Whether you need to teach a second-grader how to read or to lead soldiers in transporting equipment across international borders, John Murdoch has the skills to get the job done.

Maj. John Murdoch, a field artillery support operations officer, was recently deployed for a year in Kuwait with the Army National Guard’s 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team and has returned to his regular job as an elementary school principal.

Murdoch has been a National Guard member for 31 years.

“I have been with the National Guard a really long time,” Murdoch said. “I started when I was 17, a junior in high school. All of my adult life I have been in the guard and I don’t know anything different.”

The 116th is Idaho’s largest guard unit and its citizen soldiers are located in more than 20 communities and across Idaho, Montana, Nevada and Oregon. The unit is one of five armored brigade combat teams in the National Guard and one of 16 in the United States Army. Since 2001, the 116th has deployed twice to Iraq, completed numerous National Training Center rotations and trained in countless locations around the country.

Outside of deployments and the guard’s requirements of attending one drill weekend each month and one two-week annual training period each year, Murdoch earned a degree at Idaho State University. He then taught school for eight years while working on his master’s degree.

Murdoch has worked in school administration since 2008 and district officials said he has been a prominent educator and leader in the district since he began working.

“We are absolutely thrilled to have Mr. Murdoch back,” District 93 Superintendent Scott Woolstenhulme said. “I appreciate him so much and his dedication, not just to our school community but to our country, and his willingness to serve in the armed forces. Of course, we support him with that and we were sad to see him go overseas but we know that was an important service that he was providing to our country.”

Murdoch and many others soldiers were pulled for deployment as support for the Montana unit which was the main unit deployed as part of Operation Spartan Shield. They returned home Nov. 4.

Murdoch left his family as well as his students and his staff at Woodland Hills Elementary School in November 2021 to move throughout the Persian Gulf region and train with local nationals.

This wasn’t Murdoch’s first overseas mission, he had deployed from 2004 to 2005 in Operation Iraqi Freedom lll, when he was a teacher at Taylorville Junior High School.

“The first time I deployed was a lot harder than the second time, but it is never really easy,” Murdoch said. “This time around there was more understanding and I was more familiar with it and had done it before.

“I think as you get older time is different than when you’re younger. It is not easy to leave and miss out on everything that keeps happening while you’re gone. My eighth-grader has already grown 4 or 5 inches, all of the kids are a lot bigger and have done things I did not get to participate in. My son is a senior and I didn’t get to walk with him across the field for senior night at football.”

Though technology, such as FaceTime calls and Zoom meetings, has made familial interaction easier since his first deployment, Murdoch said nothing beats being there in person.

His eighth-grader’s growth spurt wasn’t the only big change while Murdoch was away. Murdoch accepted a new position as principal of Ucon Elementary School and has been in the position for two weeks now. The school hadn’t had a principal for more than six months, with school staff adopting many extra responsibilities to compensate for the vacancy.

Though being a soldier is quite different than being an elementary school principal, Murdoch said some of the same principles and strategies tend to work for both.

“A lot of what I do in the Army now is all leadership and we use a lot of leadership skills that cross over to what I do as a principal and vice versa,” Murdoch said. “How you implement things is usually a little bit different. I treat soldiers quite a bit differently than I would treat students in a classroom, but still I think a lot of what I do is the same no matter where I am.

“You treat people with respect. You identify problems, you work to solve them and that goes for both roles regardless. There are always issues and there are always people. In the world that I work in we work with people, that’s what we do. We work with people to accomplish whatever the mission is; whether it’s teaching a second-grader how to read or moving equipment across international borders. Whatever team you have, you develop the team, build them up and then you find the solutions you need.”

Murdoch is still getting back into the swing of things but is acclimating to the cold weather and the age difference in those he is currently leading.

“Right now, I am really just trying to get my feet back under me and the last few days have been a whirlwind and I feel like I’m drinking from the firehose but I think my National Guard training has prepared me for this principal position because it’s taught me to broaden and expand my skills and learn what it really takes to make everything work together and work well.”

A few months ago, Murdoch was leading a group of soldiers in a joint mission called Eager Lion where they trained with soldiers from about 27 other countries. He is now using his skills to work with teachers and parents to identify students’ successes and weaknesses while making sure they are moving along in their growth.

“The two things sound really different but in the big picture, if you take out words like tank and kids and just put down identifying problems and finding solutions, they become a lot more similar,” Murdoch said.

As principal, Murdoch said his number one goal is to grow a deeper understanding of the students, the staff and the community and then work to support them in everything they need.

“It’s all about finding the resources the teachers need to meet the diverse needs of their students and then meeting with parents to help them understand that we are on the same page,” Murdoch said. “We want to help their students the very best ways we know how, just like the parents are.”