{"word_count": 117, "character_count": 738}
A U.S. propaganda leaflet, a Baath Party armband, a military meal pouch, a battered road sign en route to Baghdad - at first glance,   they may look like the ordinary debris of war, but they are also artifacts of history in the making. From the U.S. Central Command in Qatar to tank units fighting their way toward Baghdad, all the services have deployed historians to record oral histories, gather artifacts, take photographs and helppreserve significant records of Persian Gulf War II. The role of the military historian is at once strategic andinspirational, academic and bureaucratic. The oral histories - recorded interviews - are perhaps their most important mission.An article at Knoxnews.com. (I prefer the independent press  ...)