It’s a Milestone - Journey to Advocacy

By Holly Shaffner Homeland

Vol. 9 Number 6 • June 2022

This month, San Diego Veterans Magazine’s sister magazine, Homeland Magazine, celebrates its 100th issue and we celebrate our 50th issue! That’s a milestone for any publication, and for the owner/editor/publisher Mike Miller to do both each month is quite an accomplishment. Homeland Magazine was launched nationally in 2014 and in 2017 San Diegans saw the need for a more localized magazine dedicated to the 240,000 military veterans living in the region. PTSD Awareness Month

M A G A Z I N E

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ISSUE

PTSD

AWARENESS MONTH

Journey TO Homeland

Warrior

Manages PTSD

It’s been 50 years since the War I’M FINALLY HOME

SUCCESFUL

Transitioning Stories TRANSITION

Strategies & Expectations

WWW.HomelandMagazine.com / JUNE 2022 1

VSAN DIEGO

Vol. 5 Number 6 • JUNE 2022

M A G A Z I N E

FIGHTING PTSD

It’s A Milestone

A Journey to Advocacy

SAN DIEGO TRANSITION

So, since 2019, Mike and MILITARY FAMILY RESOURCES WWW.SanDiegoVeteransMagazine.com / JUNE 2022 Strategies & Expectations 1 his team of writers have been putting together both magazines dedicated to supporting us - military veterans, active duty, and families. To commemorate this special occasion, we thought you’d like to know how it all got started.

Many of us know the owner/editor/publisher extraordinaire Michael J. Miller from our professional dealings, but when it comes to the personal side, do we REALLY know Mike?

Heading West

Mike grew up in a large family in a small Maryland town. His family had a rich history of military service; but Mike was far away from ever considering a career in the military.

He was college bound to play baseball and football, he wanted the college life, and had long dreamt of being a Hollywood actor…he was looking for a way to chase his dream of living in California. Around age 24, Mike sat down with his mother and told her that he could not be happy unless he chased his dreams, and that meant moving to Hollywood. Mike answered, “No, no, no - but that makes it more exciting.”

“It was 3000 miles to Hollywood, I had $2,000 in my wallet, a `77 Toyota Celica with no spare tire, a full tank of gas, some magazines, it was dark outside, and I was wearing sunglasses, with my head full of dreams I had more than I needed”

Seven days and 3,000 miles later, Mike found himself driving through Beverly Hills and thought, “this looks like a good place to live.” In Mike style, he found an empty mansion that was being renovated and camped out on the deck with the best view of Hollywood he could ever imagine. Since there were no “keep out” signs, he thought it would be ok to pop a squat for a night. He just wanted to borrow the view for one night under the stars; looking over the Hollywood stars, on the deck of a Beverly Hills mansion Mike knew that Los Angeles was going to be his home.

Trespassing?

As it turns out, just because there are no signs doesn’t mean you are welcome to camp on someone’s property. Around sunrise, Mike heard a car pull into the driveway. He grabbed his sleeping bag and surfing magazines and high tailed it to his car. But before he got there, he was met by two very large men who were extremely angry and said they were going to call the police.

After apologizing and explaining that he had drove 3,000 miles to chase his dreams to be an actor, he told them, “When I win an Oscar, I will mention that you didn’t call the police and that you gave me a break.” They gave him some firm advice about being careful and about private property, but also said they admired his passion. Mike admits to being lucky, and he believes those guys understood what it meant to be driven by your dreams, and just maybe that’s why they live up on the hill overlooking LA.

Just last month the Top Gun sequel was released and ironically, it was the original Top Gun movie that Mike’s agent picked lines to read from for a chance to win her representation.Now, reflecting about reading lines from a military movie, perhaps it was his true destiny to write military stories?

Mike nailed the audition/interview and found himself with a reputable Hollywood agent. He lived in LA for a few years, was able to bank a few gigs, and made lifetime connections with some great people who are still his friends today.

