Two great-grandfathers, his grandfather, his father, his great-uncle, his uncle and his son all graduated from the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York.

Miley himself attended the USMA, where he earned a national intercollegiate championship in gymnastics (in the tumbling, rings, and parallel bars events), and graduated in 1918, the year after the American entry into World War I, whereupon he was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Infantry Branch of the United States Army.

Immediately after graduation he was sent to the Western Front and served with the 1st Division, part of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) until the end of the war on November 11, 1918.

[2] After his promotion to lieutenant colonel, shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Miley was ordered to organize and command the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR).

Only Major General Ralph C. Smith, who commanded the 27th Infantry Division during World War II, would live longer, passing away in January 1998 at the age of 104.