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Civil War Memory and the Preservation of the Olustee Battlefield
Title
Civil War Memory and the Preservation of the Olustee Battlefield.
Creator
Trelstad, Steven, Gannon, Barbara, Walker, Ezekiel, Cassanello, Robert, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
This thesis explores the absence of a Union monument at the Olustee Battlefield one hundred and fifty-five years after the battle concluded though this field has a number of Confederate monuments. Moreover, after the Battle of Olustee in February 1864, the largest battle of the Civil War fought on Florida soil, the victorious Confederates killed wounded African American soldiers left behind after the Union retreat. This thesis examines why Olustee battlefield became a place of Confederate...
Show moreThis thesis explores the absence of a Union monument at the Olustee Battlefield one hundred and fifty-five years after the battle concluded though this field has a number of Confederate monuments. Moreover, after the Battle of Olustee in February 1864, the largest battle of the Civil War fought on Florida soil, the victorious Confederates killed wounded African American soldiers left behind after the Union retreat. This thesis examines why Olustee battlefield became a place of Confederate memory, enshrining the Lost Cause within its monuments for well over a half of a century that consciously excluded any commemoration of the Union dead. The lack of proper commemoration to the costly Union sacrifices at Olustee comes as a surprise, since some of the Union dead still rest in a mass grave on the battlefield. They remain on this field because after the war, federal soldiers reburied the Olustee dead in a mass grave and erected a temporary memorial that marked their final resting place. This neglect contradicted War department policy that mandated that the reinterred Union dead be in separate graves and marked by individual permanent headstones. When the temporary monument marking their presence disappeared, this also erased the memory of their presence and their sacrifice from the Olustee landscape. This left room for champions of the Confederate Lost Cause - Southern, Confederate Civil War memory - like the United Daughters of Confederacy (UDC) to build monuments to the Confederate cause. In fact, these women worked actively to ensure that the Union dead were not memorialized, particularly the African American casualties. The UDC managed the site until 1949, when the State of Florida assumed control of those grounds. Seventy years of direct control by the state of Florida failed to make a difference in the landscape of memory at Olustee: the Union dead have no monument to commemorate their sacrifice. This thesis explores why the markers, monuments, and policies still honor the Lost Cause memory of the battle, even as the park services in charge of the site promote a reconciliationist narrative and the resurgence of Union memory, including the sacrifice of black US soldiers. Sources used include Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, meeting minutes of the UDC, newspaper articles, official documents from the Florida Division of Parks and Recreation, documents from the National Park Service, private correspondences, and state legislature bills.
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Date Issued
2019
Identifier
CFE0007869, ucf:52763
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007869
Local Community Influences on Interpretation at Historical Sites and Museums
Title
Local Community Influences on Interpretation at Historical Sites and Museums.
Creator
FitzGerald, Jason, Cheong, Caroline, Gannon, Barbara, Walker, Ezekiel, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
(")Local Community Influences on Interpretation at Historical Sites and Museums(") is an analysis in how interpretations of historical content are chosen for visitors and to what degree local communities contribute to this decision process. What determines which stories and historical narratives are presented at historical sites and museums? Is the process of determining how to interpret historical events as simple as relating the event to the time and place that corresponds with that...
Show more(")Local Community Influences on Interpretation at Historical Sites and Museums(") is an analysis in how interpretations of historical content are chosen for visitors and to what degree local communities contribute to this decision process. What determines which stories and historical narratives are presented at historical sites and museums? Is the process of determining how to interpret historical events as simple as relating the event to the time and place that corresponds with that particular site? Is it possible that public historical sites and museums reflect the social values and points of interests of the local communities rather than accepted and popular history of American culture? This analysis demonstrates how local communities affect the interpretation through three case studies and through three components (-) governance, stakeholders, and funding. The simplified version of presenting history at historical sites (")because it happened here(") no longer becomes viable. Interpretation is affected and these three components demonstrate to what degree local communities contribute.
