oral history in the u.s. army

Robert MagesChief, Oral History Branch

U. S. Army Military History InstituteArmy Heritage and Education Center

950 Soldiers DriveCarlisle Barracks, PA 17013-5021

[email protected]

http://www.usahec.org

Oral History in the U.S. Army

Outline

Army Heritage and Education Center

• Introduction to the Army History Program (AHP)

• Defining Army Oral History

• Oral History in the U.S. Army: Programs and Uses

• Existing challenges and the way ahead

Army Regulation 870–5

Historical Activities

Military History:Responsibilities,Policies, andProcedures

HeadquartersDepartment of the ArmyWashington, DC21 September 2007UNCLASSIFIED


• Doctrine and regulation define roles and scope of work.

• General guidelines common to all.

• Not prescriptive, allows for decentralized execution and flexible response to unit needs.

AHP Rules of the Road

Army Regulation 870–5

Historical Activities

Military History:Responsibilities,Policies, andProcedures

HeadquartersDepartment of the ArmyWashington, DC21 September 2007UNCLASSIFIED


AHP Rules of the Road

“Military history is the collective memory of a unit or an entire armed force . Its use by units and individuals can teach valuable lessons from their recent past or provide unique insight into more distant times. This enhances unit performance and increases esprit de corps.”

FM 1-20 Military History Operations

“The AHP includes all historical activities within the active Army, the Army National Guard of the United States, and the U.S. Army Reserve. The mission of the AHP is to preserve, critically interpret, disseminate, and teach military history; provide historical advice; and stimulate historical mindedness within the Army and throughout the nation.”

U.S. Army Regulation 870 – 5 “Military History”


AHP - The Players

• Center of Military History (CMH)

• Military History Institute (USAMHI)

• Combat Studies Institute (CSI)

• Major Command Historians (MACOM)

• Combatant Command Historians (COCOM)

• Army Component Command Historians (ACC)

Related OrganizationsCenter for Army Lessons Learned

(CALL)Strategic Studies Institute

(SSI)

Relationships are NOT hierarchical. Each organizations coordinates with and supports the other in order to accomplish the overall mission.

Operate in a Joint Environment


AHP - The Players

ACCH&

MHD

Schools&

Institutes

MACOMSCOCOMS

“The lessons of war are painfully learned, yet with war over are quickly forgotten until it is time to begin learning them again by the same painful process as before. They can at least be chronicled by the historian, to facilitate the relearning.”

Mark S. Watson

“Oral history is a field of study and a method of gathering, preserving and interpreting the voices and memories of people, communities, and participants in past events.”

American Oral History Association

Defining Army Oral History


“Oral history activities, an integral part of the Army History Program, focus on persons, events, and topics of historical interest to the Army. They are conducted to obtain historical information that may not otherwise be recorded. Oral history materials are official Army records.”

U.S. Army Regulation 870 – 5 “Military History”


Oral History has been a primary source for military historians since ancient times.

Thucydides – Pioneered the use of Oral History by interviewing soldiers and statesmen for his work “The Peloponnesian Wars”

S.L.A. Marshall - The father of U.S. Army Oral History. He conducted post combat interviews, debriefing soldiers immediately after battle during World War Two.

Defining Army Oral History



• Augment the record by capturing information not often found in official documents.

• Provide background information on important decisions.

• Preserve and impart important lessons learned.

• Document important personal insights and anecdotes.

• Shed light on personalities and interactions that contributed to decisions and shaped events.

Properly executed and researched oral history products can make significant contributions to the record

PURPOSE


The U.S. Army has accumulated a wealth of oral history interviews that have helped preserve the record of its activities in peace and war.

• Center of Military History (CMH) provides guidance and oversight for all Army Oral History activities and programs.

• Oral History is practiced across the U.S. Army. Each unit or organization executes programs relevant to their mission.

• Army Oral History programs and products are an integral part of the AHP. Without these materials, reconstructing many events in the Army's history would be difficult.

• U.S. Army Oral History products and publications = Edited Transcripts.


DESCRIPTION & DIRECTION


Biographical: Focuses on an individual’s life and career. Army Historians usually conduct this type of interview after the individual has retired from government service.

Subject: Concentrates on obtaining information about a single event or topic.

Exit: Conducted near the end of a person’s tour in a particular assignment and centers on the issues and decisions unique to that job.

After-Action: A specialized form of a subject interview. Its objective is to preserve information about military operations in the field.

TYPES OF ORAL HISTORY

An “interview” is not considered an Oral History.



SIGNIFICANT PROGRAMS

Combat After-Action Interview – Conducted in the field by Military History Detachments.

Operational Lessons Learned – Collects important information from senior staff officers and commanders

Senior Officer Oral History – Comprehensive examination of the lives and careers of retired, senior officers.



PRODUCTS & USES


• Oral History material is used in nearly every AHP publication.• Oral History collections and lessons learned volumes are distributed

throughout the force.


PRODUCTS & USES



Accessing the collections

Combat Studies Institute, Operational Lessons Learned (OLE) transcripts can be found online

http://cgsc.leavenworth.army.mil/carl/contentdm/home.htm



Accessing the collections

U.S. Army Military History Institute Oral History Transcripts can be found online http://www.ahco.army.mil/site/index.jsp



CURRENT CHALLENGES


• Digitization and multi-media.

• Classification and access.

• Sharing across organizations and programs.



CONCLUSION

• The U.S. Army has a long tradition of utilizing oral history to build the historical.

• Oral History programs seek to obtain historical information that may not otherwise be recorded.

• Oral History products are widely used in the preparation of official histories and internal studies.

• Oral History activities and programs are an integral part of the AHP.

“It often happens that those who discuss war, taking the weapon for the starting point, assume unhesitatingly that the man called to serve it will always use it as contemplated and ordered by the regulations. But such a being, throwing off his variable nature to become an impassive pawn, an abstract unit in the combinations of battle, is a creature born of the musings of the library and not a real man. Man is flesh and blood; he is body and soul. And, strong as the soul often is, it cannot dominate the body to the point where there will not be a revolt of the flesh and mental perturbation in the face of destruction.”

Colonel Ardant du Picq

oral history in the u.s. army

Documents

army oral history oral

army history program

roadmilitary history

watsonoral history

active army

army reserve

oral history materials

oral history branchu