My wonderful wife has given me the perfect birthday present, (actually it is next Friday the 22nd) with a long overdue membership to the League of WWI Aviation Historians. After a lifetime of interest in the Great War, and 20 years of active research, model building and study I am finally part of a group of my “peers”.   I have known about the League for a several years, but it has always been one of those “things I need to do, someday”.   Being a History Major and a nontraditional student, memberships in professional organizations such as this are very beneficial to your college career.  Associations in your field of study are available for everyone.   Many have special student rates for membership.   I have been “shopping” around in the field of History Studies and have found over 20 different organizations that I would be a member of.   Maintaining that many memberships would be daunting, so it pays to be selective.   I am unique in the fact that I plan to specialize in one area of history so I can be selective in the associations joined.   The resources and networking possibilities of a membership in the League of WWI Aviation Historians will be invaluable to my goal of writing the ultimate book about WWI Ace Ernst Udet.   I have already made a connection with an author of WWI history through Facebook (there is a whole post in the works about this story…)   Putting together research about WWI history is challenging at best, but with new friends and associations with fellow historians in the field, the sky is the limit!   The league has biennial meetings with seminars and presentations of scholarly papers and books.   The next meeting will be in 2011 and my goal is to have a good part of my Ernst Udet book and research ready for presentation.   A lofty goal, but one that will drive my progress toward a real-time deadline! And in addition to this, I forgot to post about my wonderful wife’s Christmas present to me…a membership in the SOCIETY FOR MILITARY HISTORY!   Which also includes a subscription to the Journal of Military History!    Exciting stuff in my History Major World.   I’ll put together a special posting about this membership in the next day or so.

Posted: 01|14|10 at 6:58 pm. Filed under: History nuggets, Non Traditional Journey.
Tags: History, History Major, Lifelong Goals, Non traditional student, nontraditional student, redfokker, Udet, WW1
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