and internship postings and other information related to the areas of History and Military History. One of the major purposes of produc-ing this publication is to keep students in-formed on how the programs can help you advance your careers in both academia and in the work place.

The History and Military History degree pro-grams have been growing rapidly over the past two years and we now have over 2,200 stu-dents pursuing their Bachelors of Arts in one of these two programs. This growth allowed for the recent creation of concentrations and several new courses. This publication will high-light these topics and many more.

As the Director of the History and Military His-tory degree programs at American Public Uni-versity System, I am excited to produce the first edition of the “Quill and Musket”!

This publication is designed to inform students on the most current news concerning the Bachelor of Arts in History and Military History programs. Release of the publication will be quarterly and via e-mail. Common topics will include information on the History and Military History programs, academic advice, and ca-reers that you can pursue upon completion of your degree.

The “Quill and Musket” will provide available job

The First Edition is here!

A publication for students in History and Military History

Careers

Faculty Spotlights

Course Highlights

Related News

American Public University American Military University Quill and Musket - Students

Inside this issue:

History of the History and Military History Programs

1

Meet the Program Director 2

Tips to Succeeding 2

Course Spotlights 3

Instructors 3

Classroom Success 3

Social Networking 4

Graduation 2010 4

One Time Only: MILH480 His-torical Battles

4

Newsletter Date: June 1, 2010 Volume 1, Issue 1

In 1998, AMU transitioned from a correspondence format to an online format leveraging the grow-ing use of the Internet. Since its formation, the History Department was overseen by several individu-als, the most recent being Mr. John Morris, Dr. Carl Post, Dr. Fred Stielow, and Dr. Jon Carleton.

In 2008, continued growth of the History and Military Studies de-grees resulted in the department dividing into graduate and under-graduate programs. Dr. Jon Carle-ton remained as the head of the graduate program and Dr. Brian Blodgett became the first Director of the Undergraduate History and Military History programs.

Continued growth of the under-graduate program resulted in a division, in the Fall of 2009, of the undergraduate program with Dr. Blodgett remaining in charge of the Military History program, the American courses in the History program, and the U.S. related his-tory courses in General Education. Ms. Kelly Whittaker began oversee-ing the Ancient and Classical, Global, and Peacekeeping courses in the History program and the World and Western history courses in the General Education section of the school.

In April of 2010, Dr. Blodgett re-turned to overseeing all of the History, Military History, and Mili-tary Studies courses.

The Undergraduate History and Military History programs trace their history to the founding of the American Military University (AMU) on June 11, 1991 when retired Ma-rine Corps Major James P. Etter founded AMU as a graduate school designed to provide officers serv-ing the military an opportunity to earn an advanced degree. At this time, AMU was one of the first online degree-granting universities in the United States.

In January of 1996, AMU introduced three Bachelor of Arts degrees designed to offer military members the opportunity to earn a relevant baccalaureate degree. One of these degrees was in Military History.

The History of the Undergraduate History and Mi l i tary History Programs

The second is to complete both ENGL101 and ENGL102 as early in your academic career as possible so that you will become proficient and effec-tive in writing.

The third recommendation is to take HIST300 before you take upper level courses. HIST300, Research Methods in History, prepares you for the upper level courses by teaching you about how to conduct historical research and how to write based on historical

While there are many tips to succeed-ing at APUS, several stand out.

The first one is to avoid taking upper level courses until you complete sev-eral General Education courses, spe-cifically those that will apply the most towards your History or Military His-tory degree, be it the general degree path or one of the nine concentra-tions. By taking the General Education courses in history first, you will have a foundation upon to build when you begin the upper level classes.

methodologies. One of the most im-portant aspects of this course is that it provides you with a foundation for using the Chicago Manual of Style and Turabian’s A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Disserta-tions. Because all HIST, MILH, and MILS courses require you to conduct re-search and write papers using the Chicago / Turabian citation format, early completion of this course in your academic career sets you up for success in all of your future classes.

Page 2 Quill and Musket - Students

One of Brian’s initiatives in 2010

involves

providing

platforms for

students to

interact more

with their peers and instructors

outside of the

classroom.

Faculty Spotl ight: Brian Blodgett , Ph.D.

