When a former Fallbrook resident comes home after living out of the area, there is a certain nostalgia that accompanies the trip home. Seeing old buildings in downtown and familiar haunts is one of the perks of being home, and for doctor Brandon Miller, the opportunity to come home to Fallbrook is one he could not pass up.

Miller, who graduated from Fallbrook’s educational system in 1993, has longstanding roots in town. His mother, Kathy Miller, is a well-known teacher, and he spent his entire childhood in town. Having grown up next to a military base, Miller wanted to enter the armed forces and serve his country.

After deciding against a career in the biotech industry, Miller opted to pursue medicine. An advisor instructed Miller and his wife, Anna, whom he had met at San Diego State University during his undergrad courses, to enter the military as a way to pay for medical school and stay together in the process.

"Her advice was that it was hard to pay for [grad school]. [Conversation about] the Navy came up and it pays for a year of school in trade for a year of service. We paid obligated service for the residency, got great training, and did what we wanted to do," said Miller.

After going to school together in Kansas City, Missouri, the Millers did their residency with the Navy in Florida.

"Our daughter Brittany was with us the whole way," said Miller, who now also has nine-year-old Zachary and two-year-old Austin with his wife.

After finishing their time in Florida, the Millers got positions at Twenty-Nine Palms in 2007.

"When we got there, the war was in full force. They needed to deploy a physician, so in 2008, I went to Iraq for seven months," said Miller, who was deployed with the 1st Medical Battalion from Camp Pendleton.

"It was really interesting; I came for training and was deployed from Camp Pendleton. I had seen the white busses leaving Fallbrook as they passed schools when I was younger, and all of the sudden, I’m on the bus," he said. "It was very scary, but it was such an amazing experience."

While overseas, Miller worked for the shock trauma platoon.

"It was like being in a mini trauma emergency room (ER), and I was acting as an ER physician," said Miller. "We would receive a casualty by helicopter, and it was our job to stabilize them. There were a lot of crazy injuries from blasts, and many soldiers with amputations. We saw a lot of Marines and Iraqi soldiers."

Miller also served with a small group of physicians in a mobile facility located in Rawah, located at the tip of the desert.

"We stayed in tents for eight weeks with no showers," said Miller. "I loved getting dirty and riding in Ospreys. I never thought I’d get to do that."

Beyond working with soldiers, Miller was instrumental in helping open the Iraqi clinic.

"Iraqi doctors [for the troops] were limited to one emergency doctor and a CT surgeon. They needed primary care, but a lot of physicians fled the country," said Miller.

When Miller arrived home, his family met him with fanfare.

"It was like out of a movie," he said.

Anna deployed to Djibouti, Africa, after Miller returned home.

"She was near Somalia for five months, in the only base the U.S. has in Africa," said Miller. "She also acted as an ER doctor, and was able to go on safaris and volunteer off-base at a clinic run by nuns, taking care of locals."

After both Millers were home, they had a hard decision to Advertisement

[ Christ the King Lutheran Church ] make. Both of their terms with the Navy were finishing, and they were being offered an opportunity to re-enlist.

"They offered us two spots – Jacksonville or Italy," said Miller. "But our parents are aging, and our sons are growing up, so we thought it would be best if we got out."

The couple did join the reserves, however.

"Anna has 19 years in the reserves, so we signed up so we can work on Camp Pendleton and drill on the weekends."

Before leaving Twenty-Nine Palms, Miller gave one final gift to the base: the ability to read medical files from overseas.

"For the 12 battalions, the 10,000 to 15,000 Marines, medical files were still on paper. There was no way to know what was going on when a Marine was moved to a new hospital because physicians and corpsmen had no way of sharing information," he said. "For example, a patient would come back from Germany, after he had been taken by helicopter out of Afghanistan with a brain injury and we would not have access to anything in his files. We had to take care of our Marines safely, and needed someone to reorganize the system. It didn’t seem right that the kids and spouses got better care than our Marines."

After a year of coordinating the effort with the support of the commanding officer of the base and the Naval hospital, Miller achieved his goal. He was able to arrange for computers for everyone to use for access to medical files of each Marine. All 12 battalions now have computers specifically for the use of managing medical records.

Like most individuals in the midst of a career transition, the Millers had to weigh their options and find a location that would allow them to put down roots.

"We were interested in Rancho Family Medical, which is based in Fallbrook and expanded out into Temecula, because of its roots in the community," said Miller, who accepted a position with the group.

"Anna has also accepted a position with the group, and is currently working out of the south Temecula office," he added. "We would love to grow with the company."

Now the family has begun building a home in Fallbrook. The Miller’s children will attend the same schools their father did and their grandmother taught at.

Currently, Miller is looking for further ways to commit to the community.

"I’m trying to meet people, and I like to work with everyone, from newborns to geriatrics," he said. "I have run into some of my old teachers, and some old friends in the office."

In addition to traditional primary care, Miller works well with Tri-Care patients, and is able to provide stability for military families who want consistency.

‘I can relate well with spouses, and I know what they are going through, because I have been deployed, and have had my wife deploy," he said. "I want to take care of a whole family – the kids, grandkids and so on. You really get to know a family, and I’d love to develop that continuity of care."

With these new changes, Miller is thankful.

"I am always thankful for the opportunity to come home," said Miller. "Out of everywhere I would have wanted to be, Fallbrook is where I wanted to live. I thought I would have to work somewhere for months before I could move ‘home.’"

Doctor Brandon Miller is working at Rancho Family Medical Group, located at 521 E. Elder St., Suite 103, with Dr. Lane Oslund. He is currently accepting new patients. For more information, call (760) 728-8344 or go to

www.ranchofamilymed.com.