Patrick Miller returns to Western New York with country concert to help veterans

That is the day the Allegany native came face to face with a mass shooter, and was critically wounded by him at Fort Hood, Texas, now known as Fort Cavazos.

“That’s a pivot point, a huge pivot point in my life, and – and everything smells better. Everything tastes better,” he said. “You don’t take for granted, anything.”

That’s the reason behind the Southern Tier Wounded Warrior Benefit Concert next week that grew out of a small fundraiser Miller held just after the Fort Hood attack.

Patrick Miller’s life has changed in many ways since that fateful day.

He and his wife, Ashley, have two children, Harper, almost 7, and Bennett, 2.

Since being stationed at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas, they have been to postings in Kansas City; Hawaii; Fort Drum; Tacoma, Wash.; and Carlisle, Pa., where Miller graduated in June from the Army War College.

He is a lieutenant colonel now, and has been selected for promotion to colonel. The family moved last month to Alexandria, Va., where Ashley, who recently earned a master’s degree in adolescent behavioral health, will be working at a hospital in Fort Belvoir, Va. Patrick will be chief of financial policy for Army medicine at the Defense Health Agency in Falls Church, Va.

Miller was awarded the Soldier’s Medal, the Army’s highest noncombat honor for valor, for his actions in 2014 that saved lives. He was one of 16 soldiers wounded in the attack. Three other soldiers were killed.

The past nine years have been physically and mentally draining for the man who served two tours in Iraq. He’s been hospitalized six times and undergone surgeries connected to being shot in the abdomen. And when he hears about another mass shooting, such as the one May 14, 2022, in Buffalo, bad memories are triggered.

“That was tough, because it was so close to home, and then, you know, that it was racially…