What This Field Means
The higher administrative or operational commands associated with the unit during a particular historical period.
This summarizes the higher administrative or operational commands associated with the unit during a defined historical period. It helps veterans place a unit within the chain of command they knew at the time.
How to Read It Correctly
Historical alignment is not necessarily the unit’s present parent or current command, and a command association does not establish lineage. Administrative and operational relationships can also differ within the same period.
Example
A World War II battalion aligned to a specific regiment and division during a campaign.
Technical Specification
The database column is [USMIL-Unit].[Unit].[HistoricalCommandAlignment]. Optional time-sensitive command-alignment narrative. It does not imply that the same relationship exists today.
Name the supported command alignment with dates, role, and context when known. Use effective-dated relationship records for exact structure; this field should provide a readable historical summary without collapsing multiple eras.
| Property | Definition or current value |
|---|---|
| Database column | HistoricalCommandAlignment |
| Column order | 51 |
| SQL data type | nvarchar(2048) |
| Kind of information | Evidence-derived text |
| Cardinality | One stored value per Unit row. |
| Required | No; NULL is permitted |
| Database default | No database default |
| Key or relationship | None |
| Database check constraint | ([CurrentStatus]=N'Planned' OR [CurrentStatus]=N'Status unknown' OR [CurrentStatus]=N'Historical' OR [CurrentStatus]=N'Inactive' OR [CurrentStatus]=N'Current') |
| Live population | 2327 of 9341 Unit records (24.91%) |
| Distinct nonblank values in the live table | 1431 |
| Live profile measured | September 2, 2026, 20:43 UTC |
Allowed Values and Definitions
No preset menu applies to this field. It stores an identifier, relationship, measurement, date, timestamp, or evidence-derived narrative. Valid content is governed by the SQL type, key relationship, nullability, retained evidence, and the field-specific recording rule above. A list of observed contents would be data, not a list of allowed options.
Missing, Unknown, and Conflicting Information
A database NULL is permitted and means that no value is presently stored. It does not prove that the fact never existed, that the answer is no, or that the concept does not apply. Missing information must remain visibly different from a supported negative or inapplicable conclusion.
Connections to Other Fields
- Administrative Command — The service-side organization responsible for administration, readiness, personnel, training, and support.
- Operational Command — The command directing or employing the unit for an operation, deployment, exercise, or assigned mission.
- Parent Unit — The immediate higher organization under which the unit is placed in this record.
- Effective From — The date from which the facts represented by this unit record are known to apply.
- Operational Context — The operation, campaign, exercise, contingency, or standing plan in which a command relationship or unit activity applies.