Then-CPT Borch in Aviano, Italy, in 1984. (Image courtesy of Fred L. Borch)
Lore of the Corps
An Interview with Fred L. Borch
By Nicholas K. Roland, Ph.D.
Colonel (Retired) (COL (Ret.)) Fred Borch retired from his Army
Civilian role on 17 November 2023, after almost eighteen years
as the regimental historian of the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s
(JAG) Corps. The following interview, conducted by the new regimental
historian, Dr. Nick Roland, captures some of Fred’s thoughts about his
time as a Soldier and Army Civilian, the history of the JAG Corps, and
the value of history to the practice of military law. For an
additional retrospective on his career, readers can consult The Quill & Sword podcast, FredTalks episode 19, A Farewell to Fred.1
Dr. Roland: You spent five decades in the Army, either as a Soldier, a judge advocate (JA), or an Army Civilian. What are the biggest changes you have seen over that time?
Mr. Borch:I’ll give you three. When I enlisted in 1972 (required as a four-year Reserve Officers’ Training Corps scholarship cadet), the Army was a very different organization. The draft was still on, most Soldiers were draftees, and many did not want to be in uniform. Almost all Soldiers were male—only one percent female in that era—and we had a gender-segregated force. If you were a female, you could not join the Army. Rather, you could join the Women’s Army Corps, and most military occupation specialties (MOSs) were closed to women. Want to drive a tank? Too bad if you were a woman. Be a combat engineer? Nope.
So, first, a huge change I witnessed was fully integrating women into our Army and giving females the opportunities to serve in all MOSs, which made our Army better.
Second, when I joined our Army, we were struggling with race relations. Black Soldiers were not being treated fairly and did not have equal opportunities in the Big Green Machine. In the 1980s and 1990s, the Army worked hard to ensure that Black men and women in uniform had the same opportunities as white Soldiers and were treated with dignity and respect. Today, while the Army remains committed to equal opportunity regardless of race or ethnicity, formalized organizational initiatives reflect that the Army wants every Soldier to be a valued teammate.
Third, the Army was pretty much broken after the unpopular war in Vietnam; our noncommissioned officer ranks were in especially bad shape, and morale and esprit de corps were very low. The draft was gone—never to return—and we were completely reliant on volunteers. But through hard work, the Army has rebuilt esprit de corps and created the most professional force in world history. No army is better staffed, equipped, or trained today.
Bottom line: I have seen a lot of change, and today we have a very different Army. It is better in almost all respects. Yes, we still have problems that need solving, but the Army of 2024 is a great organization.
Dr. Roland: Who had the biggest impact on your career, either in or out of uniform?
Mr. Borch: In uniform, probably COL (Ret.) Earle F. Lasseter, whose leadership at Fort Moore convinced me to stay in the Corps after my initial assignment more than forty years ago. Colonel (Ret.) Lasseter was a fabulous leader. He emphasized that being a Soldier was key to success as a lawyer in uniform, and he was right. But COL (Ret.) Lasseter also made it fun to work in his office with sports, social activities, and so on. That is why I stayed after my initial tour as an Army lawyer. We worked hard and supported commanders but also had fun.
Later in my time as a JA, Major General (MG) (Ret.) John D. Altenburg greatly impacted my career. It was then-Brigadier General (BG) Altenburg who convinced me to write Judge Advocates in Combat,2 which propelled me into the study of our regimental history. The fact that I had written the book must have been a key factor in my being hired as the first regimental historian and archivist in our Corps’s history.
Out of uniform, there is no question that MG (Ret.) Thomas J. Romig had the biggest impact; it was he who decided that the Corps needed a full-time historian to preserve our history and educate members of our Corps about our achievements. While serving as The Judge Advocate General from 2001 to 2005, MG (Ret.) Romig created the regimental historian position and placed it at The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School (TJAGLCS). Had it not been for MG (Ret.) Romig’s vision that we have a historian, I would have never had the opportunity to be the first person in the job.
Dr. Roland: What spurred your interest in history, and especially JAG Corps history?
COL Borch participates in a press briefing regarding military commissions at the Pentagon in 2003. (Image courtesy of Fred L. Borch)
Mr. Borch: I have always been interested in history. I was a history major at Davidson College, and after I joined the JAG Corps in 1980, I realized that our Corps had a rich and varied history that deserved to reach the widest possible audience. That is why, even before I retired from active duty, I was writing about JAG Corps history. I was a lieutenant colonel when I started writing Judge Advocates in Combat, and I was still on active duty and on the faculty at the Naval War College when the Army’s Center of Military History (CMH) published the book.
Dr. Roland: From your historical perspective, what are the most important trends in the JAG Corps and military law since World War II?
Mr. Borch: There is no doubt about this answer. For more than 200 years, the Corps focused on military justice as its reason for being. In the 1980s and 1990s, however, the JAG Corps shifted away from a courts-martial practice to today’s operational law focus. This metamorphosis is a key historical development because it moved the Corps—and the practice of military law—from the periphery of the Army to its center. That commanders and their staffs now depend on the JAG Corps to provide 24/7, 365 days advice and counsel on all military operations is the most important development of the last seventy-five years. Military justice is still important (and is our mission under the Uniform Code of Military Justice3), but the Corps exists today to support commanders in achieving mission success.
Dr. Roland: What is the most interesting thing you encountered in your years of research into Army legal history?
