, his income shrank by about two thirds. 

Then came another nasty shock: because of a bureaucratic quirk, Brian’s disability payment is deducted from his pension. That brings their monthly check to $1400 per month.

The money troubles were compounded by the medical problems they were dealing with-- like Brian's PTSD and Laural's nervous breakdown.

Laural Miller: “And I thought, why don’t we just take--forget about all that. Walk away from it all, and heal.”

So in July, the family did what to them seemed like the natural thing. They left their rental in Olympia, Washington, bought a twenty-four foot travel trailer, and hit the road, driving south.

Laural Miller: “My mother was really—she was horrified at the get go about the idea of us traveling across the country.”

Kiernan O’Rourke-Phipps.   “I got off the phone, and it all sounded really plausible at first, until I said wait a minute. The other term for this is 'homeless'.  And I was just, 'Oh God no,' alright do they have enough money to do this? I’m sending them stuff, now don’t take those back country roads up in the mountains, Crater Lake still under snow, don’t go there!”

Actually, Laural's mom, Kiernan didn’t really have to worry. The Millers’ didn’t get very far.

Brian Miller  “We got like to mile marker sixty in Washington, and the fuel pump went out."

Laural Miller    “Nothing ever happens while he’s driving, it’s while I’m driving. I said Brian, I’m pressing on the gas and we’re not going anywhere!”

April Baer  “Do you remember what went through your mind?”

Brian Miller: “It’s going to be a long trip.”

Even after their truck was running again, the Millers found the trip was growing pricier with every RV park stop.

Laural Miller: “It was very expensive, it was $72 for two nights, because they charge you five dollars for every person over two people. With five children we were done from the get-go.”

After getting as far as Ashland and spending two weeks with friends there, the Millers drove back up to Eugene.

Brian could get access to the local VA office and they hoped, the kids could  have a more stable life.

Laural’s relationship with her family has been rocky at times, but her mother Kiernan has been around enough to know how much the family went through when Brian was in Iraq--especially Laural.

Kiernan O’Rourke Phipps: “What I was seeing was her stress building. When Brian was gone or about to go, her stress level would go through the roof. I was worried for the kids, I was worried for her, I was worried for Brian.”

The stress that military families deal with is not new. But the plight of former military families, like the Millers, is not nearly as well-understood.

Benjamin Karney:  “One thing that is undoubtedly true is  the military is -- with respect to families -- a relatively supportive environment.”

Benjamin Karney is a researcher at UCLA who’s done sociological studies about families under stress. He says, of course, military deployments take a huge toll.

Benjamin Karney: “On the other hand, there are also compensations in the military, that are not available to civilians. When military families are separated they get paid more. When couples stay married, they get housing subsidies, health care, child care -- the best child care in the nation is provided by the U.S. military.”

Going from this totally structured environment, into the messy, unstructured civilian world means re-learning practically every facet of life.

As much as the war almost tore the Millers apart, it probably also did some things to hold them together -- at least in the short term.

I asked Laural’s mom, Kiernan, if she thought Brian and Laural reached a turning point when they became homeless.

Kiernan O’Rourke Phipps: "Yeah, but which direction? That’s what I don’t know.   Do I agree with very choice they’ve made? No way. But it wasn’t my life. They’re adults. How perfect do they have to be? Just because they’re in the military, they’re going to be infinitely wise and smart and not make any poor choices about housing? No! They’re under more stress, not less!”

It’s been almost two years since Brian Miller came home from his final tour of duty in Iraq. And Kiernan says she sees no sign of that stress lifting any time soon. 

We got help reporting this series from our Public Insight Network .  People in the Public Insight Network are helping us cover the news by sharing their knowledge and experience.   If you'd like to contribute your knowledge, go to our web site - opb.org/publicinsight.