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Time travel made easy:
AIA people reach back into history

By Doug Karas
HQ AIA/PA
Kelly Air Force Base, Texas

It’s programmed into us from school. Someone says history. You yawn.

Yet, five members of the Air Intelligence Agency will tell you, it doesn’t have to be that way. They’ll tell you that history is very relevant to our lives today. They study history, they collect history, and they live history.

"There’s one thing that doesn’t change," said Maj. Shaun Copelin, the deputy chief of the Air Force Information Warfare Center’s Intelligence Applications and Production Operations Division. "That’s the warrior spirit."

According to Copelin, the same spirit that fuels service people today also drove the Spartans centuries ago.

"The Spartans really showed this warrior spirit during the Battle of Thermopylae," explained Copelin. "In this battle, 300 Spartans delayed the advance of 100,000 Persian troops. They could have retreated, or surrendered, but they understood that they were all that stood between the Persian Empire and Greek society and democracy."

Copelin’s own search for the warrior spirit began when he was a 7 year old in Oklahoma.

"My dad took me to an air show. It began with a simulated World War I dogfight; continued with World War II vintage aircraft and ended with a demonstration by the Thunderbirds, who were flying F-4s at the time. From then on, I always wanted to fly."

Copelin joined the Air Force as an electronic warfare officer on F-4Gs and F-15Es, and never lost his interest in history.

"I was about halfway through a master’s degree in Public Administration, and it became a struggle to do the work. I was more interested in history," remembered Copelin, who switched majors and earned a master’s degree in Military History from American Military University in Manassas, Va.

"Anytime you’re in a profession, you should study its development," Copelin said. "It’s hard for me to believe that some people aren’t interested in it."

Copelin’s interest in military history extends beyond academics. He also collects unit patches, unit coins and aviation art. "Much to the chagrin of my wife," he added.

This interest in aviation art is shared by 1st Lt. Josh Lechowick, an intelligence officer with AFIWC’s Information Warfare Support Team. Lechowick has connected to the military tradition through the artwork of Robert Taylor, who he describes "as the finest aviation artist in the world."

Lechowick’s interest in military history began when he was in elementary school. To hear him talk, though, it may have been genetic. "My father was a big history buff," said Lechowick, who majored in history at Texas A&M.

On a recent TDY to Germany, Lechowick was able to buy two Taylor prints, one of which is autographed by Erich Hartman, the world’s leading ace, with 352 shootdowns.

"Regardless of whether you’re an intelligence officer, an administrative specialist or a pilot, we’re all warriors," said Lechowick. "Sometimes we forget. History helps me keep that in perspective. It helps me appreciate the sacrifices of those who came before us."

Where Copelin and Lechowick connect with the warrior spirit through study and their collections, Lt. Col. Greg Young connects to history through music - bagpipe music.

Young, the chief of the Intelligence Division for the AFIWC’s Advanced Programs Directorate, has been playing the bagpipes for more than 30 years. "As a child, I was mesmerized by the pipes. At parades they would just light me up," he said. "I told my parents I wanted to play, but they never believed me until I was in 9th grade.

"The mournful quality of the pipes speaks to my soul," said Young, whose grandfather emigrated from Scotland.

He points out that the bagpipe has a long military tradition and can have an effect on anyone.

"Using an oscilloscope, a researcher has shown that the sine wave of the pipes matches that of blood in the inner ear" explained Young. "This led to the theory that the sound of a bagpipe can physically affect a person. I know when I practiced around my kids, it sure fired them up."

According to Young, the Highland Battle Pipe can reach 135 decibels "to carry over the din of the battlefield. If you heard a regiment and its pipers coming at you playing a quick march, I’m sure it would be frightening."

Although the pipes have fallen out of use in such "psychological operations," Young has found a niche for them in his career.

"I find real satisfaction piping for military events," said Young, who played the pipes as a morale builder during his deployment to Desert Shield/Storm.

"On Christmas Eve, I played old English carols. It brought people together."

The highlight of his military piping career came in the mid-1980s, when he participated in the commissioning of the USS Valley Forge, a guided missile cruiser.

"The captain of the ship came from Scottish heritage," he explained, "and I used the bagpipes to pipe the first watch aboard."

Where Young brings a bit of history into the present day, Master Sgt. Chuck Doig goes into the past to "live" history.

Doig, the NCOIC of the Psychological Operations Division at Headquarters AIA, has been "living" history for close to nine years. He began as a volunteer at the Fort Zachary Taylor Historic Site in Florida.

"I was born in Fredericksburg, Va., and grew up playing on cannons and in trenches of civil war battlefields," said Doig. "I always wanted to be part of a living history program. So, when I was stationed at Naval Air Station Key West, I went to Fort Taylor and volunteered."

Doig gave tours at the civil war-era fort, eventually donning a Union soldier’s uniform for the task.

"Fort Taylor was one of three forts south of the Mason-Dixon Line that didn’t fall to the Confederacy during the war," Doig explained.

Doig was transferred to Goodfellow AFB, Texas, in 1992, after volunteering 500 hours of service at Fort Taylor. Since then, he has continued his involvement with living history as a member of the 16th Infantry, Company F, at Fort Concho, in San Angelo, Texas.

"We try to educate the public about the life of a soldier at Fort Concho between 1867 and 1889," said Doig, who has logged another 400 hours of volunteer service.

According to Doig, the volunteers at Fort Concho participate in drills, cannon firings, and show 4th grade children what it was like to learn in a one-room schoolhouse.

"We want to show the life of the soldiers and families as accurately as possible," said Doig.

Though he enjoys interacting with the public during demonstrations, Doig gets another benefit from his trips back into history.

"Every time you put on that wool suit, there’s a feeling you get," he explained. At night, sitting around the campfire, you forget the computers, the cars and the airplanes.

"You can feel the ghosts of the past. We want to do service to them, and we like to think that if they came back, they’d feel at home."

Though a connection to the profession’s past is important, Lt. Col. Kevin Stubbs points out that military history is very important to AIA today.

"Because of our role in information operations, we are part of the 11th revolution in military affairs," said Stubbs, the chief of the Intelligence Preparation of the Battlespace Team at HQ AIA. "But, information operations is as old as warfare. Technology allows us to make new combinations and accomplish unique things, but it boils down to what is perceived about the battlefield.

"Fundamentally, weapons and tactics don’t fight wars, people do," continued Stubbs, who has earned a Ph.D. in European Military History from Texas A&M University. "Lacking knowledge of history can hurt you. The game ‘Diplomacy’ is a good example." "Diplomacy" is a simulation, recreating conditions and diplomatic actions in Europe during the summer of 1914. Players represent nations, but don’t know their time frame in history. The game begins as diplomatic messages are exchanged between nations.

"It’s amazing that before the game is over the players will invariably go to war," said Stubbs. "Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it."

Copelin also sees military history as vital to today’s warrior. For him, it’s a great leadership resource.

"As information operations moves forward, it gives you such insight to see the sacrifices leaders of the past made to bring about change," said Copelin. "You can only hope you’d have the courage to do what General Billy Mitchell did to promote air power."

They study history. They collect history. They live history. And, as members of AIA, they are also making history.