National Guard Sgt. Jacob Kohut teaches music to his Fairfax County students in Virginia from a Humvee during a break on his 12-hour Guard shift.
“D.C. National Guard Sgt. Jacob Kohut was on his only break during a 12-hour shift standing guard outside the U.S. Capitol. In the back of a Humvee, flute in hand, Kohut was teaching students how to play Ludwig van Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’ through his laptop,” writes Sydney Page in Monday’s (1/18) Washington Post. “Kohut, 34, is one of the more than 20,000 National Guard troops providing security as part of a massive operation in D.C. ahead of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration. Since his deployment to Washington on Jan. 13, Kohut has been on double duty, as an active member of the National Guard and a dedicated band teacher at public schools in Fairfax County in Virginia…. Kohut [teaches] his elementary class remotely from the drill floor of the D.C. Armory, finishing the lesson mere minutes before his Guard shift starts. He later signs online during a break to teach his middle school students from the back of a Humvee…. He plays the bassoon and saxophone [and] has been a band teacher for more than a decade…. ‘I’m a soldier for the Guard, but I feel like I am as much a soldier for music education,’ Kohut said.”
