An Army promotion in a cancer ward

(David L. Ryan/Globe Staff)

By Anna Badkhen, Globe Staff

Tall and pale, Massachusetts Army National Guard Sergeant Scott Miller stood at attention today while a succession of officers bestowed him with his new rank, delivered solemn speeches, and congratulated him on his promotion from specialist. Then he sat down in a hospital chair, exhausted and dry-lipped, and prepared for his next round of chemotherapy.

Just over two months ago Miller, a 34-year-old military policeman from Newton, N.H., was manning an M240 Bravo machine gun in the turret of a Humvee that patrolled Baghdad’s treacherous streets.

But in February, he was diagnosed with a rare and terminal form of colon cancer and told that he had only months to live. His deployment to Iraq was nothing compared to what comes next, Miller said.

“This will be more challenging,” said Miller.

He joined the National Guard in 2000 and was due for promotion to sergeant in Iraq had it not been for his illness. Instead, he was promoted today at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where he is a patient. Throughout the ceremony, an IV snaked up his camouflage uniform and under his collar, pumping pretreatment and antinausea medications into his blood.

“All of us are praying for a miracle,” said Major General Joseph Carter, the adjutant general of the Massachusetts National Guard who bestowed Miller with his new rank.

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