At Baltimore military museum, veteran says tools of war changed but soldiers did not

BALTIMORE — Inside the Maryland Museum of Military History, the story of American service is told through the tools soldiers carried into battle.

There are weapons used across generations, uniforms worn by service members from different eras, and equipment that shows how communication, navigation and protection have changed over time.

For retired Command Sergeant Major James Nugent, the artifacts are more than items on display. They are reminders of how much the military has evolved and what has remained the same.

“What has stayed the same is the soldier,” Nugent said. “The soldier who’s willing to fight for their nation, fight for their homes, fight for their beliefs, fight for their brothers, their sisters and their neighbors — that has not changed in 250 years.”

Nugent served 36 years in the U.S. Army and Maryland Army National Guard. He enlisted in 1986 as a cavalry scout and was later stationed in Germany with the 3rd Armored Division. His career also took him to Iraq, Kosovo and Jordan before he became Command Sergeant Major of the Maryland Army National Guard.

During that time, Nugent saw the tools of war change dramatically.

Looking at the weapons inside the museum, he said many of the older firearms were simple but effective for their time. Earlier generations of soldiers often relied on close-range weapons, mass fire and slower reload times. Modern soldiers, by comparison, carry weapons with far more accuracy, speed and technology attached.

“The amount of firepower that our soldiers carry today, it’s head and shoulders above what our forefathers carried,” Nugent said.

That firepower is only one part of the change.

Nugent said the equipment attached to weapons has also transformed. When he began serving in the 1980s, night vision equipment was limited and often shared across a squad. Today, soldiers in many combat units have access to more advanced night vision, optics and laser systems that help them operate more effectively in dangerous environments.

“Weapons have optics on them that can pick out targets at night,” Nugent said. “They have laser designators where a team leader can point a laser at a target.”

Uniforms have also changed across 250 years of military service.

The museum displays uniforms from different eras, showing how fabric, fit and function changed over time. Today’s uniforms are part of a larger system of protection that can include body armor, protective masks and other equipment meant to help soldiers survive on the battlefield.

But for Nugent, the uniforms also represent the people who wore them.

“I look at the uniforms in this museum,” Nugent said. “But the soldier has stayed the same over the last 250 years.”

Communication is another area where Nugent said the military has changed dramatically.

In earlier wars, armies relied on runners, messengers and later the telegraph. When Nugent began his career, soldiers used radios, code books and more basic encryption systems. Over time, communication became faster and more connected, allowing units to share information across the battlefield in ways that were once unimaginable.

As a cavalry scout, Nugent also remembers when navigation depended on maps, compasses and protractors. Soldiers trained repeatedly with those tools so they could move through woods, mountains and difficult terrain during the day or night.

By the later years of his career, GPS and digital systems allowed soldiers and commanders to track movement and share information more quickly.

“We were able to share that information across multiple platforms across the battlefield,” Nugent said. “Which is something that was unthinkable in 1987.”

Technology also changed life away from the battlefield.

Nugent recalled being deployed in Iraq and sending an email from Baghdad to a coworker back home. The coworker, a Vietnam veteran, assumed Nugent must have returned home because the communication was so quick.

That moment stayed with Nugent because it showed how much had changed for service members and their families. Earlier generations often waited weeks for letters. Nugent’s generation used email and Skype. By the time he deployed later in his career, FaceTime and Wi-Fi made it even easier to see loved ones in real time.

“I had Skype, and I could download Skype to a laptop and I could talk to my wife and my children real time, face to face,” Nugent said.

While those tools helped soldiers stay connected, Nugent said they also came with challenges. Real-time communication meant service members could hear about problems at home even when they were too far away to help.

For Nugent, the next generation of service is also personal. His sons served in the military, carrying equipment and facing threats that were different from what he knew early in his career.

He said modern service members have access to communications and survivability tools that once could only be mounted on vehicles. But they also face newer threats, including drones.

“The challenges that this next generation has to deal with on the battlefield, especially at the frontline level, they’re something that my generation never had to deal with,” Nugent said.

Nugent said that is why training remains one of the most important investments the military can make.

Modern soldiers are trained not only to use weapons and technology, but also to protect themselves, treat injuries, respond to threats and take care of each other. Nugent said that kind of preparation is part of what it means to take care of service members.

“It is our people. But it is also the training,” Nugent said. “That’s what makes the difference.”

As America approaches its 250th anniversary, Nugent said he hopes people see military history as more than a collection of weapons, uniforms and equipment.

Those tools matter, he said, but they do not tell the full story without the people behind them.

“When they serve in the military, they’re not serving for themselves,” Nugent said. “They’re serving for you and me. They’re serving for our nation.”

For Nugent, that is the message inside the Maryland Museum of Military History: weapons become more powerful, uniforms become more protective and communication becomes faster.

But the heart of military service remains the same.

“It’s the people that fight and win our wars,” Nugent said. “Not the technology, not the weapons — though they help. It’s the people.”