Maverick Veterans' Voices Speak

Friday, Sep 17, 2021 • MEDIA CONTACT : Contact

History Masters student Joe Carpenter is working on something extraordinary in the Library: Maverick Veterans’ Voices, an oral history project devoted to preserving the testimony of veterans and their families affiliated with the University of Texas at Arlington. Maverick Veterans’ Voices is a work of love and respect, one that reflects not only the long martial tradition of UTA, but also the dedication and training that History students receive while enrolled here. This carefully curated repository of oral histories is the confluence of rich, historic traditions; advanced scholarship; community outreach; and the fruition of years of hard work by the people of UTA’s Department of History, the Central Library, and the College of Liberal Arts.

UTA enjoys a rich military history and tradition and remains one of the top universities in the country for military veterans and their families. Originally founded as Carlisle Military Academy in 1902, the school spent the better part of its first four decades in existence adhering to military standards of discipline. In June 2021, the University of Texas at Arlington was ranked by Military Times for the second year in a row as the top four-year institution in the country for its efforts and resources in serving military connected students. UTA’s Office of Military and Veteran Services offers students support in five key areas: Transition, Health, Education Benefits, Engagement, and Career Development. The office works to pair upper-level veteran students with incoming ones to better introduce them to campus and life as a student at UTA.

This support of military science by UTA and the department of History extends back to 1923, shortly after Carlisle Military Academy became North Texas Agricultural College and formed its first corps of cadets. The “Crack Platoon” drill team was formed in the fall of 1924 to exemplify the very best military discipline and teamwork that north Texas could offer. The team won their first competition at the 1933 Fort Worth Stock show and never looked back. In reverence to one of the founding fathers of Texas, the team became the “Sam Houston Rifles” in 1937 and continued to represent the school and its students with pride. Performing annually at the Texas State Fair, the Fort Worth Stock Show, and other regional and state competitions, the Rifles carry a lifetime winning average of more than ninety percent.

A formalized Army ROTC program, nicknamed the Maverick Battalion, started at Arlington State College in 1956 and continues a rich tradition to this day. Alumni of the Corps of Cadets have served in conflicts from Vietnam to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Today the ROTC operates several specialized teams on campus in addition to the Sam Houston Rifles drill team. The battalion has operated Operational Detachment Maverick since the 1960’s as an introduction to guerilla and special warfare for future officers. Dating back to the North Texas Agricultural College days the university has operated an artillery detachment, today called the Carlisle Cannons, which is pretty hard to miss.

The Department of History has long supported UTA’s rich tradition with and connection to the armed forces and America’s military history. All ROTC cadets must enroll and complete HIST 3337, a survey of the American military experience from its colonial origins to present day. The department offers a minor in Military History, which covers a wide swathe of conflicts and concepts from the Era of the Crusades, the Military Revolution of the sixteenth century to the World Wars and Vietnam. Like UTA at large, the Department of History is proud to honor the nation’s martial history and serve America’s past and future veterans and their families.

It was because of this pride in the martial past of so many UTA alumni and students that the Maverick Veterans’ Voices project was launched in 2012, and has grown steadily ever since. In 2019, the Central Library began using the Oral History Metadata Synchronizer System, or OHMSS, to better preserve oral histories collected by the Maverick Veterans’ Voice project. This new technology also makes the testimonies more readily accessible to researchers and the public at large, exemplifying the dedication of the Department of History, the College of Liberal Arts, the Central Library, and the University of Texas at Arlington to making and preserving history.

Amidst the chaos of Covid-19, new life was breathed into the Maverick Veterans’ Voices project in spring of 2020, when History graduate student Joe Carpenter was hired by Yumi Ohira of the Central Library to work with her on improving and expanding the scope of the project. Mr. Carpenter, himself a veteran of the United States Air Force and the first Gulf War, pursued his Bachelor of Arts in History degree at UTA, and credits his classes with Dr. James Sandy for transforming him “from a history buff into a history scholar.” Dr. Sandy, who serves as the Director of the Department of History’s internship program, encouraged Joe to pursue his interests and to apply for one of the inaugural internship positions in the spring of 2019. This led Joe to an internship at the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum, where he worked with the oral history of a Holocaust survivor to prepare it for future researchers.

It was because of the oral history courses offered by the Department of History that Joe Carpenter met Yumi Ohira, the digital publishing and repository librarian for the Central Library at UTA. Ms. Ohira joined UTA in April of 2019, and immediately set to work expanding the open resource platforms available to students, faculty, and researchers at the university. An expert in oral history, Yumi applied for and received permission to utilize the Oral History Metadata Synthesizer system (OHMS) at UTA. Developed by the University of Kentucky, this completely free and open beta system has revolutionized the way oral histories are recorded and made available to the world at large.

In the fall of 2019, Yumi decided to audit a course with the History department’s Dr. Gerald Saxon, associate professor, oral history master, and certified archivist. This course coincided with Ms. Ohira’s discovery of the Maverick Veterans Voices project, which had originally been initiated in 2014 as a joint venture between the Central Library and the College of Liberal Arts. While the oral histories had been transcribed, there was no way to easily access them as they were then stored. More importantly, there was no way for the public to hear the voices and stories of the participants. Yumi asked Dr. Saxon if he knew of any students who might be interested in interning with her as she transferred the original collection of oral history to the new OHMS platform, and Dr. Saxon immediately thought of Joe Carpenter.

Yumi and Joe’s endeavor has proven to be an exceptionally fruitful one, especially given the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic. Since their start in March 2020, the History UTA Library partnership has expanded the project immensely. Yumi has only the highest praise for Joe, citing both his expertise in the digital humanities and the care and compassion he shows to the interviewees. “This is highly emotional for many, and it is a great deal of work for both Joe and who he is interviewing,” Yumi noted. “Joe is an expert in the system and in people.”

Joe’s expertise and training is on full display in each interview, like the one with Rex Latham. Because of Joe’s success and more students expressing an interest, Yumi Ohira is expanding the number of interns that she will supervise as digital and repository librarian. “Normally, I have one English graduate student and maybe one History grad student. This year, though, I will have two History graduate students and one English grad. They are all eager to work and will be focusing on the Maverick Veterans Voices project.”

As the project continues to expand, the value of collaborative ventures like the Maverick Veterans Voices is clear: the Department of History, the Central Library, and the College of Liberal Arts are fighting hard to conserve the experiences of the past for future generations. The innovative use of open resource platforms and the dedication of historians and researchers like Joe Carpenter and Yumi Ohira embodies the service to community that UTA has fostered from the time it was Carlisle College to the present. By cherishing and protecting the rich past of alumni, their friends and family, and all Mavericks affiliated with the military, UTA truly is a place where history is made.