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Date Issued
2019
Identifier
CFE0007456, ucf:52669
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007456
To The Memory Of Brave Men: The Imperial War Graves Commission And India's Missing Soldiers Of The First World War
Title
To The Memory Of Brave Men: The Imperial War Graves Commission And India's Missing Soldiers Of The First World War.
Creator
Sims, Roger, Gannon, Barbara, Lester, Connie, Zhang, Hong, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
This thesis examines the commemoration of Indian soldiers who died during the First World War by the Imperial War Graves Commission, Britain's official government body overseeing all imperial commemoration efforts. For the soldiers of the Indian Army their war experience was split between the Western Front in Europe and Mesopotamia in modern-day Iraq. They were also far more ethnically, religiously, and lingually diverse than their British and Dominion counterparts. In order to examine how...
Show moreThis thesis examines the commemoration of Indian soldiers who died during the First World War by the Imperial War Graves Commission, Britain's official government body overseeing all imperial commemoration efforts. For the soldiers of the Indian Army their war experience was split between the Western Front in Europe and Mesopotamia in modern-day Iraq. They were also far more ethnically, religiously, and lingually diverse than their British and Dominion counterparts. In order to examine how geography, religion, and the imperial relationship affected Britain's commemoration of India's war dead, this study uses the Commission's own records to recreate how the IWGC created its policies regarding Indian soldiers. The result shows that while the Commission made nearly every effort to respect India's war dead, the complexity of their backgrounds hampered these efforts and forced compromises to be made. The geography of the war also forced a clear definition between the memories of Indian soldiers who died in Europe and those who fell in Mesopotamia.
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Date Issued
2018
Identifier
CFE0007098, ucf:51938
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007098
A Place in the Sunshine State : Community, Preservation, and the Parliament House
Title
A Place in the Sunshine State : Community, Preservation, and the Parliament House.
Creator
Montgomery, Erin, Lester, Connie, Gannon, Barbara, Pineda, Yovanna, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
A Place in the Sunshine State, is a thesis project focused on the Parliament House Motor Inn in Orlando, Florida. This project nominated the Parliament House Motor Inn for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. This nomination was completed using both oral histories and more traditional historical source material. The Parliament House Motor Inn was evaluated using National Register Bulletins and the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Preservation. This nomination was...
Show moreA Place in the Sunshine State, is a thesis project focused on the Parliament House Motor Inn in Orlando, Florida. This project nominated the Parliament House Motor Inn for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. This nomination was completed using both oral histories and more traditional historical source material. The Parliament House Motor Inn was evaluated using National Register Bulletins and the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Preservation. This nomination was presented to give voice to a long-underrepresented community within the national narrative of the United States, along with giving the Parliament House the recognition it deserves as an integral institution within the gay community. This nomination sheds new light onto early gay life in Orlando and concludes that Parliament House is a significant historic and cultural resource. This conclusion is vital to the preservation of LGBT history; it allows for a more complex interpretation of Orlando and central Florida history and helps to recognize LGBT history and the sites associated with them. This thesis also discusses Parliament House and its role as a site of the intersections between gay community and identity creation, place making, and the intricate history of the southern United States. ?
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Date Issued
2017
Identifier
CFE0007128, ucf:52319
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007128
Revisiting Roadside Attractions: A "Deep Dive" into Florida's Weeki Wachee Springs
Title
Revisiting Roadside Attractions: A "Deep Dive" into Florida's Weeki Wachee Springs.
Creator
Schwandt, Rebecca, French, Scot, Gannon, Barbara, Solonari, Vladimir, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
This digital public history project explores one of the oldest and longest running of Florida's roadside attractions, Weeki Wachee Springs, during the years considered to be the park's heyday, the 1950s through the mid-1970s. With the 75th anniversary of the park approaching in 2022 and preliminary discussions of a new or expanded mermaid museum, there is a growing need to document the experiences of aging former employees and preserve park-related ephemera from that period. For this project...
