Hi All
I've got a B/A in history, degree in Museum Technolgy and am currently working as a Curatorial Assistant with the Royal Alberta Museum cataloging the uniform collection. I've worked my entire career in military collections in various museums including 5 years at the Canadian War Museum.
Being a figure painter there isn't a specific period of interest, although I've been building a lot of Romans, Vikings and Barbarians as of late. Models tend to be WWII German, U- Boats, armour as well as WWII and WWI aircraft.
Cheers
Mark

Hey guys.

I received my honours specialist degree in American history back in '96 from the University of Toronto.

My minors were military history and Psychology (psychology because I wanted to understand what the personal motivation of histories personalities).

I like to research Canada's involvement in military conflicts in the 20th century.

I am by no means a "specialist" in this area and believe that when we can always learn by our mistakes if we are willing.

Cheers, Michael

I in fact did get thrown out of a High school history class for correcting the instructor about the inner workings of the first A-bomb. I was right and was less than gracious about it. I only model WW2 but all of it back to bones and stones facinates me. From early on I was a believer in the Those who don't learn from history theory. History is the book of man and who is uninterested in themself? If everyone had an interest we would have less strife in the world. Because of this generations war, I read a little history about the middle east and was appalled by the heavy handed treatment of some of those countries after WW1 by the "super powers" of the time. Pogo got it right.

I have an under graduate degree in Political Science and several graduate degrees, but I always to get one in History. So when I retired I used my GI Bill benefits to obtain the degree through the American Military University system. I am damn near deaf from 30 years of tanks, but using the on-line system of AMU was superb. I concentrated on World War II in the European Theater of Operations. Wonderful group of instructors, lots of interaction with other students, and great class material. I supplemented my studies with several trips to Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge area. Marvelous experience and one I am glad I took advantage of...try it.

Well for me I have an interest in the American Revolution and ACW. I don't have a degree but have read a lot of books on each subject. As my wife says, I am her walking history book.

My modeling interest are mainly WWII English (RAF) aircraft specifically the Hawker Hurricane and emergency vehicles. No real reason why I like the Hurricane other than it seems to been just a footnote in RAF history when compared to the Spitfire.

As for the emergency vehicles that is probably do to me being a volunteer fire fighter/EMT. So if there is anybody who builds emergency vehicles that is close to Washington DC, give me a shout.

Bill

Richard I find that utterly amazing! Thank you for sharing that fact with us.
My Military/history interest has been with me as long as I can remember. My family as strong links with the military, My father was in the NZ Army, His father the RNZN and his father the British Army during WW1 and so the stories have always been there. My interest has only been further fuelled by conducting research into the circumstances of death for 2 relations in WWII one RAF the other NZ army.
My modelling interests are mainly US army ETO WWII but I am now becoming more interested in modelling NZ's part during WWII.
I am studying a BA next year at university looking to major in History and Political science.

I became interest in history during the 4th grade. I had a teacher that didn't use the school book. She actually taught us from what she had learned. Best teacher I have ever had. I have no formal training in the field. Just a love for the past. I mostly enjoy the time period of 1860-1950. Could be a reason why I started up Civil War Reenacting this year. That and there's nothing quite like firing off a 12 pound gun.

I'm studying history to become a teacher...so i have to do almost all time periods. But my main interests are the roman empire, european middel ages and the time from 1850-until today. But to say the truth, there is little, what i'm not interested in. I could spend hours with such topics...i fear my girlfriend thinks, i love forgotten, dusty and dead things more then her;)
I was always faszinated by history...and i never lost this interest.

I plan on majoring in history when I start college next year to become a teacher or certified park person. My intrest started in elementary school and I liked the medeval time for the same reason as most little kids. in 6th grade I went to my first civil war reenactment and ever since then that era has facinated me to the point where I became a reenactor the moment I was able too, junish of 05. My intrest in WW2 started in 04 when I had surgery so I was layed up and the History channel had all of the D-Day 50th anniversary shows on and they were running BoB.

Now I am waiting till I move out to a place of my own inorder to start making models (my parents think it is too expensive along with reenacting ).

Matt

I think it was watching all the war films like sahara and longest day that got me hooked when i was a boy. That and reading the readers digest ww2 history book and being fascinated by all the pictures when i was at my uncles house.

11 years later and now I am really interested in military history. I was interested in the American Civil war at school and loved the book "Gettysburg". Now I am currently interested in the second world war again. Wikipedia is a great help on the subject and I spend a lot of time reading articles.

