Robert K. Wright Jr. (born 1946) is an American military historian and author.

Biography

Wright was raised in

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

. He attended the

College of the Holy Cross The College of the Holy Cross is a private Jesuit liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States. It was founded by educators Benedict Joseph Fenwick and Thomas F. Mulledy in 1843 under the auspices of the Society of Jesus. ...

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Massachusetts, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the list of United States cities by population, 113th most populous city in the United States. Named after Worcester ...

, and earned a degree in history in 1968. He served in the U.S. Army as a

Teletype A teleprinter (teletypewriter, teletype or TTY) is an electromechanical device that can be used to send and receive typed messages through various communications channels, in both point-to-point and point-to-multipoint configurations. Init ...

operator in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, after which he served with the 18th Military History Detachment where in 1969–1970 he devoted time recording the operations of the 25th Infantry Division in Vietnam. Trask, 1982, Essay Sergeant Wright received his honorable discharge in 1970. Under the

GI Bill The G.I. Bill, formally the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, but the te ...

, he attended graduate school at the

College of William and Mary The College of William & Mary (abbreviated as W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1693 under a royal charter issued by King William III and Queen Mary II, it is the second-oldest instit ...

in Virginia, earning a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

in 1968 and a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in history in 1980. He spent the greater portion of his career at the

United States Army Center of Military History The United States Army Center of Military History (CMH) is a directorate within the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command. The Institute of Heraldry remains within the Office of the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Arm ...

in Washington, D.C. He was then commissioned in the

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

Army National Guard in 1982 with the rank of captain where he commanded the 116th Military History Detachment in Manassas, Virginia, ultimately being promoted to a major. Wright served at

Fort Bragg Fort Bragg (formerly Fort Liberty from 2023–2025) is a United States Army, U.S. Army Military base, military installation located in North Carolina. It ranks among the largest military bases in the world by population, with more than 52,000 m ...

, North Carolina from 1989 to 1991, as the XVIII Airborne Corps command historian, where he deployed with the corps to Panama (

Operation Just Cause Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

) and the first Persian Gulf war (

Operation Desert Shield , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

Desert Storm , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

). He also deployed to Somalia (

Operation Restore Hope The Unified Task Force (UNITAF), also known as Operation Restore Hope, was a United States-led, United Nations-sanctioned multinational military force deployed to Somalia from 5 December 1992 to 4 May 1993. It was established to replace United ...

) as an Army Reservist as part of the first-ever joint history team composed of historians from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. In 2002 Wright retired from government service as the chief of the Center of Military History's library and archives. Wright's 1983 book, ''The Continental Army'', is widely considered the standard reference work covering the army of the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

. The History Caarper, David Trask (ed.), Essay

Books

*''The Continental Army''; 1983,

Washington, D.C.;
Available online
. *''Soldier-Statesmen of the Constitution''; 1987,

, Washington, D.C.;
Available online
. *''Military Police''; 1991,

, Washington, D.C.;
Available online
. *''Story of the N.C.O.'', 1986

, Washington, D.C. *''The Tradition Continues: The Virginia Army National Guard'', 1985. *''Airborne Forces at War: From Parachute Test Platoon to the 21st Century''. Association of the U.S. Army and Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 2007.

Citations

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Robert K Jr. 1946 births College of William & Mary alumni Living people 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers United States Army historians American male non-fiction writers American Revolution College of the Holy Cross alumni

Biography

Books

See also

Citations

Sources