From Navy SEAL to Army chaplain: How one veteran found a new purpose in service

Former Navy SEAL Capt. Daron Miller found a new definition of strength when he shifted his focus from elite performance to a career as a U.S. Army chaplain, using his background to support soldiers. At 19, Miller was searching for something difficult to accomplish and a way to define his identity. While browsing a book about Navy SEALs, he found his challenge. “I decided to join the Navy and become a SEAL before I even paid for the book,” Miller said in an Army release . The book mentioned that candidates in the final phase of Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training, or BUD/S, were required to run 14 miles. “I literally grabbed a Marlboro stopwatch that came out of a carton of my mom’s cigarettes, and all I knew was that it was seven miles down to the gas station and back,” Miller said in the release. “So, I just put on my tennis shoes, didn’t bring water, I had the stopwatch to time myself, and I just ran 14 miles.” In October 1993, Miller began Navy boot camp and later reported to SEAL Team 3 after completing BUD/S training. “In dive phase,” Miller said, “I got an award called ‘First Time, Every Time.’ That means in every graded evolution that we did, all the drown-proofing and diving, I passed my very first time.” Despite those accolades, Miller recalls still feeling unfulfilled. He remembers asking himself, “How is it I’ve done all this, but inside I feel just as unfulfilled as I did before I ever joined the Navy?” Miller’s life changed during a six-hour drive back from…