FORT CARSON, Colo. -- The photo is simple, black and white from the 1940s. The photo is artistic, showing a Soldier and his wife from the waist down, a small child clinging to the man's legs. But the photo hanging in the 4th Infantry Division Museum is an inspiration for Scott Daubert, the museum's new director.
"Our role here is to inspire these (Soldiers) to go out and do what they do, to understand there's generations who've gone through the big suck -- digging a foxhole, eating meals, ready to eat, missing their husbands and wives, missing their kids," he said. "We want these (Soldiers) to know that they're not alone. Generations have gone before them."
It's a mission that Daubert takes seriously and understands personally. He grew up in the military, the son of an Air Force air traffic controller, and at 18, went into the Air Force as a bomb dog handler.
After six years on active duty, he decided to get out and go to school.
"In 2001, my (now) ex-wife and I literally flipped a coin. Who's getting out and who's
staying in," he said.
While attending the University of Washington, he worked as an intern at the Fort Lewis Military Museum.
"I worked with the greatest Army curator, in my mind. He said, 'Scott, stay in the Army. It's a family.' I'd never even thought of working in an Army museum ," he said.
It was a message he took to heart, and for 12 years he's moved across the country working in Army museums and serving in the Army National Guard in Hawaii, at the U.S. Military Academy and Fort Stewart, Ga., before coming to Fort Carson in March.
"I look at this as a family business, I really do. All the Soldiers here are my brothers and sisters," he said. "It's a fun job. I love what I do."
While he's director of the small space the museum calls home now, Daubert's plans for the future are much larger.
"The goal is to make this the finest U.S. Army Forces Command museum. And with the Mountain Post Historical Association planning on building the new facility out here in the next few years, we will have one of the finest FORSCOM museums," he said.
With a 5,000-square-foot storage facility housing 3,000 artifacts, the museum is ready for a larger space.
"With the military presence (in Colorado Springs) -- with the Air Force, the Army, the (U.S. Air Force) Academy, and so many retirees here -- we should have a bigger museum presence," he said. "The Soldiers deserve that."
Until that time, Daubert will work to remind Soldiers that they are not alone and that generations of others have served before them.
"Soldiers come in here, and they walk out with a smile on their face saying, 'I didn't know this was here. This is awesome.' That makes everything worth it for us," he said.
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