The Office of Army Reserve History reports to the Commanding General of the U.S. Army Reserve Command (USARC CG), and has been in existence since 1992. It has several main functions, all of which are outlined below:
I. Program Management. The Army Reserve Historian and his staff provides advice and recommendations to the USARC CG and the leadership of the Army Reserve on Department of Defense and Army historical policy, operations, and developments, and exercise overall staff responsibility for military history programs within the Army Reserve community. The Army Reserve Historian also directs the Army Reserve History Program, the National Museum of the Army Reserve (NMAR) and the Army Combat Historian School (CHS), and provides technical historical expertise to the command history programs of all-major Army Reserve units and activities.
II. Leader Development. The fundamental element of this function is to facilitate staff rides. Staff rides are considered training events and may be supported by training funds if necessary. The staff ride teaches invaluable lessons in the resourcefulness, courage, skill, and initiative of military leaders in actual combat operations of the past. Please visit the “Staff Rides” page for more information.
III. Combat Historian Training & Education. The Office of Army Reserve History has oversight responsibility for the training of all Army military history detachments (MHDs) and the Army Combat Historian School. As a part of this program, the Army Reserve 84th Training Command manages and conducts ATRRS 300-BCHQ: Basic Combat Historian Qualification Course to provide required technical pre-mobilization education to military history units and tactical unit historians of the Active Army, Reserve Components and deploying history personnel of the other services. For more information please visit the “Combat Historian School” page.
IV. Publications. An essential mission of the Office of Army Reserve History is to write the official history of the Army Reserve. This history not only provides a comprehensive account of Army Reserve activities in peace and war, but also serves as an important tool in the on-going training of officers and noncommissioned officers in the profession of arms. The office prepares and publishes historical monographs and special historical studies on topics and events of historical significance to the Army Reserve or the Army. Army Reserve historians also publish the Biannual Army Reserve Historical Summary (ARHS) in accordance with Army regulations and guidelines. For more information please see the “Publications” page.
V. Army Reserve Historical Research Collection. This function encompasses the establishment, maintenance, intellectual control, referencing and implementation of an Army Reserve-wide permanent historical research collection. The Army Reserve Historical Research Collection documents, in all formats, the corporate memory of the mission activities of the Army Reserve. The repository has an impressive collection of historically significant records and personal papers which serves as a useful tool, promoting a deeper understanding of the citizen soldier and providing the institutional memory of the Army Reserve. The collection is of major importance in enabling planners and operating officials to apply the lessons of past experience to the resolution of current and future problems. Please visit the “Historical Research Collection” page for more information.
VI. National Museum of the Army Reserve. An Army Museum Activity was established for the Army Reserve in September 1999 at the USARC headquarters building. The mission of the National Museum of the Army Reserve is to collect, preserve, interpret, and exhibit objects, images, and artifacts related to the history, heritage, and traditions of the Army Reserve and the federal citizen soldier. The museum seeks to educate the military and the general public about the contributions of the Army Reserve and citizen soldier to this country's history and defense. This is accomplished through exhibits, a website, and an effective educational outreach program that includes living history displays and staff rides. Please visit the “National Museum of the Army Reserve” page for more information.
VII. Oral History. The Army Reserve Oral History Program focuses on conducting oral history interviews of key personnel involved in events and topics of historical significance to the Army Reserve that otherwise may not be part of the more traditional written word and record. Oral history interviews are ever more important in today’s Army, in which the details of planning and executing military policies, activities and operations are increasingly transmitted electronically and not captured on paper. The tapes and transcripts of these interviews are retained permanently in the Army Reserve Historical Research Collection, and available to the Army’s decision-makers. Selected interviews are published.
