Robert K. Wright Jr. (born 1946) is an American military historian and author. After growing up in Connecticut, he graduated in 1968 with a degree in history from the

College of the Holy Cross The College of the Holy Cross is a private, Jesuit liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts, about 40 miles (64 km) west of Boston. Founded in 1843, Holy Cross is the oldest Catholic college in New England and one of the oldest ...

in Worcester, Massachusetts. He entered the Army, serving 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. Initia ...

operator in Berlin, and then with the 18th Military History Detachment. During the second assignment he recorded the operations of the 25th Infantry Division in Vietnam during 1969 and 1970. After his discharge in 1970, Sergeant Wright attended graduate school on the GI Bill, ultimately earning his Ph.D. in history from the

College of William and Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William III a ...

in 1980. He spent most of his career at the United States Army Center of Military History in Washington, D.C. In 1982 he was commissioned in the

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

Army National Guard where he commanded the 116th Military History Detachment in Manassas, Virginia as a captain and then as a major. From 1989 to 1991 he served at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, as the XVIII Airborne Corps command historian. In that capacity he deployed with the corps to Panama (Operation JUST CAUSE) and the first Persian Gulf war (Operation DESERT SHIELD-DESERT STORM). As an Army Reservist he also deployed to Somalia (Operation RESTORE HOPE) as part of the first-ever joint history team composed of historians from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. He retired from government service in 2002 as the chief of the Center of Military History's library and archives. Wright's 1983 book, ''The Continental Army'', has become the standard reference that describes the army of the Revolutionary War: its history, structure, organization and units.

Books

*''The Continental Army''; 1983,

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 ...

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.

References

{{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