Jamie

Like most of you good folk I am a student of all subjects of history. Yet my main interest is WWI aviation. It only lasted a few years total but I have 22 file cabinets full of photographs and documents at my disposal. It began with a Sunday news paper comic strip in 1965. A life long study has grown. Now I write, build models small and full scale. I study all combatants to gain a whole perpective of what really happened.

BA in History, Gettysburg College.

My interest in history is specific to military history. I find social history mostly boring unless written by a truly fantastic writer.

I'm interested in all eras, but especially WW2 land warfare and elite units from WW2 through the present. I especially enjoy reading first person accounts from people at the "sharp" end of things, rather than general histories. I am interested in other eras including US Civil War, all 20th Century Warfare, and, to a lesser degree, ancient warfare. I do like planes and, to a lesser extent, ships, but they are all a distant 3rd place to armor, etc.

Rob

No formal training / education as a historian, but the subject has fascinated me as long as I can remember. I guess its the interest in finding out on past events, why it occured, etc. As a hobby, I've done readings military history -- ancients up to Vietnam, though my long-time interest is on WWII specifically on the German side. This carried me through modelling exclusively Luftwaffe subjects when I started building kits; now that I'm back to the hobby -- German WWII armor.

I read as much as I can about history. I should have been a history professor instead of going into engineering. My main focus is WWII and mostly ETO. I do also have interest in the Civil War.

I have a nice library that covers time fron anicent Egypt up to some current issues. Wars are a big focus as well as natural disasters. While I have A wide knowledge base I do not consider myself and expert in any one area. But I do love the History Channel. Something neither one fo my wives understands.

I've been a history buff for as long as I can remember. I have a double minor in US history and World History. I'm pretty much fascinated by all eras of history and prehistory.
My undergrad degree is in Criminal Justice but because of health reasons I'll be unable to use it. So I'm giving alot of thought of going back for a masters that would lead me towards work in Archaeology. I've been doing alot of work on projects on my own. Nothing that has turned into a dig. More or less reading, researching and trying to piece together the how but more importantly the who. The project is to figure out who were the first humans in North America, and how did they get here. I,m aiming more towards who were the first people in the Northeast / central US. , and again how did they get here.
Harry

History major from Ohio University, 1978. Got my 2LT commission and did officer basic at Fort Knox on M60A1 tanks and M113 cavalry scout courses. Then went to Germany to the 11th ACR on the east-west German border.

Always had in interest in history, read a lot about air, naval and ground combat in WWII. This led to me to get into armor as I could not fly due to my eyes. I stayed in Germany until 1996 working for the Army doing new equipment fielding into V Corps. Was able to get on and into many of the new combat vehicles. As a modeler it was great to see the real thing.

I was able to go on a tour with LTG (R) Desorby during the 40th anniversity of the liberation of Bastonge in September 1984. Our group went all around Bastonge going over the sites and battles of the armor task forces that held off the German Panzer Lehr and 2nd Panzer Division forces moving on the town during the Ardennes offensive. We went to Noville where TF Desorby and units of the 1/506 PIR, 101 AB fought a hard fight.

I also wargame with miniatures and board games. The miniatures are micro-armor WWII, Arab-Isaerli and Modern.

I know a lot about armor, WWII and modern, camo patterns and organization. My wargaming and modeling compliment each other.

I also have interest in other time periods of American and European history, to include the wars fought.

My interests are in all things military history. Since I am 19 most of my friends give me a hard time and call me a war mongal. I really enjoy reading about the Eastern Front of World War II and the Pacific theater. One grandpa fought against the Russians on the Eastern Front and my other grandpa fought against the Japanese and had his ship shot out from under him at the first battle of Salvo Island.

I've been a history buff since I can remember. Many were the days during summer break when i would bike to the local library and read everything I could, especially on WW2. But I discovered computers in college, and went on to get a BBA in MIS (Management Information Systems). Then, just to do things "my way," spent three years in the US Army, as an M1 Abrams crewman, fully intending to make it a career. But I got tired of taking orders from idiots, and decided to get out once my contract was up.

After spending twenty years in software development, I got pretty frustrated with the work. I used to joke that if I had it all to do over again, I'd be a history professor. Well, thanks to the Great State of Texas, I'm back at my alma mater pursuing just that!

