Local music teacher headed to war

WASILLA — Monday afternoon, Woods Miller stands at his projector screen, directing a couple dozen whirling elementary school students.

“Assigned seats,” he says, and the kids snap into orderly lines in his crowded room behind the stage at Tanaina Elementary School.

Miller said this is his fourth year as music teacher here and his ninth year as a teacher. But unlike all those other years, Miller is taking a six-month break in the middle of the school year. His Air National Guard Unit is deploying to Afghanistan.

He said he hasn’t told all of his students yet but he plans to. A lot have already caught on — the big banner in the school’s entry wishing him a safe deployment is a dead giveaway. He’s not sure if some of the younger ones will understand. But he plans to explain it in simple, accessible terms.

“I’m a teacher and I’m in the Air Force and sometimes the Air Force needs me to leave,” he said.

Miller has had those two facets to his life for his whole career. But back when he started they were a little bit closer.

He said he first got into music in high school. He’d played music much longer but high school is when he really got interested in music theory and studying its various parts.

He went to college intending to be a physical therapist but just couldn’t keep away from music.

“All I found myself doing was music — playing in bands, starting my own band,” Miller said.

So he became a music major and got a degree. And then he joined the Illinois Air National Guard. That decision was an easy one — he’s a third-generation airman and wanted to continue that tradition. Plus, he could be in the guard and still do what he loved.

“When I joined the Air Guard I was in the band,” he said.

Quite a few of the guys he played with in the guard were music teachers. It just made sense that they would be.

He said he moved to Alaska four years ago because it seemed to have everything he wanted — scenery, the right climate, schools at which to teach music and an Air Guard unit to sign up with. There was also a college for his wife to get her degree — she majored in criminal justice but now wants to be a teacher.

The only thing was that the guard unit here didn’t have a band. So he changed his career path. Now he’s a technical sergeant with the 176th Airlift Wing. He helps load and unload aircraft, filling them with cargo, or personnel, or both.

That’s the job he’ll be doing when he heads to Afghanistan. This week is his last at the school for six months. Next week and the week after he’ll be getting ready at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson then he’ll be shipping out.

“I have mixed feelings,” he said, when asked how he feels. “I’m scared to leave my family but excited for the opportunity.”

Opportunity?

“Lots of people don’t get to see too much of the world,” he said. “I’ve never been outside the country. Not counting Canada.”

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.