Show moreThis digital public history project explores one of the oldest and longest running of Florida's roadside attractions, Weeki Wachee Springs, during the years considered to be the park's heyday, the 1950s through the mid-1970s. With the 75th anniversary of the park approaching in 2022 and preliminary discussions of a new or expanded mermaid museum, there is a growing need to document the experiences of aging former employees and preserve park-related ephemera from that period. For this project six oral histories of former mermaids and former employees have been recorded, transcribed, and made publicly accessible through RICHES, the University of Central Florida's free-to-access digital archive, along with hundreds of documents and images related to the park. This newly discovered material uncovers the lived experiences of the mermaids and other employees interviewed, some of whom have never been written about previously. Historiographically, the park has attracted little attention from scholars. The few popular works devoted to Weeki Wachee Springs fail to place the attraction within the context of Florida's social or political climates in any meaningful way. Using oral histories of the park's employees recorded for this project, archival material uncovered during the research stage, and existing interviews from one of the only books written about the park (Lu Vickers' Weeki Wachee: City of Mermaids, 2007), this study combines a digital archive with scholarly interpretation informed by women's studies, social and cultural history, and oral history theory.
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Date Issued
2018
Identifier
CFE0007369, ucf:52104
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007369
Comrades In Arms?: Russian (&) Muslim Soldiers In The Red Army During World War II
Title
Comrades In Arms?: Russian (&) Muslim Soldiers In The Red Army During World War II.
Creator
Bradfield, Daniel, Solonari, Vladimir, Zhang, Hong, Gannon, Barbara, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
This thesis focuses on the perceptions of Muslims soldiers regarding their military service during World War II. To thoroughly analyze Muslim soldiers' attitudes, the thesis explores the total experience of Muslim military service through the Soviet Union's and Red Army's policies toward Muslims and how Russian soldiers viewed their Muslim counterparts. To achieve this, the thesis summarized current scholarship on Soviet and Red Army policies toward Muslims. The thesis analyzed the oral...
Show moreThis thesis focuses on the perceptions of Muslims soldiers regarding their military service during World War II. To thoroughly analyze Muslim soldiers' attitudes, the thesis explores the total experience of Muslim military service through the Soviet Union's and Red Army's policies toward Muslims and how Russian soldiers viewed their Muslim counterparts. To achieve this, the thesis summarized current scholarship on Soviet and Red Army policies toward Muslims. The thesis analyzed the oral histories and written accounts of Muslim soldiers and Russian soldiers to understand the perceptions of Russians and Muslim soldiers. A hierarchy of cultural backwardness underlined Soviet policies in both the Red Army and the larger Soviet system. Soviet authorities viewed Russians and other Slavic peoples as more highly advanced and therefore could progress 'backward' minorities through the Marxist teleology. Muslim soldiers who were able to communicate in Russian with Russian soldiers forged primary bonds with them. Muslim soldiers who did not form these relationships correlated the Russian soldiers with the Soviet state. Russian soldiers downplayed the contributions of Muslim soldiers while glorifying their central role to the Red Army's victory as the 'Slavic Backbone.' Immediate post-war interviews focused on the difficulties of serving with Muslims including poor communication, self-injury, (&) desertion. However, the post-soviet interviews described the Muslim members of their primary groups as integral parts of their units. Their successful service stood tall when balanced against the larger perception of Muslim ineffectiveness.
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Date Issued
2016
Identifier
CFE0006444, ucf:51449
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006444
Communism's Futures: Intelligentsia Imaginations in the Writings of the Strugatsky Brothers
Title
Communism's Futures: Intelligentsia Imaginations in the Writings of the Strugatsky Brothers.
