Col. David S. Miller
Meet the new installation commander at Kirtland Air Force Base
Col. David S. Miller, the new installation commander at Kirtland Air Force Base, remembers well the first time he had to deal with death in battle.
It was while he was stationed at Balad Air Base near Baghdad in early 2008, when three Air Force special operations investigators went “outside the wire” to meet a source and “to get leads on attacks that were coming against the base.”
But the source never showed, and those at the base would soon learn that the whole thing was a set-up: the vehicle carrying the three men was blown up by an IED on the return trip to Balad.
“We’d not served together long, but I got to know them while I was there, so a couple of things I saw from that,” Miller says. “It was the first time I really felt loss in battle. Their presence was just gone. So when they brought the bodies back to the base, seeing the black bags (had a) powerful impact.
“It really introduced, maybe for the first time, just how brutal war really is, and so I had to meditate on that.”
Miller is a fourth-generation career military man, which is unusual enough, but he thinks the tradition might pass to a fifth generation: his 16-year-old son, Matthew, who is considering following the path.
“I have yet to meet somebody that can take the lineage back this far,” Miller says. “A lot of families have people that have served, but maybe not an entire career. Having just gone over 21 years, I think it’s safe to say I’m a careerist.”
Miller did have a moment of “natural rebellion” when he was younger.
“For awhile there, Air Force wasn’t the choice. I was looking at Army ROTC,” he says. “So I did that for three semesters, but then I saw the light and came over to the Air Force, and have not regretted it a day since.”
Miller, 45, became the 377th Air Base Wing and installation commander at Kirtland in June, after serving as commander of Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls, Mont.
He says one of his goals while at Kirtland is to be involved “downtown” -- military parlance for everything off the base -- and to strengthen connections between the base and the city.
When asked how his new job compares to his old, Miller says, “(Among) the biggest changes is the pace that things happen here in the city is very fast. And the amount of demands on time are much higher than I was expecting. I like to do social events. I don’t know if there’s a whole lot of things that I do really well, but I really enjoy building teams, and the relationship
between the city and the base has to be strong so we can both benefit.”
Miller also has a deeply held personal goal.
“I guess being fourth-generation, I’ve always put a lot of pressure on myself to live up to my parents’ reputation,” he says. “This may be a little nostalgic, I don’t think people talk this way anymore, but my father gave me a good name with a strong reputation that he had built ... and so I’ve worked very hard to represent the Miller name as best I can. I think I’m doing OK.”
How’s your adjustment to Albuquerque?
“First of all, we’ve completely felt embraced by the city and all the people in it. There have been a couple of key players that have helped us get out of the fence line and go immerse ourselves in the community . ... I’m very excited not to have any snow here. I’ve winterized my snow blower and have no plans to take it out in the next two years.”
Do you have free time?
“No. I was convinced becoming a commander, I would find that 25th hour in the day, an eighth day in the week. I’ve yet to find it, and cloning’s not working either. I guess one way of putting it is I certainly do have free time. Right now, I typically tend to use that by working later or visiting airmen in the dorms on the weekend or going to special functions (off the base.) “
What are your favorite books?
“One of them is “Lincoln on Leadership,” that is about understanding what he had to go through with his generals during the Civil War -- how many chances he gave them and how he mentored them along at the same time. When he became agitated, he would write these letters to his generals getting all the emotions off of his chest, and then he would never send them. I think today that’s the email that you type but don’t send.”
Do you do that?
“I do. I always make sure not to put anybody in the address line, just in case.”
Do you have any pet peeves?
“The word ‘irregardless.’ It’s just regardless.’”
What’s on your bucket list?
“What’s on my wife’s bucket list? That largely defines my bucket list. The Grand Canyon, getting a chance to ride in a hotair balloon.”
Where are your favorite places in the world?
“I’ve had an opportunity to travel to a number of places in the military. In 2016, I got a chance to go to London, Paris and Berlin. Right outside (Paris), there is a place called Belleau Wood. A lot of the Marine personality of today and lore goes back to Belleau Wood. In fact, the French have renamed it ‘Woods of the Marines.” The Marines showed up there (during World War I), and one of the Frenchmen mentioned to a young lieutenant at the time, ‘We need to retreat.’ The response was, ‘Retreat? Hell, we just got here.’ So I got a chance to go to Belleau Wood with three Marine colonels, and it was like hallowed ground. It was almost religious to watch them just walk in pristine quiet, walk the field.”
What gives you hope for the future?
“It is the brilliance and the technical competency and the drive that I see in our young airmen and the college students we have today. There is still in America a get-after-it, get-it-done kind of attitude. I know that sometimes we have parts of the population ... that don’t work well together or don’t like each other (but) when it really counts the most, we really come together.”
Are you thinking of anything in particular?
“I think 9/11. I think on the 10th of September, in many regards, whether it’s political or interracial or cities not liking each other, we had problems across the country that I think took up most of the concentration of people. And then 9/11 happened, and none of it mattered. We all came together as Americans again. I got a chance to hear a past (U.S. secretary of state) speak one time. It was when I was an Air Force intern, and we met with senior leaders to learn from them. What he was talking about was as secretary of state, he was at home on a weekend and his grandkids were coming to visit, and there was a disagreement between two countries that shared an island. It was not owned by either one, and it was understood that neither one owned it. There was disagreement because someone put an animal on the island over the weekend. The other country wanted to remove it, but they wouldn’t, so it became this fight over was somebody trying to exert dominance over the island? And to the secretary at home waiting for his grandkids to arrive, he asked the question I think we all ask, which is, ‘Why is this my problem?’ And the answer was, and I think it still speaks to where we are today, when nobody else can do it, everybody still turns to America for the answer.”
What’s the most courageous thing you’ve ever done?
“This interview.”