Military Review English Edition January-February 2017 | Page 109

HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS

M

ilitary history is a form of combat power.
Writing and reading military history form
the foundations for training, esprit de corps,
and decision making. The benefits accrue to the Army at
every echelon, from individual soldiers to senior leaders.
However, in order for the Army to benefit from studying its own history, the basic sources for what happened
during combat operations must be collected.
In the summer of 2014, the United States increased
military assistance to the Iraqi government to fight
the Islamic State (IS). From the beginning, U.S. Army
Central (USARCENT) played the principal role in providing American military assistance to Iraq. In mid-August, USARCENT commanding general Lt. Gen. James
L. Terry asked the U.S. Army Center of Military History
(CMH) for help establishing a historical document
collection program to help preserve the command’s
experiences. In response, CMH temporarily assigned
two of its civilian historians (Erik B. Villard and myself)
to establish a collection program that we would hand off
to a military history detachment (MHD). To accomplish this mission, we worked at USARCENT’s forward
headquarters in Kuwait from 28 August to 3 October
2014. We also conducted the first field use of the Army
military history doctrine that was updated June 2014,
Army Techniques Publication (ATP) 1-20, Military
History Operations.1
This article summarizes our efforts and discusses
some challenges we faced. We hope that our experiences
will be helpful to future Army historians, MHDs, and
soldiers appointed as unit historians as an additional duty. Given current geopolitical uncertainties and
budgetary constraints, it is reasonable to assume that
Army historians will again be asked on short notice to
help establish a historical collection program for another
theater Army providing land component support.
Commanders should also find this article of interest. Document collection programs are needed because
during wartime, operational records are considered
permanent. Their preservation is a statutory and
regulatory command responsibility. A useful resource
in this endeavor is the Center for Army Lessons
Learned Handbook No. 09-22, Commander’s Guide
to Operational Records and Data Collection: Tactics,
Techniques, and Procedures.2
Based on our experience, we can attest that ATP
1-20 is clearly written and accessible, and it provides
MILITARY REVIEW  January-February 2017

the framework for building a document collection
program. Our rapid deployment (we had less than two
weeks’ notice) prevented us from attending standard
MHD training. Nevertheless, we easily used ATP 1-20
to guide our efforts. We also benefited from support
by CMH, the greater Army historical community, and
the USARCENT staff. Finally, familiarity with the
Army’s organization and structure, ability to function
on a staff, and proficiency with the Army’s information
technology systems helped us achieve our objectives
and overcome obstacles.
Our CMH leadership sent us to Kuwait with the
mission to help USARCENT record its experiences
by collecting documents and establishing procedures
for a follow-on MHD. Immediately upon arriving in
Kuwait, we met with Terry. He directed us to save
USARCENT’s key operational documents in order
to help record lessons learned, write narrative histories, and facilitate soldier care in the future.3 In
prior assignments with USARCENT, Terry had seen
the command expand to meet the requirements of
contingencies (Operations Enduring Freedom and
Iraqi Freedom), and thus he knew the importance of
initiating the preservation of historical documents
during the early stages of operations. Now that the
fight against IS has become a full-scale operation
(Operation Inherent Resolve), and it shows every
indication of being a protracted campaign, his early
actions have helped ensure the Army’s experiences
will be preserved for posterity.
We distilled Terry’s guidance into four objectives: (1) establish collection procedures, (2) begin
collecting documents, (3) establish coordination
procedures with key staff, and (4) prepare a transition plan for the MHD.
Accomplishing these
Michael Yarborough
objectives also required
is a historian in the U.S.
resolving a number of
Army Center of Military
issues, mostly related to
History’s Force Structure
travel, computer and netand Unit History Branch
work access, and security.
at Fort Lesley J. McNair,
These challenges were
Washington, D.C. He
part of the friction of opholds an MA in American
erating in a wartime envihistory from George
ronment, but they would
Mason University and a
have led to our failure had
BA in history from James
they not been resolved.
Madison University.
107