Creator
Tammaro, Elizabeth, Solonari, Vladimir, Gannon, Barbara, French, Scot, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
Arkady and Boris Strugatsky were the most popular science fiction writing duo in Soviet Russia from the 1960s through the 1980s. Examining their imaginative fictional worlds against the background of wider changes in the Soviet Union allows scholars to gain insights in the world of the Soviet intelligentsia, the educated bearers of culture. As members of this group, the Strugatskys expressed the hopes, frustrations and fears, of their peers, vindicating their intellectual and emotional life....
Show moreArkady and Boris Strugatsky were the most popular science fiction writing duo in Soviet Russia from the 1960s through the 1980s. Examining their imaginative fictional worlds against the background of wider changes in the Soviet Union allows scholars to gain insights in the world of the Soviet intelligentsia, the educated bearers of culture. As members of this group, the Strugatskys expressed the hopes, frustrations and fears, of their peers, vindicating their intellectual and emotional life. I support the argument that the Brothers occupied a middle ground between conformity and dissident, dubbed the (")lost(") intelligentsia by Lloyd Churchward. I demonstrate this state of being in Soviet society by providing context to popular Strugatsky works, and discussing the evolution of their perspective over time, as displayed in their literature. Featured prominently in Strugatsky works are themes of governmental authority and scientific development, therefore these are the key focuses of this research. The Strugatskys examination of the essential question of the meaning and attainment of happiness adds a new layer of insight to this argument. Studying the Strugatsky Brothers aligns with the greater trend in the field of cultural studies of the Soviet Union, as historians seek to gain greater understanding of how society experienced the communist government. The captivating writing of the Strugatskys, a mixture of foreboding, irony and humor, contributes to the narrative of Soviet history as the authors were culturally significant figures whose legacy remains influential today.
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Date Issued
2017
Identifier
CFE0006919, ucf:51693
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006919
The First Florida Cavalry (US): Union Enlistment in the Civil War's Southern Periphery
Title
The First Florida Cavalry (US): Union Enlistment in the Civil War's Southern Periphery.
Creator
Campbell, Tyler, Gannon, Barbara, Sacher, John, Walker, Ezekiel, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
In 1863, along the southern periphery of the American Civil War, a Union Brigadier General began recruiting Southern white men into a Union cavalry regiment known as the First Florida Cavalry (US). This study investigates the regiment and those who enlisted in it to show the fluidity of Southern loyalty during the Civil War and the conditions of the Deep South Homefront that existed on the periphery of Union occupation and continue to exist on the periphery of Civil War historiography. While...
Show moreIn 1863, along the southern periphery of the American Civil War, a Union Brigadier General began recruiting Southern white men into a Union cavalry regiment known as the First Florida Cavalry (US). This study investigates the regiment and those who enlisted in it to show the fluidity of Southern loyalty during the Civil War and the conditions of the Deep South Homefront that existed on the periphery of Union occupation and continue to exist on the periphery of Civil War historiography. While scholars have recently addressed many aspects of Southern dissent in the Civil War, significantly less attention has been given to those who fought in the Union ranks. Utilizing previously unused archival materials paired with geospatial mapping, this study reveals the lives of Southerners who enlisted and their homeland. It examines both those who formed the regiment and those who enlisted in it. This analysis illuminates common soldier experience in the Sectional Conflict's Southern borderland. This study concludes that the volatile nature of loyalty and the needs of the homefront in the Deep South encouraged both Union generals to form the First Florida Cavalry and Southerners to enlist in it. While this assessment analyzes only several hundred men, it provides insights into the larger populations of Southern Union soldiers throughout the Deep South and their competing loyalties to nation and community.
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Date Issued
2018
Identifier
CFE0006984, ucf:51674
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006984
Visions of Race and Gender: Press Coverage of the French Colonial Expositions of 1922 and 1931
Title
Visions of Race and Gender: Press Coverage of the French Colonial Expositions of 1922 and 1931.
