Wing historians preserve heritage at home, in the AOR

Published June 12, 2008
By Airman 1st Class Mindy Bloem
43rd Airlift Wing Public Affairs

POPE AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. -- It doesn't matter who we are, what our job is or what type of connections we may have -- history is a part of all our lives, and we all make it every day we live.

The Air Force takes its history seriously by employing people who are responsible for documenting what takes place on its bases year after year.

Air Force wing historians play an integral part in the Air Force mission by documenting the history of the unit to which they have been assigned as it happens. These historians include military and civilian personnel.

Civilian personnel like Keith Alexander, 43rd Airlift Wing historian, whose main mission on station is to collect, organize, safeguard and preserve historically significant data pertaining to the mission at Pope.

"Keith goes above and beyond to bring Pope's rich history to today's Airmen," Lt. Col. Tom Crimmins, 43rd Airlift Wing director of staff. "He does a great job intergrating our history and the history of the Air Force into everyday activities."

Some of his duties include writing annual histories of the units here, writing specialized topics and short articles and brochures of a historical nature.

Mr. Alexander, a former U.S. Marine, holds a Master's degree in history and has been trained in the research and writing of history. He has been in this career field for 10 years, the last three of which have been with the Air Force. He transferred to Pope in early November 2007.

The historian career field, which used to be manned by active-duty enlisted Airmen, is now primarily manned by Department of Defense civilians.

His job on station is different from his job at a deployed environment.

At home station, he writes an annual history.

This year's history is an issues-based history, he said. In this history, the wing commander and the historian identify the issues. Then, the wing historian gathers and analyzes the sources and writes the Wing's history.

His last deployment was from January to May 2007 where, he served as the historian for the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing. His job overseas involved writing contingency history.

"This type of history has three sections: an expanded chronology, a small narrative and a large number of appendices," said Mr. Alexander. "Our primary focus is the collection of data and organizing it for use by future researchers."

Some people do not realize that his position is actually deployable, but these combat civilians must go through the same preparation steps as many active duty members.

"Most people don't know the historian is an emergency essential position," Mr. Alexander said. "I get some funny looks when I show up for gear issue or appear in the processing line."

He had to get various immunizations, complete weapons training as well as combat skills training.

"We are required to go through the training Airmen go through before deployment," Mr. Alexander said. "Some things, such as marksmanship training, are dependent upon where a person goes in the theater."

"The training was easy and fun," he added. "During the three-day training package, I helped people with certain things such as their weapon carriage, exiting a vehicle during an ambush, etc."

Mr. Alexander doesn't seem to mind.

"I am glad this position is deployable," he said. "Because this position deploys, historians can observe and participate in the Global War on Terrorism. More importantly, we are helping to shape the image people will have in the future of our military."

In deployed locations DoD civilians merge with their military counterparts to make up the total force package.

"As a military historian, I thought it would be a unique experience," Mr. Alexander said. "I had the opportunity to observe some great people at work and record their deeds in the unit's history. I like the job. I get to see many things. Then, I get to take the colonel's issues and write about them. I tell the unit's story for that year. In many ways, I help shape the unit's historical identity."