Chief’s final curtain call

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Aubrey White
  • 4th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
GREENSBORO, N.C. --  The U.S. Air Force Heritage of America Band performed seven shows throughout North Carolina in honor of Veteran's Day and brought along an important member of their organization to celebrate the last of her shows while in her home state, Nov. 9 to 15.

U.S. Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Barbara Miller, U.S. Air Force Heritage of America Band chief enlisted manager, assumed the role of the band's Master of Ceremonies for their holiday performances.

"It's a treat for me to be out on the road this week as the band's emcee," Miller said. "If I were to play as much as the rest of the band does, it would be next to impossible to get the management part of my job done, but this trip just made a lot of sense for me to come along."

Miller began her Air Force career in 1986 after completing graduate school at East Carolina University in North Carolina. She auditioned with various orchestras and military bands but felt lucky to be granted an audition with the Air Force band at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va.

"My dad was in the Air Force, so all along I thought if I was going to be in a military band, I really wanted to be in the Air Force," she said. "It worked out perfectly."

Although Miller enjoys her current managerial role, she often misses picking up her clarinet and playing with the rest of the band.

"I don't get to play with the band too much anymore," she said. "I miss getting in that groove with a bunch of extraordinarily talented musicians. There's just nothing like it for a musician."

Miller is set to retire May 1, 2013, but will begin terminal leave just a few months before then. She plans to return to her home in North Carolina, where most of her family resides, and pursue an educational career not unalike to what she's done for the previous 27 years.

"The way our (educational benefits) are right now, I think you'd be crazy to turn (them) down," Miller said. "I plan to use my G.I. bill to go back to school and take some courses in horticulture and beekeeping. I'm kind of going in a different direction from the music thing."

Despite the fact that she will retire soon, Miller believes her work while in the Air Force, and the continuation of the band thereafter, was and always will be owed to the American public for their support.

"One of our main priorities is to keep the public informed of what the Air Force is doing," Miller said. "I think a lot of folks who come to our concerts see outstanding musicians and it translates into excellence across the entire Air Force."