Marine Corps Base Quantico -- Armed with a notebook, recording device and the standard issue Marine gear, Col. Kurt Wheeler recorded world history in real time on the field of combat.
As a field historian with the Marine Corps History Division, Col. Wheeler, a reservist, gathers the Marine’s unvarnished perspective.
Field historians are deployed with Marine units to take photos, collect oral history interviews, documents and artifacts such as a Humvee, posters, weapons, uniforms and cultural items.
“We try to get the whole history. It’s not just about the combat, it’s about the experiences the Marines have when they are deployed as well,” Col. Wheeler said.
In August, Col. Wheeler, 48, will become the new officer in charge of the field history branch for the Marine Corps History Division, replacing the current OIC, Col. Rod Andrew.
They investigate, record, and document Marine Corps operational and institutional experience home and abroad.
Twelve to fourteen Marine reservists occupy the branch, making it the smallest field history branch in the military.
“That’s really our mission; we document and down the road if a historian wants to write a book about it, the raw material is collected and in one place,” Col. Wheeler said. “It’s very hard to write history as it’s unfolding because a lot of time you don’t know what’s going to turn out.”
Typically historians do not write about the events until at least four years later.
According to records compiled by the history division, from 2001 to the present, the field history division had 48 deployments in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom while collecting over 6,600 oral history interviews.
They are also deployed to document joint and international training exercises around the globe and help with disaster relief missions.
Col. Wheeler has been with the division since 2004 and has deployed twice as a field historian. From 2006 to 2007 he was deployed to Iraq during the Anbar Awakening.
“The Marines were very successful then in Western Iraq. I was there when the tables turned and the Iraqi’s started working with the Americans and fighting against Al Qaeda,” Col. Wheeler said.
During two weeks of reserve training, he traveled to the Republic of Georgia to document Marine training.
Col. Wheeler strives to interview Marines right after an event has happened to get a contextually pure, accurate perspective.
During his 5 months in Iraq, he witnessed IED explosions, observed Marines patrolling streets, and spoke to Iraqi police and civilians.
“You’re out collecting history and all of a sudden you’re getting shot at,” Col. Wheeler said. “Most wars have been long periods of boredom punctuated by short periods of crazy, frenetic terror. In some ways the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan [were different], every day you were in danger.”
“When you are in a supporting MOS, you really have an appreciation for what that unit does,” he said.
With 26 years in the Marine Corps, Col. Wheeler served as a communications officer during active duty.
In the broader aspect, field historians do what they do because “the Marine Corps has a deep commitment to Marine Corps history just as it has a deep commitment to professional military education,” said Col. Wheeler.
When they are not deployed, field historians assist with researching, writing exhibit panels for the National Museum of the Marine Corps, authoring or co-editing books and articles on the Marine Corps history and informing fellow Marines and the public.
Col. Wheeler has co-edited “Pathbreakers: U.S. Marine African American Officers in Their Own Words” and assisted with editing of “Al-Anbar Awakening, Volume I American Perspectives: U.S. Marines and Counterinsurgency in Iraq, 2004–2009” and contributed several other articles.
To become a field historian, an individual must have a passion for history, and be able to write and research effectively.
As Marine reservists most field historians bring a variety of skills and advanced education to the job.
Col. Wheeler’s civilian job as a high school teacher in Cazenovia, New York for the past 19 years compliments his reserve job.
He teaches world history, U.S. history and government, occasionally incorporating real-time, historical information he collects in the field into his lessons.
“I really believe in the importance of history and the value of having accurate, well written history. History shapes [student’s] understanding of the present and leads to citizenship,” he said.
He is also the mayor of his small town, which is located near Syracuse.
Col. Wheeler has a bachelor’s degree from Harvard College and masters in history education from Harvard Graduate School of Education.
For more information about the history division, visit: http://www.mcu.usmc.mil/historydivision/SitePages/Home.aspx