Creator
Morgan, Zachary, Lyons, Amelia, Solonari, Vladimir, Gannon, Barbara, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
During the interwar period, France attempted to reinvigorate interest in the empire amongst the public via elaborate colonial expositions. The colonial expositions of Marseille (1922) and Paris (1931) served as a means to celebrate the empire and to educate the French about the benefits of living within Greater France, an entity that included the metropole and the colonies. This thesis examines how press coverage of both expositions worked alongside these events to counteract anxieties...
Show moreDuring the interwar period, France attempted to reinvigorate interest in the empire amongst the public via elaborate colonial expositions. The colonial expositions of Marseille (1922) and Paris (1931) served as a means to celebrate the empire and to educate the French about the benefits of living within Greater France, an entity that included the metropole and the colonies. This thesis examines how press coverage of both expositions worked alongside these events to counteract anxieties regarding France's economic recovery after the war, continuing world presence, demographic losses, and most importantly the relationship between France and its colonies. It explores how the press attempted to mitigate these fears by creating, reinforcing, and reproducing an economically positive, dynamic, vibrant and ultimately sanitized vision of the colonies. This thesis argues that the press actively supported the goals of the expositions and championed the success of the civilizing mission, and demonstrates the media's role in perpetuating visions of French universalism. Their vision reveals contradictions found within French universalism that helps form a basis for analysis. This study scrutinizes the dominant discourses regarding the colonies during the interwar period and how the press used contemporary concepts of race and gender in their coverage of the expositions. This thesis argues that the press used the figure of the colonial soldier/worker and the erotic and patriarchal relationship between France and its colonies to reinforce colonial hierarchies regarding race and gender. The press attempted to shape the public's view of the empire through reconstructions of the imperial project and its people that idealized France's mission. Only the communist press sought to highlight the ferocity of French colonization.
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Date Issued
2015
Identifier
CFE0005672, ucf:50177
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005672
The American Way: The Influence of Race on the Treatment of Prisoners of War During World War Two
Title
The American Way: The Influence of Race on the Treatment of Prisoners of War During World War Two.
Creator
Rock, Adam, Gannon, Barbara, Sacher, John, Solonari, Vladimir, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
When examining the Second World War, it is impossible to overlook the influence race had in both creating the conflict and determining the intensity with which it was fought. While this factor existed in the European theater, it pales in comparison to how race influenced the fighting in the Pacific. John Dower produced a comprehensive study that examined the racial aspects of the Pacific theater in his book War Without Mercy. Dower concluded that Americans viewed themselves as racially...
Show moreWhen examining the Second World War, it is impossible to overlook the influence race had in both creating the conflict and determining the intensity with which it was fought. While this factor existed in the European theater, it pales in comparison to how race influenced the fighting in the Pacific. John Dower produced a comprehensive study that examined the racial aspects of the Pacific theater in his book War Without Mercy. Dower concluded that Americans viewed themselves as racially superior to the Asian (")other(") and this influenced the ferocity of the Pacific war. While Dower's work focused on this relationship overseas, I examine the interaction domestically.My study examines the influence of race on the treatment of Japanese Prisoners of War (POWs) held in the United States during the Second World War. Specifically, my thesis will assess the extent to which race and racism affected several aspects of the treatment of Japanese prisoners in American camps. While in theory the American policy toward POWs made no distinctions in the treatment of racially different populations, in reality discrepancies in the treatment of racially different populations of POWs (German, and Japanese) become clear in its application.My work addresses this question by investigating the differences in treatment between Japanese and European POWs held in the United States during and after the war. Utilizing personal letters from both American policymakers and camp administrators, U.S. War Department POW camp inspection reports, documents outlining American policy, as well as newspaper and magazine articles, I attempt to demonstrate how treatment substantially differed depending on the race of the prisoner. The government's treatment of the Japanese POWs should illuminate the United States Government's racial views during and after the war.
