Robert Mages

Background

About Robert Mages

I am a U.S. Army historian with over twenty five years of government service. I am a seasoned scholar and analyst, a former Army officer and combat veteran. From 2006 to 2011, I was assigned to the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. I served as Chief of the Oral History Branch, U.S. Army Military History Institute, and as a lecturer and historian on the staff of the U.S. Army War College. From 2011 to 2018, I was assigned to the U.S. Army Center of Military History (CMH) where I served as staff historian for Headquarters, Department of the Army (HQDA) and the Office of the Chief of Staff, Army. My primary responsibility was to collect, assess, catalog, and make available for study the personal and professional papers of the Chief of Staff of the Army. I also conducted oral history interviews with departing political appointees, general officers, and members of the Senior Executive Service in support of the HQDA end-of-tour interview program. In 2017, I served as Command Historian, Airborne Corps/Combined Joint Task Force Operation INHERENT RESOLVE (CJTF-OIR) in Baghdad, Iraq. I collected historical documents for CJTF-OIR, prepared an historical narrative documenting the campaign, and provided historical support and analysis to the Commander, Airborne Corps. I now serve as Command Historian, U.S. Army Futures Command (AFC). I hold an MA in European History from Washington State University and a BA in Social Sciences from Providence College. I am the author of "A Narrative History of Combined Joint Task Force Operation INHERENT Airborne Corps; Jan - Jun 2017," co-author of "The Highest Level of Skill and Knowledge: A Brief History of U.S. Army Civilians 1775 - 2015," and the primary editor and co-author of "The Sergeant Major of the Army." I have written several articles to include, “Without the Need of a Single American Rifleman: James Van Fleet and His Lessons Learned as Commander of the Military Advisory Group During the Greek Civil war, 1948 – 1949.”