THE FRONT ROW WITH BRUCE BOURQUIN: Friday, Sept. 11, 2015

While serving in the United States Army from May 2012 to July 2015, Liberty Lake resident Trace Miller, now 22, was a Sergeant who was nicknamed a "laundry dog", or the one who loaded surface-to-air Patriot missiles into missile launchers.

While thinking about our fallen U.S. citizens, emergency responders and soldiers during the 14th anniversary of 9/11, here's the story of the former soldier who, in 2012, spent a semester playing on a nationally-ranked club soccer team at Montana State University in Bozeman, a team that placed second in the Atlanta Cup. That team lost in the championship to a team that had five players on the national Olympic Developmental Program team.

Miller, who is redshirting this season, is practicing with the North Idaho College men's soccer team as a right-side midfielder. Mainly because his father managed car dealerships, he moved around to eight different states. The 6-footer was born in Sacramento, Calif., moved to Reno, Nev., when he was 12, and went to high school for his first two years at Davidson Academy in Nashville, Tenn., and graduated from Sioux Falls (S.D.) Christian Academy. His family moved to Liberty Lake after his father received a job offer in the area.

During his Army years, he was stationed in Fort Bragg, N.C., plus he served in the Middle East, southwest Asia and other places around the world. He knows a few basic phrases, but is not fluent in, German and Arabic.

"I've moved around a bit," Miller said.

MILLER HEARD about NIC thanks to former Cardinals and current Western Washington University men's soccer players Adam Talley and Brady Ulen.

Another link didn't exactly hurt, either.

"His (Talley's) girlfriend, Alex (Rankin), is on NIC's women's soccer team," Miller said. "My girlfriend, Shevelle Bollman, and Alex are best friends. Plus it's close to my family. Those were big deciding factors."

Since Miller has not played club soccer since his days at Montana State and high school soccer since four years ago, he has had to shake off some rust while redshirting.

"I'm trying to get back in the swing of things," Miller said. "Compete with these young folks. There have been a couple of old-guy jokes. But I'm still as fast as these young guys."

Miller got on the team after he got in touch with NIC men's soccer coach Ken Thompson, who heard about him after Talley and Ulen mentioned Miller to him.

"He got in touch with me," Thompson said of Miller. "We had an open tryout. He seemed like he could handle the workload (of practices). He was 18 the last time he played competitive soccer, but we felt like he would be fine with us."

Miller will watch the Cardinals play at 1:15 p.m. Saturday at Eisenwinter Field against Treasure Valley Community College.

Miller has his sights set high and hopes to get into either an Ivy League or similar school after NIC, after he interviews this October. If he does not get in, he will return to NIC and try again during the next school year.

"There is a 'Posse Foundation'," Miller said. "It is a Veterans program that is trying to pull them into Ivy League schools. Three of them are Dartmouth, Vassar (in upstate New York) and Wesleyan (in Middletown, Conn.). I prefer Dartmouth, it has a Division I soccer program and because of its location (in Hanover, N.H.)."

Miller certainly has the background of family serving in the military.

"My grandfather, Edwin Miller Sr., was a pilot in World War II," Trace said. "He earned the Distinguished Flying Cross twice. My step grandad, Charles Aveni, served in the Marine Corps in the 1950s. My father, Edwin Miller Jr., served in Grenada, he said it was a four-hour (butt) whipping."

THOMPSON SAID said Miller is the only person during his five seasons as the head coach who had previously served in the military. He had one in his four seasons as the assistant coach.

"It's a hard role to have as a redshirt," Thompson said. "He has a group of guys who are embracing their roles. He gives us leadership by example, in buying into the team."

Thompson said Miller is doing all right in terms of getting back into the swing of things.

"They liked his character," Thompson said. "I see him being a player with good possession, he's more of a defensive midfielder, so we want him to tackle hard. He definitely seems to have a concrete goal of what he wants to be. I expect that gap will start to close."

AT THE age of 18, Miller dropped out of college, but spent his time productively afterward, enlisting in the Army at 19. Since he has returned to school at NIC, he's loved it, attending criminal justice classes and enjoyed the gorgeous area around the Inland Northwest.

"I was just burned out with school," Miller said. "I was doing Army ROTC then at Montana State. It's a family, I like the camaraderie. You're spending all your time with people you depend on. It was a cool experience, I can share some of my leadership experiences. I'm a better person because of it. I would've never had the leadership abilities I've picked up, had I not been in the Army."

He has enjoyed his time at NIC.

"I like all of my professors," Miller said. "This place has a four-year feel. This area is gorgeous, I've always liked the mountain and the water. I like target shooting, fishing and snowboarding."

Miller also helped defend the highest-risk asset in Central Command, in the Middle East. He is not allowed to disclose classified information about his past, so he was not allowed to mention location, country, etc. He was allowed to leave because he had enough vacation hours and his contract ended at 3 ? years.

Miller was the leading scorer on his teams during all four years he played in high school.

So for Miller, he has already seen the world, served his country and returned to school. And he's only just begun with his life, soccer and otherwise.

Bruce Bourquin is a sports writer at The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2013, via e-mail at bbourquin@cdapress.com or via Twitter @bourq25