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Date Issued
2014
Identifier
CFE0005405, ucf:50433
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005405
Invisible in Plain Sight: The Troubling Connections Between the National Hockey League and the Russian Mafia
Title
Invisible in Plain Sight: The Troubling Connections Between the National Hockey League and the Russian Mafia.
Creator
Ennion, Kayla, Crepeau, Richard, Gannon, Barbara, Walker, Ezekiel, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
Professional sports leagues in North America have seen scandals, controversies, and tragedies. There is, however, a forgotten scandal that happened in the 1990s: the Russian Mafia came dangerously close to the National Hockey League. This thesis explores the alleged Mafia connections by examining newspaper and magazine articles and documentaries focused on the issue. The limited public response to allegations of Russian Mafia involvement is contrasted with other professional sports...
Show moreProfessional sports leagues in North America have seen scandals, controversies, and tragedies. There is, however, a forgotten scandal that happened in the 1990s: the Russian Mafia came dangerously close to the National Hockey League. This thesis explores the alleged Mafia connections by examining newspaper and magazine articles and documentaries focused on the issue. The limited public response to allegations of Russian Mafia involvement is contrasted with other professional sports controversies that were met with an immediate response by the leagues and fans. How North Americans viewed Russians during the post-Soviet era is also explored in this paper. This thesis examines why evident Mafia involvement with National Hockey League players did not provoke attention and sanctions by the league nor an outcry from the fans. This study will conclude the League did not react to the allegations because it felt as if the games were not harmed directly. Also, hockey fans did not find the allegations surprising because of the media's constant reports of corruption within Russia's borders, especially involving organized crime. Perhaps the lack of reaction by the National Hockey League and its fans suggests why this particular scandal is forgotten a mere 20 years later.
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Date Issued
2014
Identifier
CFE0005488, ucf:50363
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005488
Minnie and Ivy: Minnie Moore-Willson, Ivy Stranahan, and Seminole Reform in Early Twentieth Century Florida
Title
Minnie and Ivy: Minnie Moore-Willson, Ivy Stranahan, and Seminole Reform in Early Twentieth Century Florida.
Creator
Joshi, Sarika, Murphree, Daniel, Gannon, Barbara, Walker, Ezekiel, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
During an era when the Seminoles were little regarded in Florida, despite mass Indian reform nationwide, Minnie Moore-Willson of Kissimmee and Ivy Stranahan of Fort Lauderdale attempted to bring reform to the state. Living amongst members of the tribe, both women used their familiarity with Seminole life and practices, as well as their political and social connections, to enact change for the tribe. This was done, respectively, through the creation of reservations and attempting to increase...
Show moreDuring an era when the Seminoles were little regarded in Florida, despite mass Indian reform nationwide, Minnie Moore-Willson of Kissimmee and Ivy Stranahan of Fort Lauderdale attempted to bring reform to the state. Living amongst members of the tribe, both women used their familiarity with Seminole life and practices, as well as their political and social connections, to enact change for the tribe. This was done, respectively, through the creation of reservations and attempting to increase educational and vocational opportunities for tribe members. This thesis examines the lives and activism of Minnie Moore-Willson and Ivy Stranahan over the first two decades of the twentieth century and details their attempts to reform federal and state policies towards Seminoles in Florida. It illustrates the relationships of the women with each other, the Seminoles, and political power brokers in early twentieth century Florida, and attempts to determine their motivations. In doing so, the thesis argues that, though often ignored in the historiography of Seminoles in Florida, these women served as key figures in enacting Seminole-related reforms during the era. Examining Moore-Willson and Stranahan's lives and works affords a greater understanding of how non-Seminole women conceptualized and carried out Florida reform efforts and provides a new perspective for evaluating the early stages of Florida Seminole reform and comparable efforts in other areas of the United States.
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Date Issued
2014
Identifier
CFE0005355, ucf:50498
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005355
Superforecasting or SNAFU: The Forecasting Ability of the US Military Officer
Title
Superforecasting or SNAFU: The Forecasting Ability of the US Military Officer.
