In less than a month we will be firmly in the middle of the 2nd decade of the 21st Century. What path were we put on at the start 21st Century that got us here? How do we evaluate the right decisions, the neutral decisions, and the less than optimal calls of the last decade and a half? What lessons can we take away now in order to make decisions to best position the Navy on the approaches to 2030? Our guest for the full hour this Sunday to discuss this an much more will be Admiral John C. Harvey...
Dec 08, 2013•1 hr 9 min
Almost two and a half years ago we had a show that is a fitting ago now as it was then. Almost a decade of involvement in two land wars in Asia combined with a series of costly and ill timed shipbuilding programs that have yet to produce ships anywhere near promised cost and performance has brought our Navy to the growing budget crisis in a delicate position. The national security arena suffers from SeaBlindness about the critical requirements of seapower to the long term economic and security n...
Dec 01, 2013•1 hr
When one hangs up the uniform after decades of service, but still wants to contribute to their nations national security needs, what paths can that take? How does one find a path forward, and what are the keys to success? In a budgetary challenge not seen by the US military in two decades, what are the important "must haves" that need to be kept at full strength, and what "nice to haves" may have to be put in to the side? What are the legacy ideas, concepts, and capabilities that the Navy and Ma...
Nov 24, 2013•1 hr 6 min
Are there lessons one can learn from the most exceptional edges of the military experience that can be useful to the civilian world? Was there something from the experience of American prisoners of war imprisoned at the "Hanoi Hilton" during the Vietnam War that had to do with their success in their subsequent careers? Our guests to discuss for the full hour will be Peter Fretwell and Taylor Baldwin Kiland, authors of Lessons from the Hanoi Hilton: Six Characteristics of High-Performance Teams....
Nov 17, 2013•1 hr 2 min
Going back 14 months, this Veterans Day weekend, let's review the war we have been soaking in. There are certain points in a nation's history that define a transition from one era to another. These moments are so clear that you don't realize it in retrospect - you know it the moment it happens. No one argues the fact that everything has changed; from all sides, everyone sees it. September 11th, 2001 was one of those times. 911 was not just a national moment, but a global moment. Our military has...
Nov 10, 2013•1 hr 30 min
In an arch that spans the immediate post-Cold War era through the Iraq War, what are the observations & lessons a front-line leader at the tactical level and, for those who are injured in service to their nation, through recovery. Our guest for the full hour will be Jason Redman, author of The Trident: The Forging and Reforging of a Navy SEAL Leader. Jason joined the Navy on September 11, 1992 and served as an enlisted SEAL until he entered Old Dominion University in August of 2001, graduati...
Nov 03, 2013•1 hr 2 min
If you have only started to think about the budget problems this year, you are late to the game Shipmate. We are years in to it, and almost 2-yrs ago, as many were sobering up to the fact that the military was about to face a budget challenge not seen in a generation. Especially those who have seen this movie before, they knew that this one has the potential to be the most challenging seen in over half a century. For the full hour, our guest will be Col. Robert Killebrew, USA (Ret.)., using his ...
Oct 27, 2013•1 hr
This week, we'll go back to 2011 for an interview with one of the better reports from an embed this decade. For those who listened to All Things Considered on NPR in 2011, you caught an outstanding series on the 3rd Battalion 5th Marines – the Darkhorse Battalion — the Marine unit that suffered the highest casualty rate of any Marine unit during the 10-year Afghan war. Our guest for the full hour is the journalist who brought the American people that story - Tom Bowman, NPR National Desk reporte...
Oct 20, 2013•1 hr
While good ideas are often forgotten, bad ideas seem to pop up over an over again - especially the sexy ones that sound so good, but never seem to work well. The answer, of course, is to try again and hope for a better result. Some would argue that sea swap is one of those sexy ideas that just isn't that practical in actual operation. A good idea? One of the good ideas mostly forgotten is that of the Junior Officer in significant positions of authority. LTJG as XO? LT as Skipper? Sure... used to...