Tips to Succeeding

Outside of APUS, Brian’s background was with the military. He joined the Ohio National Guard in 1981 and served as an Infantryman while at-tending OSU. After graduating from OSU, he spent some time in the Naval Reserves before joining the Active Army in 1987. Brian served through-out the world as an infantryman until 1991 and then as an intelligence ana-lyst, rising to the rank of Sergeant First Class (E-7) before becoming a warrant officer and retiring as a Chief Warrant Officer Three (CWO-3). His duty stations included Ft. Carson (CO), Camp Casey (Republic of Korea), Ft. Drum (NY), NATO’s Allied Forces Southern Command (Naples, IT), Ft. Bragg (NC), NATO’s Allied Rapid Reac-tion Corps (Monchengladbach, GE), Ft. Belvoir (VA), Camp Red Cloud (Republic of Korea), and his final as-signment was again at Ft. Belvoir (VA). During his time in the army he de-ployed to both Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo with NATO’s Theater Com-mands and earned thirty-four individ-ual awards, three joint meritorious unit awards, and his airborne wings.

Upon his retirement, he worked for the Defense Intelligence Agency for nearly two years.

Besides his BA at OSU and his MA at AMU, Brian has a Master of Science in Strategic Intelligence from the Joint Military Intelligence Center and a Doctorate in Philosophy from North-central University.

He and his wife of 25 years live in Maryland and have three children. His oldest two sons are both in college and his daughter is in high school.

Some of Brian’s duties as the Director of the History and Military Studies programs include updating curricu-lum, managing faculty, scheduling courses, assisting students, and teaching.

One of his main objectives for 2010 involves building more opportunities for student learners to connect with fellow students and faculty outside of the classroom environment.

Brian Blodgett became the Director of the History and Military Studies pro-grams in January of 2008.

Brian, a native of Ohio, earned his Bachelor of Arts in Education—Social Studies from The Ohio State Univer-sity (OSU) in 1984. In 1996, he enrolled in AMU (as it was known at the time) and earned a Master of Arts in Mili-tary Studies—Land Warfare in 2000.

Upon graduation, he inquired about teaching for APUS and prior to teach-ing his first course, he had to design it. His first course was The War of 1812 (today MILH337). His next course was The Mexican-American War (now MILH338). During the next seven years as an adjunct he created sev-eral other courses and taught many others.

In 2007, he became a full-time faculty member in the History and Military Studies Department. He currently holds the academic rank of Professor in addition to being the Program Di-rector.

Meet the Program Director

APUS’s Online Library provides

excellent

resources. The

History and

Military History

program’s portal

is located at http://

apus.libguides.co

m/content.php?

pid=78991 and

our librarian is

Kim Adams.

Volume 1, Issue 1

HIST301, Ancient Greece, is one of the older courses offered at APUS and has, for the past two and a half years, consistently been the most popular History course offered. It is available every eight week session. This course covers the history of Greece from the origins of Greek civilization through the con-

quests of Alexander the Great. Because of its popularity, four instructors are currently sched-uled to teach the course: Robert Busek, Brian Carey, Emily Herff, and Vincent Norako.

Weekly topics include Mycenaean Greece, Sparta, Athens, the Persian Wars, the Peloponnesian War, and Alexander the Great.

History Course Spotl ight: Ancient Greece

between the Mississippi River and the Appalachian Mountains. When the British sent a young colonial officer, George Washing-ton, to negotiate the boundaries the force encountered a French scouting party and ambushed it. This act of aggression between the French and the British was one of the first military acts leading to the global war. Julia Burlette teaches this course.

MILH318, The French and Indian War, is our newest course. This war pitted the British and their American colonists against the French and Native Americans. The war lasted from 1754 to 1763 and is also known as the Seven Years War. It was, in many ways, the world’s first global war and helped set the foundation for the American Revolution.

In the early 1750s, both France and Britain claimed territory

examine the roles and actions of America’s military Special Forces units: primarily the Army’s Special Forces, the Navy’s SEALs, and Delta Force. Thomas Leamy teaches this course.

MILS330, Special Operations Strategy and Tactics, is our most popular MILS course. This course examines modern special opera-tions strategy and tactics used by special operations units.

