History master's alumna Paige Vaughn works as a civilian historian at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama
Paige Vaughn
By Quinn Keller, CLA Student Writer - June 21, 2024
From pre-med to history to the Air Force, Paige Vaughn, ‘21, M.S. ‘23, is an alumna with stories to tell. Vaughn is on her way to becoming an Air Force historian through the Palace Acquire Program (PAQ), a multi-year intensive training program.
During her time at the School of History, Philosophy, and Religion (SHPR), she studied history as both an undergraduate and master’s student. Vaughn was struck by the kindness of the faculty at SHPR, “I was always interested in history, but the faculty at SHPR are phenomenal. I can't say enough about how great they are.”
Vaughn based her master’s thesis on “managing complicity with regards to how the US government recruited Nazi, or Nazi associated scientists and technicians after World War Two through Operation Paperclip.” Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Vaughn recalled having to learn how to conduct research entirely remotely, which gave her research experience to help what she does now as a PAQ.
Before studying history, Vaughn was a biology and pre-med major, as well as a medical scribe. “Over the pandemic,” she said, “I saw a lot of burnout happen in the medical community. I realized perhaps that's not my true love and desire in a career.” Both of Vaughn’s parents were in the Air Force, but otherwise, her current job is mostly a stroke of coincidence. A search on USAjobs.gov opened her dream job opportunity. “It never was anything that I went out of my way to study. I love all different phases of history and eras and topics,” she explained. “But now I can say I love Air Force history. It is so cool.”
Vaughn is almost one year into the three-year training program. After PAQ, an Air Force historian in the field is in charge of collecting documents for their unit. Mission tracking, flight times, and the people involved are all recorded. The Air Force historian is also in charge of “heraldry and heritage of their unit.”
“PAQ trains you to become a historian for the Air Force and helps you gain leadership skills that you'll need to become a supervisor. Once I’m done, I’ll be placed within a unit in the Air Force. I’ll be in charge of collecting the unit’s history and submit annual reports to the Air Force Historical Research Agency (AFHRA) at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama.”
Currently, Vaughn is stationed at Maxwell. “The AFHRA is the archive of the Air Force, so everything historians collect comes here.” Her division specializes in oral history interviews with Airmen and Guardians, as well as special studies.
As part of the PAQ training, Vaughn has also worked with different divisions at the AFHRA. Recently, while working with the Research Division, she learned the processes involved with answering historical inquiries from citizens. “For instance, the AFHRA gets requests from people asking, ‘My grandfather was in World War Two. Do you have any information on him?’ So once I am assigned a request, I go into the archive, and if there is any information to be collected and that can be released, I’ll digitize it for them and then send it out.” In addition to information requests, the AFHRA also works with claim applicants through Veterans Affairs (VA). A veteran may contact the AFHRA for information to support their VA claim. For instance, the AFHRA may have records in the annual histories to show if a veteran was exposed to harmful chemicals during their service.
“It can be life changing for people to get that information,” said Vaughn. “I think it's important for us as historians to capture what's happening accurately and provide the documentation for future generations.” Although it’s not only about recording mishaps or routine procedures; the victories are also just as important “to make sure people get the recognition that they deserve.”