Creator
Raugh, David, Handberg, Roger, Dolan, Thomas, Powell, Jonathan, Gannon, Barbara, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
What is the impact of military institutional tendencies and habits on U.S. Army senior officer forecasting accuracy and how does this forecasting ability shape success in battle? Military leaders plan operations based on the forecasted strengths and vulnerabilities of their adversary. Negative habits, such as limited option development, confirmation bias, doctrinal overreliance, and over-consideration of sunk costs, inhibit effective forecasting. The tempo of the modern battlefield,...
Show moreWhat is the impact of military institutional tendencies and habits on U.S. Army senior officer forecasting accuracy and how does this forecasting ability shape success in battle? Military leaders plan operations based on the forecasted strengths and vulnerabilities of their adversary. Negative habits, such as limited option development, confirmation bias, doctrinal overreliance, and over-consideration of sunk costs, inhibit effective forecasting. The tempo of the modern battlefield, hierarchical culture, and institutional tendencies of the US Army may promote and reinforce these habits. I surveyed Colonels in US Army War College programs to measure their individual tendencies, levels of education, and accuracy in forecasting events during a three to twelve-month future. Quantitative analysis of the resulting data shows that these habits are present and negatively affect forecasting ability; additionally, higher levels of education positively affect forecast accuracy, possibly counteracting the effects of negative institutional tendencies and habits. Extending the research using historical and contemporary case studies of senior US Army Generals, including interviews of General David Petraeus and other high-ranking officials, I find that rejection of these institutional habits and tendencies enabled superior forecasting, leading to battlefield success. I conclude by examining how educational levels of commanding generals in the Iraq War affected military success. Exploratory quantitative analysis of data collected from the US Army historical archives shows that higher levels of education positively affected significant activities within the general's assigned areas.
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Date Issued
2019
Identifier
CFE0007519, ucf:52609
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007519
Entering Nam: A Comparative Study of the Entrance Experiences of Volunteer and Drafted Service Members into the Military During the Vietnam War
Title
Entering Nam: A Comparative Study of the Entrance Experiences of Volunteer and Drafted Service Members into the Military During the Vietnam War.
Creator
Wilt, Ashley, Lester, Connie, Gannon, Barbara, Sacher, John, Walker, Ezekiel, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
Many historians have conducted oral history interviews with Vietnam War veterans in an attempt to offer a more personal perspective to the study of the Vietnam War; however, most historians do not consciously differentiate between drafted and volunteer veterans. Identifying whether a veteran was drafted into service or volunteered is critical because the extent to which this service was voluntary or coerced may affect the way a veteran remembers his military service. By conducting oral...
Show moreMany historians have conducted oral history interviews with Vietnam War veterans in an attempt to offer a more personal perspective to the study of the Vietnam War; however, most historians do not consciously differentiate between drafted and volunteer veterans. Identifying whether a veteran was drafted into service or volunteered is critical because the extent to which this service was voluntary or coerced may affect the way a veteran remembers his military service. By conducting oral histories, one can consciously delineate service members who volunteered as opposed to those who were drafted to determine if the veterans' experiences change based on the nature of their entry into the military. Additionally, examining the implementation of a national draft and its effects on service members' experiences will offer a better understanding of American military history. While much of the attention of scholars has been on drafted soldiers in Vietnam, little research has been conducted on the experience of the volunteer soldier.This study relies on oral history interviews conducted with volunteer and drafted service members of the Vietnam War to determine if there were differences between draftees and volunteers based on their entrance into the military. The research and oral history interviews with the two veteran groups establishes that the dissent detailed by draft protesters was not always the case and service members, volunteers and draftees alike, more often than not accepted their military service. The interviewed veterans' responses suggest that resistance to military service during the Vietnam War may not have been as great as one might think given the attention that has been placed on the anti-draft movement.
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Date Issued
2012
Identifier
CFE0004211, ucf:49025
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004211