Some of the weekly topics cov-ered in the course are the ori-gins of the U.S. Special Forces, their actions in World War II, Korea, and other conflicts. As a part of this course, students

Mil itary Studies Course Spotl ight: Special Operations Strategy and Tactics

Instructors

The History and Military Studies programs have nearly 100 instructors teaching its 65 core /required and 13 General Education courses.

The full-time faculty include Steve Bacon, Wendi Bryant, Julia Burlette, Robert Busek, Brian Carey, Tracy Derks, Joseph Esposito, LaTasha Gatling, Anthony Gole, Lynn Marlowe, Lilia Putensev, Caroline Rerucha, Kim Rush, Barry Shollenberger, Tara Simpson and Kelly Whittaker.

The adjunct instructors include Cameron Addis, Christopher Beam, Carl Bradshaw, Heather Caldwell, Jennifer Carazo, Roger Carpenter, Peter Cash, Craig Cook, Jeffrey Cook, Jodie Cummings, Morgan Deane, John Dougherty, Mark Fliegelman, Irina Gorbunova-Ford, Germany Davis-Graham, Gary Grimm, Russell Grimm, William Hanable, James Harrision, Jeff Harvey, Mark Hatlie, Holly Heatley, Emily Herff, Dan Hicks, John Hoptak, Sarah Hyde, Reginald Jayne, Steve Jobe, Robert Kane, Jay Keever, Alexan-dra Kindell, Michael King, Jonathan Klug, Heidi Kyle, Jason Lantzer, Jeremy Lawhorn, Thomas Leamy, Fiona Mani, Kelly McMichael, Andrew McMurray, James McNease, Wladimir Miszczeniko, Samuel Mitrani, Christopher Mor-ton, Donna Nicol, Gwendolyn Noble, Vincent Norako, Ronald Ortensie, Robert Owens, Heather Para, Tatiana Parent, David Peavler, Steven Ramold, Linda Rhoades-Swartz, Kristin Sawicki, Michael Sherfy, Matthew Shockey, William Speer, Dawn Spring, Beth Subero, Michael Sullivan, Traci Sumner, Tamrala Swafford, Michael Terry, Jennifer Thompson, Heather Thonton, Cristina Tondeur, Paul Toro, Kelly Walsh, Amy Ware, Kimberly Weathers, Brian We-ber, John Welch, Marc Wenner, Chad Wheaton, Jennifer Williams, Rick Woten, Werner Zoglauer and Melinda Zupon.

In addition to these instructors, we also have several instructors from other programs teaching for us as well. These instructors are Loni Bram-son, Jon Carleton, John Chappo, Thomas Goetz, Don Sine, and Michelle Watts.

Classroom Success

Mil i tary History Course Spotl ight: The French and Indian War

Success in the classroom begins with you. Reading the syllabus, from the beginning to end, should be the first thing you do

when you begin any class. Understanding the various assignments and knowing when they are due is criti-

cal to be successful in your classes. Reading text materials, not only the textbook, but instructor created lectures is

essential. Participating in all of the discussion boards in the required manner greatly

increases your grade. Submitting all assignments on or before their due dates limits losing points for

lateness. Communicating with your instructor and asking questions when you

have them is the most important aspect of succeeding in a class.

Page 3 Quill and Musket - Students

Students are encouraged to join the APUS History and Military History Faculty, Alumni, and Students site on LinkedIn (a professional social networking site) and fellow students on Facebook. Both are designed to facili-tate interaction via social networking sites.

The LinkedIn site is a member led group that currently has over 374 students, alumni, and faculty members. It is designed to discuss relevant topics in History and Military History and features news feeds relating to history and military history as well as information on jobs. To join APUS History and Military History Faculty, Alumni, and Students, go to http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2341107&trk=hb_side_g and request to join.

Quill and Musket — Students is a new Facebook account that was just created with the launching of this newslet-ter and is run by students and for students to discuss the History and the Military History programs. To join, visit http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=121169207920963.

American Public University American Military University

Feel free to send me your comments about the newsletter. You are also encouraged to send stories and share topics that you would like to read about in future publications.

