How does one become a combat field historian? You would think the combat field historian would be an individual who had a great love of history, studied history or was a history major in college. Those would certainly be ideal prerequisites in a peacetime scenario when you were searching for the ideal candidate.
However, in 1967 there was a major incident (actually an undeclared war) raging in the Republic of (South) Vietnam, and the U.S. Navy was looking for a warm body to fill a non-career enhancing billet. I was a mid-career lieutenant commander, a qualified submariner, and I volunteered to spend a year in 'Nam as a combat field historian. I wasn't particularly motivated to go there; however, I knew I could contribute and possibly improve my chances to change designators.
-Don
