Military Review English Edition January-February 2017 | Page 112

a massive effort in the 1990s, directed by President Bill
Clinton and Congress and led by CMH, to recover the
relevant records needed by Gulf War researchers.13
The Army’s continued transition to digital systems has
only compounded and magnified existing records management deficiencies. Since the beginning of the Global
War on Terrorism (GWOT) in 2001, many wartime
records have been irretrievably lost due to the ease of
overwriting electronic documents, units’ wiping computer hard drives before returning from deployments, and
generally poor records management practices. However,
during the Gulf War and operations conducted since
2001, deployed Army historians and MHDs have saved
copies of many important records. Today, digital and
paper copies of GWOT records are held at CMH. This
includes copies of records from Operations Enduring
Freedom (Afghanistan), Iraqi Freedom, New Dawn,
Freedom’s Sentinel, and Inherent Resolve. The collection
is still being accessioned, but the National Archives and
Records Administration and the Department of State
have already characterized it as a “national treasure.” It
will eventually be used to help write the Army’s official
history of the GWOT.14

Objectives and Accomplishments
Army doctrine for field history operations is
discussed in ATP 1-20, chapter 3, “Organization for
Field History Operations.” This doctrine includes
command history offices at all echelons, and other
Army field history organizations such as MHDs.
Erik Villard and I deployed as individual historians,
with our initial objectives and orders determined by
CMH. Once in Kuwait, these were refined based on
discussions with USARCENT leadership and the
guidance found in ATP 1-20.15 As previously mentioned, our four objectives were to establish collection procedures, begin collecting documents, establish
coordination procedures with key staff, and prepare a
transition plan for the MHD.
Establish collection procedures. Establishing collection procedures was our most important goal because it
guided all our efforts. This involved writing a collection
plan and getting a fragmentary order (FRAGO) published by USARCENT. We wrote the collection plan
first since “the collection plan is the heart of any field
history plan or order.”16 We based it on discussions with
USARCENT’s leadership, initial observations, guidance
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in ATP 1-20, and discussions with CMH. The plan contained a statement of purpose and intent, collection tasks,
methods of collection, types of historical documents to
be collected, collection priorities, disposition instructions,
and the final products owed to USARCENT.
To formally notify the USARCENT staff of our
mission, objectives, and requirements (and those of the
follow-on MHD), we needed a FRAGO.17 This could
have been done as annex to an operation order, but the
USARCENT staff wanted a FRAGO. We drafted the
basic order, staffed it for comments, and worked with
the command’s operations staff officers to get the document formatted and published. Publication took several
weeks and required our active participation throughout
the staffing process, but it was our single most important
achievement because it laid the foundation for our efforts
and those of the follow-on MHD.
Immediately upon arriving, we scheduled office calls
with USARCENT’s leaders, most of whom had deployed to Kuwait. We met not only with Terry but also
with the deputy chief of staff and the command’s principle staff (e.g., the deputy chief of staff for operations,
G-3). The USARCENT deputy chief of staff briefed
us on the command’s recent activities and provided
general guidance for how to go about accomplishing our
mission. During the office calls with the other staff, we
explained our mission, asked where we could locate the
types of records we needed to collect, and outlined our
requirements. All members of the USARCENT staff
understood the importance of preserving operational
records for posterity, and they were supportive. Through
these office calls, we rapidly gained situational awareness, refined the collection plan, and made personal
connections with individuals who would help open
doors for us. The importance of networking and being
personable cannot be overstated because otherwise we
would have been isolated and ineffective. The office calls
were also a productive use of time while waiting for
network access. Attending routine meetings and social
function