FORT BRAGG , North Carolina ( CNN ) -- Marylisa Miller has spent much of her two decades as an Army wife bracing for the worst . But now the pressure is higher , as both her husband and their 20-year-old son are serving together in Afghanistan . Pfc . Martin Miller , left , and his dad , Sgt . 1st Class Martin Miller , serve in the same Army squadron in Afghanistan . It 's rare , but not unheard of : Sgt . 1st Class Martin Miller and his son Pfc . Martin Miller have deployed as part of the same squadron of about 500 soldiers . Their brigade -- based at North Carolina 's Fort Bragg -- is among the first specifically assigned to train Afghan security and military forces . `` If the phone rings in the middle of the night , I answer it no matter what , '' said Marylisa Miller . `` You never know . It could be the last call . '' Watch the Millers talk about serving together » . The Miller men -- both paratroopers -- did n't really plan to march shoulder-to-shoulder into harm 's way . It just sort of happened that way . `` I pretty much have always wanted to be in the Army , '' said Pfc . Miller , who remembers watching his dad leap out of military aircraft with other soldiers in the 82nd Airborne Division . `` I guess watching him do it -- it looked cool , '' he said . Shortly before they deployed in August , the Millers revisited family memories at Fort Bragg 's Wilson Park -- the same spot where the couple picnicked with their toddler son and daughter years ago . Telling family stories , the Millers laughed about old snapshots showing the future private first class as a boy -- standing at parade rest while his father spoke to him . `` When I scolded him and his sister , I taught them to stand at parade rest , '' Sgt . Miller explained . `` Then their punishment would be laps , flutter kicks , push-ups and sit-ups . It taught discipline and put them in good shape . '' After high school , dad convinced his son to try a year of college first . Soldiers with college degrees go further in the service , Sgt . Miller said . But a year later it was clear the young man 's interests were in the Army . After all , growing up with a warrior father tends to influence a boy . Sgt . Miller did what he could to have his son stationed at Fort Bragg . He ended up in the same squadron . The father and son describe themselves as close . `` Yeah , we 're always doing something together , '' Pfc . Miller said . `` We go out and party together and we fish and ride motorcycles . '' Walking together wearing red Airborne berets marked with their distinctive squadron flashes , the Millers talked about what it means to be a military family and how this life of service often extends to civilian spouses and children . `` Back when I was a kid , there were a lot of people who saw the Army as something good , '' said Sgt . Miller , 46 , who enlisted a year out of high school . `` Everybody should do a little bit for their country . '' Although the Millers serve in the same squadron , they are in different troops -- and therefore do n't share the same chain of command . `` He ca n't work directly for me , '' Sgt Miller said . `` Family members are not supposed to work directly for other family members . But my platoon possibly would work with his . '' Unlike his previous tours of duty , Sgt . Miller now bears two heavy burdens : command and fatherhood . The possibility that his son could lose his life while serving in the same squadron has crossed his mind . `` If something happens to him , I can still function , but it wo n't be pretty , '' the sergeant said . `` But knowing others depend on me , I ca n't get all broken up about it . If something were going to happen to him , I 'd probably break when I got back . '' 'Navy brat ' Marylisa Miller has known the military since birth . She is the seventh of eight `` Navy brats '' born to a father who chose a sailor 's life and moved his family from assignment to assignment . In the early '80s she met the man who would be her warrior husband . Shyly , she said they met in a bar . `` It was n't a bar , '' her husband said , smiling . `` They say she 's kind of like me : kind of hard-headed , a little bit stubborn and not afraid to voice my opinion . '' Marylisa laughed about their first meeting : `` I was trying to get him interested in my sister . '' Instead , she and Martin `` just clicked . '' They married six months later . Sgt . Miller has served in Cold War Europe , the Balkans , Iraq and Afghanistan . He said being away from his wife does n't get any easier . `` After you hit the 12-month mark , and then it turns into 15 , it feels like forever after that , '' he said . The Millers have chosen a life in which Marylisa may not hear her husband 's voice for three or four months at a time . Over the years , she said , she has learned to rely on herself . `` He would come home from deployments and say , 'Let me help you , ' and I 'd say 'No , because when you 're not here , who 's going to do it for me ? ' `` `` I have to learn how to be independent , so I try to tell everybody else to learn how to do it yourself , '' Marylisa said . `` You ca n't always rely on them . '' ' I do n't want to think about if the phone 's gon na ring ' She stays busy . At Fort Bragg , Marylisa is the co-leader of a Family Readiness Group , the Army 's support group aimed at helping spouses , children and others make the best of difficult military deployments . `` I always like to be involved in everything , '' she said , laughing . `` That way you get to hear the information firsthand . '' The network of Army families provides a conduit of information on deployments and upcoming events . FRGs offer Marylisa a way to help other families . `` We have a lot of new families in the troop , '' she said . `` Some of them are young and we try to guide them in the right direction . When someone gets hurt , we 're all right there to jump in . It 's like an extended family . '' She recalled an FRG request to help a young Army wife with a newborn baby . `` I jumped in and baby-sat her child , '' she said . `` She did n't know me from the man in the moon . '' Volunteering keeps her away from TV news and its reminders that terrible events could be moments away . `` I do n't want to think about if the phone 's going to ring or if there 's going to be that knock on the door . '' ' I should have been dead ' The Millers ' 4th Brigade Combat Team will be the first such unit designated for `` security force assistance '' in Afghanistan , said an Army spokeswoman . The brigade will train Afghan forces to battle Taliban and al Qaeda fighters . In the past , this kind of mission was given to small teams of advisers who were trained in the United States and then deployed in the region . This is the first time an entire brigade has been given this mission , according to the Army . The sergeant has embraced the view that there 's nothing much a soldier can do except depend on his or her training to stay safe . `` I 've had mortars come within 20 meters of me and not get a scratch out of it . I should have been dead , '' Sgt . Miller said . `` You see something happen like that and you know it 's not your time until it 's your time . '' His son , not long out of jump school -- he has just seven jumps to his credit -- said he 's not worried about himself or his father . `` He ai n't gon na die . He 's too old for it now , '' Pfc . Miller joked . `` He has deployed too many times . He knows the secrets . ''
The Millers , father-and-son soldiers , serve in the same squadron in Afghanistan . Fort Bragg-based brigade is among first to train Afghan forces against Taliban . `` I 've had mortars come within 20 meters ... I should have been dead , '' dad says . `` Navy brat '' mom co-leads Army support group to distract her from fears .