Contact: Dr. Brian Blodgett, Program Director of History and Military Studies Phone: 304-885-5262 E-Mail: bblodget@apus.edu

History and Military History Programs

Join us on LinkedIn and Facebook

Page 4

On May 21st, APUS honored 3,831 students who obtained an Associates, Bachelors or Masters degree within the past year. The ceremony, held at the Daughters of the American Revolution’s Constitution Hall, honored 97 of our students at the graduation. Students earning a Bachelor of Arts in History were Jacob B. Arnold, Christopher Allen Bartley, Crys-tal Dawn Bass, Eric Robert Baylor, Michael Steve Benson, Matthew Richart Bittle, Christina Bell Black, Billy M. Blakeney, Ian Michael Bone, Meredith Bowns, Julie Lincoln Brada, Connor James Brandt, Ronnie D. Brown II, Joel C. Busenitz, Ryan A. Cain, Candace Ann Cartwright Wesson, Rebecca Jane Cole, Adam Richard Colliton, Sheila Jane Conklin, Eugene C. Coughlin, Matthew John Crovetti, Kelley Elaine Davis, Sara E. DeTombe, Erica Michelle Dorsey, Kelly Nicole Dunford, John Earl Eastwood, "Roddy J. England, Jr.", David B. Everett, Cheryl Anne Foster, Rachael Renee Fox, Deborah Ann Harris, Edgar Garcia, Christopher Neil Gunter, Dewayne Danford Guthrie, Richard Haga, Kimberly R. Hamdoun, Timothy Hanna, Maximilliano D. Heredia, Matthew C Hudson, Kathy Annette Hyde, Guy Lane Inzunza, Erin M. Kelley-Bannister, Brandon H Laube, Aaron Blake Lloyd, Jamie R. Lyons, Mark D. Lyons, John Robert Marshall, Tamara Kay Martin, Cindy M. McKay, Timothy S. Miller, Linda Katherine Moncrief, Jarrod Lee Nelson, Jennifer Annette Lowry Nelson, Matthew O'Dell Nichols, Robert E. Nutt, Jonathan Allen Oakley, William P. O'Shea, Rozelyn Nicole Parker, Paul W. Paterson, Justin Lyle Petersen, "Matthew Callistus Quitto, Jr., Charles Thomas Rados II, Heriberto Rodriguez, Jason Alexander Rudick, Ryan J. Rustan, Kevin Deon Satterfield, Michael Karl Schoeffel, Jonathan Wayne Smith, Barbara Steinberger, Ryan Robert Stone, Derek Leith Swader, Morgan Vir-ginia Syring, Heather Annette Tanner, Denise White, Travis L. Workman, and Benjamin M. Wright. Students earning a Bachelor of Arts in Military History were Jeffery R. Best, John P. Blouin, Jonathan Marshall Bowman, Joseph Frank Collins, Keith Cross, Nathaniel L Eatwell, Christopher Wayne Johnson, James W. Johnson, Jason R. Johnston, Kristopher M. Kiger, Jerome F. Kirkland, Andrew Paul Knipfer, Ryan Michael McCallum, Larry D. Mullins, Nicholas P. Noppinger, John Thomas Runyan, Michael K. Shaffer, Anthony Christopher Siciliano, Robert Alan Sikkink, Scott Raymond Simmington, and Neal Gregory West.

Graduation—2010!

There are many careers possible for you upon completion of your Bachelor of Arts degree. Some of these jobs are being an educator, conducting research at museums and historical associations, writing books, editing books, being a documentary editor, becoming an archivists, serving as an advocate, working as an analyst, any many other opportunities. The American Historical Association has an excellent called for “What can you do with an undergraduate de-gree in history?” at http://www.historians.org/pubs/Free/careers/Index.htm that provides a list of jobs as well as a link to a guide on Careers for Stu-dents of History.

Careers for History and Mil itary History Majors

Quill and Musket - Students

For the first time in two and half years, we will be offering MILH480, our Military History special topics course. The first course focuses on historic battles and is a historical survey of battles that were turning points throughout history. The course will include such battles Marathon, Cannae, Teutoberger Wald, Tours, Stamford Bridge, Hastings, Agincourt, Waterloo, Gettysburg, Gallipoli, Stalingrad, Midway, Dein Bien Phu, Il Drang Valley, and others. Tom Leamy will be instructing this course.

Coming in the Near Future: MILH480—Historical Battles