Nestled in the back of the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command G9 Strategic Communications office, is a mother, a leader, a gatherer of stories. She can be found sifting through the archives: documenting living history and preserving knowledge.
Meet Susan Thompson, CECOM command historian, who collects and maintains Army history to share it with the next generation.
The Pittsburgh-native grew up loving not only history but also art. She earned her undergrad in historic preservation and art history at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Her quest for knowledge did not stop there; she earned her master’s degree in urban affairs and public policy with a specialization in historic preservation at the University of Delaware.
Straight out of grad school, Thompson found work as a historic preservation contractor in Baltimore, Maryland. When she found herself wanting to do more, a friend from grad school reached out to her about an opening with the Army Environmental [Center] at Edgewood through the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education internship program. In 1999, Thompson was hired as an ORISE intern at AEC in the cultural resources section.
It wasn’t until 2001 that Thompson became a federal employee as an Advisory Council of Historic Preservation liaison to U.S. Army Environmental Center. Under the National Historic Preservation Act, Thompson developed Army alternative procedures and program comments that allowed AEC to tailor compliance for Army installations. She became an Army Civilian in 2002 in the cultural resources section. Later in her AEC career, she was the Chief of the Conservation branch, overseeing cultural resources, natural resources and pest management.
Due to Base Realignment and Closure in 2005, AEC was set to move from Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland to Fort Sam Houston, Texas. This was a big move. Under the same BRAC, the Fort Monmouth community was slated to move to APG. When CECOM finalized its move to APG in 2011, Thompson became the new CECOM Command Historian, working alongside staff historians Floyd Hertweck and Chrissie Reilly, taking over from former Command Historian Melissa Ziobro.
When asked about the favorite part of her job, Thompson stated, “It’s never the same job every day; there’s always something new to learn or explore.”
The historian team receives search requests from anyone and anywhere—whether it is within the command, from AMC or international queries. All it takes is a click on the “ask the historian” button on the CECOM website and the message goes straight to their inbox. Their most popular requests come from equipment hobbyists in Eastern Europe, the Smithsonian Institute and former Command Historian Ziobro who now is a professor at Monmouth University.
When she isn’t handling litigation requests or researching pigeons, Thompson is archiving and maintaining the collection, adding to it daily. This collection is not only comprised of physical archives but also digital. Roughly more than 1 gigabyte is added to the digital archives weekly by the rockstar team, Thompson and Hertweck.
Thompson’s around-the-clock tasks include an annual command history report, a monthly article in the CECOM DASH and running the CECOM C5ISR Hall of Fame.
The Hall of Fame is one of Thompson’s greatest achievements. She runs the program by handling the nomination process, organizing the board to vote on nominees, tallying the results, and earning approval. Thompson does such an exceptional job that other organizations reach out for information about the rules, criteria and scoring procedures she created.
Her other greatest achievement is relocating the archive into one space--as its previous home at Fort Monmouth held it in various locations. The collection can now be found catalogued and digitized in the CECOM Public Affairs Office.
It’s no surprise why Thompson was selected to be the keynote speaker for APG’s annual Women’s History Month Observance on March 23, 2023.
March is dedicated to recognizing and celebrating the multifaceted nature of women. WHM is the commemoration of women’s contributions to American history. This year’s theme, “Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories,” allows Thompson to serve as the mouthpiece for not only the women in our history books, but those who were never able to make it onto the pages.
Thompson finds inspiration in the past women scientists at CECOM. They obtained degrees in the 1920s and worked in the Army in the 1940s and 1950s. They overcame barriers pitted against them for their gender. But the Army harbored an environment where they could work and move the military forward. Thompson says that people like this have paved the way for her daughter and the next generation.
Army history has been collected traditionally by historians with military backgrounds, Thompson stated. Since her time here, Thompson has seen a shift as the old guard retires and people of diverse backgrounds have taken the mantle. While Army history has started to change, she hopes to see more voices and perspectives in the next wave.
Thompson asks future historians to pursue their dreams no matter how niche their interests. Her parents expected her live at home during her young adulthood, but she has been employed since graduation, she stated. Lastly, she asks them to seek out all opportunities and to not be afraid to ask for help.
“You’re the only one who can make a difference in your life,” she said. “So, if you’re interested in doing something or pursuing something or changing something, it’s up to you—go for it. Do it; you can find a way.”
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