David Scott Stieghan is the United States Army Infantry Branch Historian at Fort Benning, Georgia. After a training accident while on active duty in Germany resulted in a permanent disability, Stieghan was honorably discharged from the United States Army as a Captain in 1992. For several years, he taught college history at colleges in Texas, Tennessee, and Georgia and also worked in museum management. Stieghan returned to government service in 2001, as the Military History Instructor for the U.S. Army Infantry. During personal time, he worked as a technical consultant and talent on production sets by providing technical direction for documentaries and major motion pictures. Stieghan has worked on twenty-eight Armed Forces Radio and Television Service Military Heritage Spots, eight History Channel shows, nine Outdoor Channel, and twenty-one Military Channel Shows as a technical advisor and Subject Matter Expert since 1999. He also appeared in the mini-series “Truman” on HBO as a technical advisor working directly with actor Gary Sinise, and also for the movie “Rough Riders” on TNT.
For nearly fifty years, Stieghan has collected historic weapons and militaria, including small arms, cannons, and hundreds of uniforms. As a long-time collector and restoration expert for American military with special emphasis on firearms from all world powers involved in World War I, as well as artifacts from the Old West, Stieghan often performs live demonstrations of a variety of weapons for television programs. Additionally, as a historian, Stieghan has interviewed over a thousand veterans from wars stretching back to the Philippine Insurrection of 1899 to 1902.
Stieghan was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Purdue University in 1982, followed by a Bachelor of Science in Cultural Geography from Middle Tennessee State University in 1986. Ten years later, Stieghan completed his Master’s degree in History at Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas and began working towards a Doctor of Philosophy in History from Auburn University in 2002. His research, speaking engagements, interviews, and writing includes infantry, tactics, military technology, small arms, and the common soldier life. David Scott Stieghan married Chantay Bedford Sadler in January 2017 and they live in Pine Mountain, Georgia. He has two adult children, Kurt and Virginia.