Mike doesn’t like to brag, but while in LA, he went to many Hollywood parties, met celebrities, had lunch with Kevin Costner, and had a glass of wine with Stefanie Powers at her home during an interview for a job. The job didn’t work out, but her insightful advice did. In a motherly tone, she told him, “Wake up from this dream and get your head out of Beverly Hills. This acting thing may not work out and it’s admirable that you’re chasing your dreams so far from home -

just know that sometimes dreams may take you on a different path.”

After the Hollywood life, acting auditions, rejections, smog, and traffic, it was time to refocus. Mike found the perfect job working for a “cause” magazine. He was a natural in sales, creating professional relationships with clients throughout the country, and managing people. He had his own team, was eager, and ambitious.

America’s Finest City

It only took one round of golf at Torrey Pines and one Pacific Ocean sunset to realize San Diego was where he was destined to put down ties. Mike called his agent and told her that he had enough of acting. Mike said to her “I’m going to win an Oscar in business!” and she told him,

“Mike…go be Maverick!”

Mike went back to his magazine job, threatened his boss that he’d quit unless he sent him to San Diego to open his own office and allowed him to hire a new team for the magazine. Mike was bluffing and trying to buy some time, but his boss said yes and off to San Diego he went. After a few years learning the publishing industry, Mike decided to go out on his own. Back then his heroes were big time entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs, Murdoch, and Gates and wanted to be like them. Mike had a few internet businesses, made a good living, but found there was always “something” missing. During this time, he gained experience as an entrepreneur, in relationship building, branding and sales management, and was looking for what was missing.

The Military

One day Mike stumbled upon a military-style street/ barracks newspaper. He found the military community had an interesting culture and spent a few months working with the owner on his paper. The owner mentioned that his paper was losing business and pages. Mike, with years of publishing experience, looked at his business, and wrote a business plan not knowing that this plan was going to be his new career and passion.

The business plan noted that his paper had a huge disconnect with veterans and their struggles and didn’t give enough attention to military and veteran families. He told the owner there were amazing organizations that can make a difference in the lives of active military, veterans, and their families.

The owner didn’t want to change his newspaper model. Mike moved on but could not stop thinking about the research he had found and the business plan he had created.

The Birth of Homeland

Mike rolled up his sleeves, did more research about the military and veteran community, contacted reputable veteran organizationsincluding the Department of Veterans Affairs and local veteran offices/clinics. He told them about his business plan for a veteran magazine and what he wanted to achieve, and he knew that he could make a difference in the lives of our veterans, and military families.

And in 2014 Homeland Magazine was born!

The theme of the magazine was resources, support and inspiration. Since he wasn’t a veteran himself, he knew that in order to have a successful military magazine that enhanced the lives of military personnel, veterans and their families, that he needed to recruit experts in the industry – veterans and veteran advocates. He was dedicated to achieving his goals; and little did he know that it was advocacy that would give him the highest degree of success.

The first year was a lot of work and Mike was proud that Homeland Magazine was starting to receive national recognition. Mike wore all the hats from graphic designer, salesman, editor, to publisher and kept asking the same questions every day. Should I keep doing this? There’s so much to learn, can I really make a difference?, I just don’t know. And then it happened, the phone call that changed everything.

The Lightbulb Moment

It was the summer of 2015; it was early in the morning when the phone rang. Mike picked it up and said, “Homeland Magazine, can I help you?”

On the other end of the phone was a soft woman’s voice. She asked for the editor of Homeland Magazine, and at first Mike thought, “oh no, what did I do wrong?”

Mike doesn’t remember the woman’s name but remembers that she was upset. She jumped right into her conversation. She told Mike that morning she had walked down the stairs to see where her husband was. She found him sitting at the dining room table with his gun lying next to him. He was hunched over and looking at a magazine. She said her husband stood up and grabbed the gun; his eyes were bloodshot, he walked toward her slowly (which she said seemed like an eternity). He handed the gun to her and told her, “I don’t need this any longer. I’m going to be OK and we’re going to be OK.” He told her that he had problems but he’s not alone. He told her that he needed help, and there are people who can help him and help them. He said that he loved her, gave her a kiss, and walked upstairs. Mike doesn’t remember the woman’s name but remembers that she was upset. She jumped right into her conversation. She told Mike that morning she had walked down the stairs to see where her husband was. She found him sitting at the dining room table with his gun lying next to him. He was hunched over and looking at a magazine. She said her husband stood up and grabbed the gun; his eyes were bloodshot, he walked toward her slowly (which she said seemed like an eternity). He handed the gun to her and told her, “I don’t need this any longer. I’m going to be OK and we’re going to be OK.” He told her that he had problems but he’s not alone. He told her that he needed help, and there are people who can help him and help them. He said that he loved her, gave her a kiss, and walked upstairs.

