Keesler historian has deployment history Published Sept. 24, 2007 By 1st Lt. Lisa Kostellic 81st Training Wing Public Affairs KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- Although a civilian, the 81st Training Wing's historian is no novice when it comes to deployments. Jim Gildea returned from his fourth deployment to the Middle East May 15. As the first 81st TRW civilian to deploy in support of the global war on terror, Mr. Gildea said his past deployment experience gave him an edge that other civilian historians may not have had. "I think I had an advantage since I have prior military experience with deployments," he said. "I deployed three times to the area of responsibility while on active duty, so I basically knew what to expect although each location is unique." Mr. Gildea left his wife and daughter for his second deployment to Iraq Jan. 2. This time, he found himself at Balad Air Base, about 50 miles north of Baghdad and home to the only Air Force wing in Iraq. While at Balad, he served as the chief historian to the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing. The wing's heritage is tied to the famous 332nd Fighter Group led by the Tuskegee Airmen in World War II. Mr. Gildea worked with one other historian whose primary job was to gather historical information on the 332 AEW's nine geographically separated groups throughout the area of responsibility. The job of a deployed historian is to capture every imaginable day-to-day detail associated with wing operations, according to Mr. Gildea. This data is complied into a monthly report of 200 to 250 pages compiled from an average of 1,200 supporting documents. By comparison, a stateside historian compiles about 200 supporting documents to produce a 120-175-page annual report. "Collecting the supporting documents was really critical because those are the documents that researchers 20 to 30 years from now are going to want to see," the historian explained. Mr. Gildea changed his career path to a historian in 2000 while he was still on active duty at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M. After his retirement in 2004, he stayed on as a civilian historian. As a newly-hired civilian historian, Mr. Gildea was coded as emergency essential and assigned to an air expeditionary force bucket just like an active-duty member. Because of this, the civilian historian hiring process is more demanding than what the average Airman goes through. "As part of the hiring process, civilian historians are required to sign a mobility agreement, obtain a top secret security clearance, pass a stringent physical evaluation and successfully complete weapons qualification," Mr. Gildea said. "Failure to meet any one of those requirements would result in the applicant being disqualified." Mr. Gildea observed it was difficult to fit in as a civilian compared to his other deployments as a military member. "There's something about being military that automatically establishes a sense of camaraderie that takes a little more effort to establish when you're a deployed civilian," he said. Aside from this difficulty, the hardest part of his deployment was being away from his family. Mr. Gildea is ready to deploy again when his next air expeditionary force cycle comes up sometime next fall.