Study of Military History

Looking back on the reading and what was discussed in class I have never realized how much we take history for granted. Throughout history the US and other countries have been involved in battles, operations and wars that have not always gone the way we would have liked. During these operations you would think that our leaders would look back into history and try not to repeat blunders that we previously had. In most cases I do believe that this happens, but as stated in our classroom discussion and proven by then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice sometimes what happened in history gets taken out of context and the misinterpretation can have a very bad outcome.

The study of history has proven to be a good guide for lesson learned. Mistakes that have been made throughout history have helped guide our nation and its leaders through their decision making processes. Nobody wants to make the same mistake twice, and I feel the study of history helps mitigate the chances of making bad decisions when it comes to the planning stages of battles or wars. It is human nature to learn from mistakes, as long as we learn from our mistakes and the mistakes of others.

I do not have a lot of experience with the planning of operations, or wars. Being a Marine Engineer I deal mostly with Army Vessels and the maintenance of the equipment on board these vessels. I do believe that it is very useful to know Army history, and how battles are lost and won, but I also use the history of our vessels and its equipment to conduct my day to day mission. As other officers sit around a table and plan their objectives I sit in an engine room and dig through years of log books to learn the history of the equipment I work on. I can tell when an engine needs to rebuilt, just by looking at the historical logs and listening to the engine. Another engineer can take over my engine room and by reading my log book entries he can find out what equipment I had problems