The woman on the other end of the phone told Mike that she picked up the magazine from the table and it was opened to a page on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Suicide Prevention. The magazine was Homeland Magazine.

Mike didn’t know what to say; the lady simply said, “Thank you for the magazine.” And that was it.

From that day forward, Mike never again asked himself the haunting question “Should I keep doing this?”

San Diego Vets Magazine

It was in late 2017 when Mike was contacted by several military and veteran organizations, veteran advocates, and the San Diego Mayor’s office to San Diego. They asked him, “Would you consider starting a veteran magazine specifically for San Diego?” Mike said, “I thought about it for about 15 seconds, and that’s when San Diego Veterans Magazine was conceived.”

The theme was the same as Homeland Magazine – to be a resource support magazine for active duty, veterans, and military families…but for the local San Diego area. It took a few months to bring on the right mix of writers who needed to be experts in their fields.

The first writers to come onboard was Veterans Advocate CJ Machado & Holly Shaffner, retired Coastie. Mike said that working with both veteran advocates was a perfect move, thier heart and passion for veterans and their stories only added fuel to his desire to make a “real” difference in the lives of veterans and their families.

Fast forward to the most celebrated annual day for veterans and San Diego Veterans Magazine premiered! It was Veterans Day 2018 and Mike was asked to support the San Diego Veteran of Year program for the Veterans Museum at Balboa Park.

He had the honor to debut the 2018 San Diego Veteran of the Year, Matt Foster, on the cover the magazine.

Since the debut Mike has continued to give back to the veteran community with projects such as Normandy Jump 2019 which featured local WWII U.S. Army 101st Airborne Paratrooper Tom Rice, and films like The Forgotten Hero of the Forgotten War which featured

U.S. Navy Fighter Pilot Captain E. Royce Williams.

Reflection

Maybe it was his mission all along – not to be high paid athlete, or actor, but to have found something bigger than himself – helping active duty, military veterans, and their families.

Mike said, “I don’t think of myself as an entrepreneur any longer. I have found my career and it’s an honor to work with the greatest organizations and people in the world. I have surrounded myself with amazing people, and amazing organizations throughout the country. I can’t say enough about the people that contribute to the magazine; they are very special. I will continue to move forward, and make sure all veterans know they are not alone.”

In 2020, Mike was surprised with a proclamation from the 36th Mayor of San Diego, Kevin Faulconer. The mayor stated that January 20, 2020, was officially Mike Miller Day in the City of San Diego.

He was bestowed this honor for his inspirational story telling through publishing and beneficial support to veteran projects. The proclamation went on to say that Mike’s love and passion for the veteran community had a profound impact on the quality of life of our military and veteran families.

And while he never did win that award as an actor, he takes home an Oscar every month for staying authentic and following his true north.

Today San Diego Veterans Magazine is the largest veterans magazine in San Diego region. With thousands of original articles and columns, from transitioning to civilian life, mental health, inspiration and never forgetting stories about veterans who helped shape our county. CONGRATULATIONS on this milestone and Bravo Zulu for making a difference in the lives of our military and families every day.

To send Mike a note of congratulations, please email: MikeMiller@SanDiegoVeteransMagazine.com

To see all current and past issues visit the following link: www.sandiegoveteransmagazine.com/archives www.homelandmagazine.com/archives

Editors note:

I would like to thank Holly Shaffner, retired Coastie for writing this article. She is one of the hardest working veteran advocates I have ever met.

I would also like to mention although I have never met the couple that changed everything in 2015 with “one phone call”, I would like to imagine they look like the couple below and are happy thanks to veteran organizations around the country that help more than one million veterans in life-changing ways each year.