The Prairie Art Center will be hosting an event this Saturday beginning at 1 pm in the PAC Library. The event is the "Making History Live Again" with Andrew Miller hosting the presentation and reception. A compilation of generations of service with memorabilia, art, history and artifacts a prewar tribute to battleships.
Andrew P. Miller
ET1, USN (1975 – 1981)
ETC, NOAA, Office of NOAA Corps Operations (ONCO) 1989 - 1999
ESA, GS-13-9, NOAA, National Weather Service (NWS) 1999 – 2019
ET1 – Electronics Technician First Class (E-6)
ETC – Electronics Technician Chief (E-7)
ESA – Electronics Systems Analyst (GS-13)
Millers Background:
I grew up in a family of service. My father and mother both enlisted in the US military. On December 8th, 1941, my father chose the Navy and served in the South Pacific as a supply specialist on Guadalcanal and later in the Philippines. Dad stayed in the Navy following WWII, and served in the Naval Reserves, attaining the rank of Lieutenant Commander. While in the reserves, my father also served in the Korean War, and the Vietnam conflict.
My mother was a US Marine, and during WWII was one of the very first women in the Marine Corps, rising to the rank of Sergeant. My brother was the next family member to join the Navy and qualified as a Radioman 2 ndClass aboard the USS Chicago during the VietNam Conflict. I enlisted in the Navy on April 29th 1975 into the Navy’s electronics program; a grueling, intensive schooling in mathematics, electronics theory, both digital and analog, as well has hardware training on communications transmission and reception.
I joined the Pacific Fleet in San Diego in June of 1976 at Pier 1 of the 32 nd Street Naval Station. The USS Point Loma was scheduled to be commissioned on July 4th 1976 as part of the Nation’s bicentennial celebration. As such, I am a plank owner of the USS Point Loma, AGDS-2 While aboard the Point Loma, the ship traveled to the Caribbean, the North Atlantic, and the Western Pacific supporting various dive missions for the bathyscaphe Trieste II in the Navy’s deep submergence program, and hosted the National Geographic Institute, and Dr. Robert Ballard as part of its deep submergence career.
After the USS Point Loma, I was transferred to the live ordnance bombing ranges at Naval Air Station (NAS) Fallon NV, where I served as lead technician and range maintenance supervisor for a team of technicians tasked with keeping the remote electronics functioning and accurate. In 1989 I matriculated to the Office of NOAA Corp Operations (ONCO) where I spent the next decade as a Radio Officer (Grade equivalent O-3) on survey and marine science ships of the NOAA Fleet, primarily NOAAS Surveyor (S-132), and NOAAS Rainier (S-221).
My range of operations spanned the Arctic Ocean, Prince William Sound, the Pacific Northwest, the Hawaiian Islands, and Antarctica. With the advent of 2 small children, my sailing career came to an end as I transferred from the National Ocean Service to the National Weather Service. My duty stations included Seattle WA, Pendleton OR, Chanhassen MN, and North Platte NE.
By the time I arrived at the National weather Service (NWS) I no longer included sonar and bathymetric scientific equipment in my repertoire, but added computers, and Doppler radar. In 2019 I retired after some 35 years of public service as a GS-2201-10 step 9 (Grade equivalent O-5)Building things with my hands goes back to when I was 5 or 6 when I would use the cardboard from my dad’s dry cleaned shirts to make a variety of airplanes and ships. I haven’t let up ever since. In 1990 I won best in show at Seattle’s American Eagles competition for my model ship of the 1660’s; “La Couronne”. Another model ship, Sweden's “Vasa” was donated to Seattle’s Center for Wooden Boats.
Honors and Awards:
1968 – Eagle Scout (with Bronze Palm)
1975 – Recommended to crew the Presidential yacht Sequoia (Declined since it would have cancelled my Electronics Classes A, B, and C schools)1977 – Command Letter of Commendation, USS Point Loma
1978 – Command Letter of Commendation, USS Point Loma
1979 – Command Letter of Appreciation, USS Point Loma1981 – Command Letter of Commendation, NAS Fallon
1992 – Department of Commerce Commendation
2017 – NWS Meritorious Service Award
National Defense Medal
Good Conduct Medal
Meritorious Unit Citation (Navy)
Meritorious Unit Citation (NOAA)Bronze Medal (NOAA)
Antarctic Service Medal (NOAA, Navy)
Arctic Service Medal (NOAA)
Fluff Medals and Certificates:
Honorable Discharge Medal (Navy)
Pacific Service Medal (NOAA)
Shellback (NOAA)
Golden Dragon (NOAA)
Arctic Circle (NOAA)
Antarctic Circle (NOAA)
Plank Owner (Navy)
Straits of Magellan (Armada de Chile)
Panama Canal (3) (Navy)
Current Projects:
USS Arizona BB-39 Circa 1940