Mr. Borch: When I was doing research at the National Archives, I discovered biographical sketches of every lawyer who had served as a JA in World War I. This is a unique record that no other branch can duplicate, and it resulted in the publication of Judge Advocates in the Great War.4
Dr. Roland: If you could go back in time and interview one JA from history, who would it be and why?
Mr. Borch: Probably BG (Ret.) Joseph Holt, who served as President Abraham Lincoln’s Judge Advocate General. Not only was Holt the longest-serving Judge Advocate General in history (he served from 1862 to 1875), but he also led the team that prosecuted the seven men and one woman who conspired to murder Abraham Lincoln in 1865. Holt also worked with Francis Lieber in promulgating General Orders No. 100,5 which hugely impacted the evolution of the law of armed conflict. Holt was a remarkable lawyer, and his service was exemplary in our Army.
Dr. Roland: More history is always being made. What do you see as future areas of study in JAG Corps and military legal history?
Dr. Nicholas K. Roland. (Image courtesy of author)
Mr. Borch: We need to be capturing the history of the Corps’s legal operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Because both these conflicts began more than twenty years ago, they are already passing from our institutional memory, and many of the men and women who served in the early years of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom have already left active duty and returned to civilian life. We need to capture this history while it is still within our reach.
Perhaps a better question is why we should study our history. First, history is an explanation of the present; you cannot understand why we do things the way we do in today’s Corps unless you understand how we did it in the past. Second, history is like memory. If you lack memory, you would not know what do to when you got up in the morning, what you already did, and what you need to do today and tomorrow. The same is true of history. We need to study the history of our Corps to understand why we practice law the way we do today and how we should conduct legal operations in the future.
Third, some professional historians hate to talk about “lessons learned,” but a study of history provides insights into making good decisions today and better decisions tomorrow. Lessons from history can help both our present and our future.
Dr. Roland: How have you seen the study of history benefit the JAG Corps or the Army?
Mr. Borch: More than anything, I think our Regimental History Program has built esprit de corps. Judge advocates, legal administrators, and paralegals have done some really cool things in the past, and when Soldiers now serving in the Corps read and hear about these things, it makes them proud to serve in the military legal profession.
Dr. Roland: What was the most rewarding aspect of being the regimental historian?
Mr. Borch: Easy answer—working with people who have served or are serving in the Corps.
Dr. Roland: What is your proudest achievement as the regimental historian?
Mr. Borch: I will mention three. First, prior to my selection as the regimental historian and archivist, there was no such thing; the Corps had no full-time historian. Consequently, I am very proud to have been a part of developing the Regimental History Program that we have today.
Over my almost eighteen years as the regimental historian and professor of legal history and leadership, the program has evolved to include:
- teaching JAs, legal administrators, and paralegals at TJAGLCS and other locations;
- writing and researching articles, monographs, and books;
- establishing a collection of historical artifacts at TJAGLCS;
- creating a website with information about the JAG Corps that is available to the general public;
- establishing a Regimental Archive of documents, photographs, and related material; and
- creating the annual George S. Prugh Lecture in Military History, in which a scholar comes to TJAGLCS to speak about military legal history.
I am proud to have spearheaded the creation of a history program that is now viewed as an important part of our Corps.
Second, I am proud of Judge Advocates in Combat. It took me almost five years to write it and then get it published because the book is a co-print with the CMH. Any Army branch can publish a monograph, but getting CMH to co-imprint a book is a big deal, because it demonstrates that the book is up to the highest professional standards.
Third and finally, I am proud of the many Lore of the Corps articles that have appeared in every issue of The Army Lawyer since 2010. These have brought our great history to JAs, legal administrators, paralegal specialists, and Department of Army Civilian teammates who otherwise would know very little about our glorious history!
I guess I should also add that I am simply proud to have continued my service as an Army Civilian after retiring from active duty and continued to contribute in a small way to our Corps.
Dr. Nick Roland is now serving as the JAG Corps regimental historian
and professor of legal history and leadership. A native of Knoxville,
Tennessee, he is a graduate of Virginia Tech (B.A., History, 2007) and
The University of Texas (Ph.D., U.S. History, 2017). He worked as a
Navy historian at the Naval History and Heritage Command in
Washington, D.C., from August 2018 to November 2023. His publications
include Galvanic: Beyond the Reef – Tarawa and the Gilberts, November 19436 (with S. Matthew Cheser) and Violence in the Hill Country: The Texas Frontier in the Civil War Era.7
A U.S. Army veteran, he currently serves as an infantry officer in the
Virginia Army National Guard. He enjoys a wide array of outdoor
activities, live music, college sports, and he is thrilled to be back
home in the Army!
Dr. Roland is the Regimental Historian, Archivist, and Professor of Legal History and Leadership at The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Notes
1. FredTalks, Ep. 19: A Farewell to Fred, Quill & Sword (Oct. 25, 2023), https://www.dvidshub.net/audio/77056/quill-sword-fredtalks-ep-19-farewell-fred.
2. Frederic L. Borch, Judge Advocates in Combat: Army Lawyers in Military Operations from Vietnam to Haiti (2001).
3. 10 U.S.C. ch. 47.
4. Fred L. Borch III, Judge Advocates in the Great War 1917-1922 (2021).
5. Headquarters, U.S. War Department, Gen. Orders No. 100 (24 Apr. 1863).
6. S. Matthew Cheser & Nicholas Roland, Galvanic: Beyond the Reef, Tarawa and the Gilberts, November 1943 (2020).
7. Nicholas Keefauver Roland, Violence in the Hill Country: The Texas Frontier in the Civil War Era (2021).