ABSTRACT
In the summer of 2008, I travelled to Alaska for the first time. Since World War II, the territory – and then state – has been the scene of tremendous activity for the US military, and I was seeking sources on the Cold War-era radar construction and environmental research conducted by the Air Force. While I made plans to visit several libraries and archives, including the exceptional northern collection at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, a key purpose of the trip was to work in the 3rd Wing History Office at Elmendorf Air Force Base, not far from downtown Anchorage.1 Gaining entry to the base was surprisingly straightforward. Before landing in Alaska, I had corresponded with an archaeologist whose office was at Elmendorf. One morning, she picked me up at my university residence in her Subaru station wagon, and vouched for me as we passed through the gates of the base. At the small History Office, my exchanges were almost exclusively with one friendly staff member who had previously worked for the National Park Service. These interactions were small reminders that the US Department of Defense, the subject of most of my research over the last decade, is a vast and complicated institution.
