After a successful decade in the Air Force, Osmar Alaniz was ready for a change, and his plans didn’t include the military.
“I was a logistics readiness officer in the Air Force, and I separated after 10 years. I told myself ‘Now I am going to start my civilian life.’ I got a degree that I thought would have nothing to do with the military,” he said. “I used my GI bill to start on a pathway to what I thought was going to be city planning, nothing whatsoever to do with the military.”
Alaniz enrolled in city planning coursework at the University of Texas San Antonio in his hometown and excelled -- even earning a prestigious spot to study historic architecture in Paris. However, he was told that to continue his studies, he would have to enroll in a graduate program and take the Graduate Record Assessment. He was told the test was, in this instance, a formality and not to worry about it.
“When I came back, I was told I had to take the GRE and that I had to take it fast to enroll in graduate school. That’s not my style. If I was going to take a test, I was going to do my best,” he said. “So, I did it right and studied and scored high. So now it turned out I had more opportunities from many different schools. My score let me apply across the board.”
After weighing his options and scholarship opportunities, Alaniz settled on the graduate program in historic preservation at the University of Southern California. While studying there, something unexpected happened, he said.
“While I was in the program, I had envisioned doing something completely different from my military experience, but I ended up working on a project at Edwards Air Force Base,” he said. “Edwards had tons of buildings that are over 50 years old and needed evaluation, so I was put in touch with the archaeologist and built some coursework on what we were doing there. Once I graduated, that turned into a job offer. I was in the military for 10 years, and before this I didn’t even know that these (archeology) positions even existed.”
The unexpected return to military work also eventually led to a return to San Antonio for Alaniz and continued his professional growth. After two years at Edwards AFB as the base archeologist, Alaniz landed the Cultural Resources Manager Lead at Joint Base San Antonio. In this role, he was responsible for managing 447 archeological sites and more than 900 buildings eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places.
Following this experience, Alaniz moved into a role as the U.S. Army Environmental Command Cultural Resources subject matter expert. In this leadership role, he helps ensure that Army installations make informed decisions regarding the cultural resources under their control, in compliance with public laws, in support of the military mission, and consistent with sound principles of cultural resource management.
“Having worked at two installations, I have a good understanding of the issues that installations are dealing with and can help provide insights in how to effectively deal with these issues,” he said. “I know what pitfalls to avoid, the things that need to be done, and the kinds of relationships you must form to be successful.”
Alaniz said this last point about relationships may be the most important for success in any cultural resource role, including preservation of historic buildings.
“It’s really a people-person job – you have to work to constantly foster relationships with the state historic preservation officials and keep everyone informed and together,” he said. “There are projects going on every day. If a building has been designated, or eligible (for inclusion on the National Registry of Historic Places), you have to put it through a certain process to make sure nothing adverse happens. But you also must keep your focus on the Army mission. Our role is to make sure that the Army mission is supported and can happen, balanced against the historic preservation laws and stewardship. But the mission is first.”
Alaniz also said that he has learned that working with the Army is one of the very best places to put his passion for historic architecture and cultural resource preservation to work.
“The Army really did it right. It’s kind of like the idea behind building banks. Historically, they built a bank to not only look good, but to send a message – your money was going to be taken care of,” he said. “The Army did the same thing too, but where private developers were building one bank, the Army was building five buildings like this. They did things right, and because of that we have so many gems.”
So back home in San Antonio, again working with the military, Alaniz came full circle and found his professional home too.
“When you look at these old Army forts, there is so much history and such great old buildings. Just look at the Quadrangle at Fort Sam Houston, all the history, and all the houses that surround it. These guys did it right, and this is fantastic,” he said. “I walk the halls now here and I think to myself I don’t know how it can get better than this – I’m doing exactly what I wanted to do.”
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