INTRODUCTION

How did collegial disagreement over the ethics of archaeologists working with the military escalate into a requirement for police protection for speakers at an academic conference (see Introduction)? There is no question that strong personal feelings have a way of derailing collegial discourse. However, no matter where an individual finds themselves on the spectrum of opinion about archaeologists and the military, the irony of avowed pacifists behaving in a way that encouraged violent behaviour has to be appreciated. A major contributing factor to derailment of collegial discourse, no matter what the subject, is often a deficiency of accurate and detailed information. The purpose of this chapter is to provide background information about the nature of archaeology and engagement with the military in the United States from the point of view of an archaeologist who works for the United States Army.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION: ARCHAEOLOGISTS WHO WORK WITH THE MILITARY

During the course of careful reading of essays critical of archaeological engagement with the military it is evident that the tone of much of the discussion is theoretical in nature. It appears that the intended audience for these articles could be a small number of archaeologists who might be considering engagement with the military, and is as if the authors were unaware that there were already several hundred archaeologists employed in archaeological survey, inventory and evaluation of archaeological sites that are located on the millions of acres of land belonging to US Department of Defense (DoD) installations. Many of us began these jobs prior to the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and many of us work on a daily basis as advocates for Native Americans who share our goal of stewardship for the Native American ancestral places that we help to manage.

Military installations are active places with millions of dollars’ worth of construction and ground-disturbing military training occurring on an annual basis. A competent and experienced archaeologist who is willing to work with the military in this context is in a position to identify, evaluate and preserve hundreds of Native American ancestral places. In addition, since the US DoD has perhaps the most progressive Native American consultation policy of all the federal agencies its cultural resource managers also have the opportunity to work directly with Native Americans.