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Military Historian Takes Over as NGEF Deputy Director

NGEFmag03231000
NGEFmag03231000
Washington Report

A member of an Army military history detachment who recently returned from duty in the Middle East is the new deputy director of the National Guard Educational Foundation.

William Roulett started Jan. 10. His duties include managing the day-to-day direction of and facilitating public access to the National Guard Memorial Museum & Library while serving as the historian for the NGEF and NGAUS.

“It’s kind of a clean slate in the sense of anything’s possible,” he said. “I can take it and run with it in a lot of different directions. The sky’s the limit.”

Roulett also currently serves in the Army Reserve as a part of the 52nd Military History Detachment, which collects military history through documents, artifacts and photographs.

He said the unit combined his educational background, civilian work experience and affinity for military history, as does his new job.  

“An opportunity arose,” he said. “I had been talking to [the MHD] for a while, trying to find my way into transferring to one. Just try it and see if it was cool as it sounded on paper.”

Roulett said that his family history of military service, including that of his father and grandfather, pushed him towards the armed forces in 2010.

“I always thought about being in the military, in the back of my mind,” he said. “It was something I always thought about. I was at a point where I was like I’m going to stop thinking about doing things and just do things.”

Roulett previously worked as the assistant director and education director at the Fire Museum of Maryland in Lutherville, Maryland, before deploying with the 52nd Military History Detachment in late 2020. He also served as the education and interpretation director at the Camden County Historical Society in Camden, New Jersey.

Roulett has a bachelor’s degree in history from Siena College and a master’s degree in history from Rutgers University. He lives in Elkridge, Maryland.