Commander History

Former TRADOC CGs

TRADOC Command History

Mission Statement

The TRADOC Military History Program collects, interprets, and instructs military history and
heritage; acquires, preserves, conserves, and interprets historical property and documents; and emphasizes the human dimensions of the profession of arms.The TRADOC Military History Program collects, interprets, and instructs military history and heritage; acquires, preserves, conserves, and interprets historical property and documents; and emphasizes the human dimensions of the profession of arms.

TRADOC Military History Programs

Military history activity in TRADOC is carried out in two separate but complementary programs: the Command History Program and the Military History Education Program (MHEP).

The Command History Programs mission is designed to bring the historical dimension to all levels of the TRADOC mission:
recruiting, training, and educating the Army’s soldiers, developing leaders, supporting training in units, developing doctrine, establishing standards, and building the future Army.

The Command Historians, including the Historians in subordinating organizations, conduct research, preserve a selected collection of historical documents as the institutional memory of the command and advive Commanders on the use of military history in the professional development of leaders. Most Historians in the subordinating organizations CAC (Combined Arms Command), CASCOM (U.S. Army Combined Arms Support Command), and AAC (Army Accessions Command), also serve as instructors of military history. And all Historians lead staff rides to historic battlefields.

The TRADOC Military History Education Program involves academic instruction of military history as an integral component of leader development training.

Battlefield Staff Rides in the United States

Staff Rides were originally used by the German Army in the late 1800’s to train their General Staff officers. They studied the battles from the Napoleonic Wars to better understand what happened, why it happened, and what could be
learned and applied to the future. Today, staff rides are conducted by the US Army personnel to assist in the
development of leaders by visiting battlefields like Yorktown, Vicksburg, Gettysburg, Antietam, and Manassas to name a few. These exercises bring to life historical battles on the actual terrain, thus allowing leaders to analyze the
operational events through recounting and discussions on reconnaissance, use of terrain, tactics, weather,
communications and leadership. Such study provides excellent lessons learned for leader’s to apply in future situations.
There are many preserved American battlefields which can provide a wealth of staff ride opportunities listed below.

• Staff Ride Handbooks
• Combat Studies Institute (CSI) Staff Ride Team
• Battlefield Staff Ride Locations in the United States (includes Seven Year War, French and Indian War, American Revolution, Indian Wars, War of 1812, Civil War, Mexican War and Texas Revolution sites)
• Civil War Battlefields & Sites