With her husband Cameron at the flight controls, co-pilot Kim Miller got on the headset to identify their Pilatus PC-12 to air traffic controllers as the aircraft prepared to land at its destination.

Using the prefix "hero flight" to identify themselves, Miller was immediately asked what the call sign meant by the air traffic controller on the other end. In as few words as she could as to not clog up the airwaves, Miller explained that she was on a Veterans Airlift Command flight transporting wounded warriors.

Several voices on the other end quickly rattled off their military experience and expressed their support for the mission. The voices kept coming.

"Other airline pilots started chiming in," Miller said. "Everyone had a different story."

The experience moved Miller to the point of tears. She left the cockpit and relayed all the good wishes to the warriors aboard the aircraft.

"It was pretty moving ... I was crying," she said.

Miller and her husband have been volunteering to fly wounded warriors across the country as part of the VAC for about three years. The VAC and its volunteer pilots from across the country transport wounded military personnel, veterans and family who cannot travel long distances on their own, making it possible for them to be airlifted for medical care or to be reunited with family and friends at significant life events.

The Millers live in Washougal (just north of the Oregon border), and both work as pilots out of the Portland Airport for a family. After hearing about VAC at a trade show years ago, Miller and her husband decided to get involved and start voluteering. They were willing to donate their time flying, while their employer - a former Oregon Air National Guard pilot - offered up his airplane.

"Every mission is so different," said Miller, whose brother is an Army veteran.

Throughout their three years in the program, the couple has flown five missions, including one transporting warriors from Joint Base Lewis-McChord. While one mission was taking a veteran with cancer back home to Illinois where he could live out his final days, another mission entailed taking a group of warriors to a therapeutic wilderness camp in Montana.

Whatever the mission is, Miller makes it a priority to make it special for whoever is aboard.

"Once we accept a mission, we are interacting with the lead passenger from the get-go," she said. "It's really neat. I get to know them and their story."

While the VAC arranges the ground transportation for the warrior, Miller rolls out the red carpet once they arrive. She fills the aircraft will all kinds of food, gift baskets and Itunes gift cards.

"They're received like stars," she said. "It's a big deal. They're treated like royalty."

The aircrew often gets an outpouring of support wherever they stop.

"We get the cheapest fuel anywhere we go when they hear what we're doing," Miller said. "It's just real neat and touching."

And the relationship doesn't stop when the flight is over. Miller still keeps in touch with many of the warriors she's transported.

"They always want to take pictures at the end to remember," she said. "It brings tears to my eyes."