I've collected small-arms ammunition for quite a while, and am particularly interested in the history of small-arms development. Since I have to pick a time-frame for the degree, it will probably be 19th-century Europe, particularly the Industrial Revolution. Unfortunately the University of Houston (where I'm going) doesn't have a military history specialty.

This is my second semester back, and so far it's been a lot of fun. Finances are a little tight, but if we can hold out I should graduate a PhD in 2012 (provided I can get accepted into the program, knock on wood).

Hello everyone,
My name is Ron and I am new to this forum. I am interested in maritime history, especially around the 14th through 18th centuries. I am also a model ship builder.
Ron W.

I was rather unique in high school in that I was a jock (football) and a geek at the same time. I was about the only guy on the team that never got kicked out of study hall because I was always reading a book. You would be amazed at how much trouble you can avoid by reading!!

I have always been a nut about any type of military history. My main interest is WWII but have been reading a lot about the Revolutionary War lately. In college (Purdue University) I was a business major but I did take some history classes. The best professor I ever had down there was a guy by the name of Gunter Rothenburg who told it like it was because he was there! My main gripe about the way they teach history in public school is that they skip over the good parts (war) and seem to try and make it as boring as possible.

My buddies and I would save our allowances and do combined orders for model stuff from Squadron Shop so we could avoid the minimum order restrictions. We also used to order the blue Ballantine WWII books for $1 a piece. Ah youth..................

My warmongering (as my mother would call it) started very early. My father has a copy of the history of WWII from the 1946 time frame. I wore those out looking at the pictures and reading the history. Not the politically correct stuff, but what they thought at the time, pre cold war. They still liked Stalin!

My next step was reading the history section in my high school library. They had an english copy of Staligrad in Normandy that I still wish I had borrowed (stole). Again, before all the "correctness" had been added. I started reading up on the US Army, and after a few years discovered that there was more to it than Patton. Learning that 4 out of 5 "journalists" sucked up to him explained quite a bit about the newpapers at the time. In later years I learned that the Ike jacket Ike wanted was at the expense of the US Soldier in Europe, and I still can't stomach the idea. I am still looking for more on the Soviet experience, but it is very difficult to find any unbiased works for any side! All in all, I love history ancient and modern and prefer watching a special on the Romans to any game that comes along.

My interest in history began while racing around my grandparents house playing 'soldiers' wearing an R.A.F peak cap. At about 13 years old, I actually began to ask about it, and found out it belonged to my Great Grandad who served in both World Wars (pilot in the 1st, volunteered in Malay during 1942, later POW). Since then, I have been researching family members involved in war, as well as interviewing neighbourhood veterans.

I am studying to become a historian and archaeologist, aspiring to get a PhD in both. My area of interest is the Pacific War, 1941-45. I believe the Australian, British and Commonwealth campaigns there are severely lacking in recognition and research. My favourite historian is Peter Brune whom I dream of working with or at least meeting someday.

A lot of my dioramas and models reflect or are based on real events from World War 2.

Chas

Even though I have two degrees in the biological sciencs, history has always been a fascination to me. Of particular interest are the early campaigns of WWII especially the Med and South East Asia.
From my early years, I built plastic models and played board games. I was a long time subscriber to the old "Strategy and Tactics" magazine and had most of the Avalon hill games in my collection. When I played Advanced Squad Leader, I began to write new scenarios for the game. One of which I understand is still used in tournaments.
When I build a model I sometimes go overboard trying to find enough information that I can find on the subject. Reading up on the subject and the crew of it if posible.

Mike T.

I graduated from university in 1987 with a BA in political science, and a minor in sociology. I love all history, all countries, all eras. My dad was a WW2 vet, he served with the U.S. Army's 32nd "Red Arrows" Infantry Division in the PTO; he was wounded in action, and decorated.
An uncle served with the Army's 103rd "Cactus" Infantry Division in that war; his unit was overwhelmed in the Battle of the Bulge. He spent the remainder of the war as Der Fuhrer's guest. Another uncle was born in Latvia; he was an adolescent during the war, and unhappily spent part of it as Uncle Joe's guest, and the remainder as Der Fuhrer's, before his liberation by American troops in 1945.
Also, one of my forebears fought in the War for Southern Independence-can you guess which side!
Growing up hearing so many war stories, it was inevitable that I developed an interest in history. More specifically, military history. I remember during high school history, the class time we spent on the Industrial Revolution and labor organization nearly put me to sleep! I kept wanting the teachers to fast-forward to the next war.