Oct 13, 2013•1 hr 3 min
From long-term issues like sequester, the strategic review, the QDR, to bolt-from-the-blue incidents like the murders at the Navy yard - how does the Navy communicate to the public and the press in an information starved culture? When the race to being wrong first seems to be a standard, how do we maintain the standard of being a useful source of information, but in a timely manner? In some areas like the budget that wander in to the political arena - how do we stay inside the lines but still in...
Oct 06, 2013•1 hr 4 min
What is the role of ground forces as the conversation revolves around the Air Sea Battle Concept? Is an emphasis on air and sea power sending the right message, driving balanced thinking, and sending the right messages to our friends and competitors? Building off his article in the May 2013 Armed Forces Journal, Back To Reality, Why Land Power Trumps in the National Rebalance Towards Asia, our guest for the full hour will be Major Robert Chamberlain, USA. He has served two tours in Iraq (2003-4 ...
Sep 29, 2013•1 hr 1 min
When a few years turns in to many. When all of a sudden you seem to be the oldest guy in the room. When you have but days of memories of your kids and in the blink of an eye they are a year older - eventually everyone on active duty reaches the point where it is time to pack the sea bag one more time and put it in the attic. It is time to retire or leave active duty. Better or worse - it is time to go. What are the paths someone follows to reach that point? What decisions and inputs lead to that...
Sep 22, 2013•1 hr 6 min
This episode from 2011 came up three times this week, so it is a natural for a Best of. How do you intellectually prepare combat leaders? If you are given a young man or woman at 18, how do you best educate that person so they have the cultural, ethical, technical, and historical knowledge to make the right decisions for the right reasons, and lead others to do the same? What are unchanged, timeless fundamentals, and what new things are coming over the horizon that today's Ensigns and Second Lie...
Sep 15, 2013•1 hr 3 min
Is there such a thing as Military Intellectual Entrepreneurialism? Large, sated, and complacent organization do not have a good track record of survival. Organizations of any size that nurture the mentality of small, hungry, and driven by creative destruction and friction based on competing ideas - that is the path to success. Always has been, always will be. How do we get that attitude to permeate the military? How do we harness the power of an entrepreneurial mindset to build a better national...
Sep 08, 2013•1 hr 8 min
We're going to go back a couple of years this weekend to our Lawfare episode from 2011. We'll be back live next week. Never in our history have we fought a war where law, lawyers, and layers of legalese have impacted all levels of the war, Political, Strategic, Operational, and Tactical. Why do we find ourselves here and in what direction are we going? From Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and even domestically, the legal definition of the use of military power is evolving. To discuss the impa...
Sep 01, 2013•1 hr
If the CNO's #1 priority is warfighting, how do leaders focus on that priority inside a 24-hr day? In a complicated structure of Administrative and Operational Chains of Command and the unending hunger of a bureaucracy for metrics and the reports that feed them - when does a system itself become and "Administrative Burden." On person's administrative burden is another person's critical requirement - so how does an organization's leadership balance subordinate priorities so they do not interfere ...
Aug 25, 2013•1 hr 12 min
The War Between the States, the American Civil War - whichever description you prefer - this crucible on which our nation was re-formed has legion of books, movies, and rhetoric dedicated to it. Most of the history that people know involves the war on land, but what of the war at sea? What are details behind some of the major Naval leaders of both sides that are the least known, but are the most interesting? What challenges and accomplishments were made by the belligerents in their navies, and h...
Aug 18, 2013•1 hr 2 min
Interesting idea recycle, and in the last couple of weeks, the subject of our DEC 2012 show has been making the rounds again. What got it all started was his article almost a year ago in the United States Naval Institute’s Proceedings, Offshore Control is the Answer. Enjoy today's best of show with Colonel T.X. Hammes, USMC (Ret.) Col. Hammes served thirty years in the Marine Corps at all levels in the operating forces. He participated in stabilization operations in Somalia and Iraq as well as t...
Aug 11, 2013•45 min
Remember when "Afghanistan" became "AFPAC" in the second half of the last decade? Concepts morph the more you study them. Just as you started to get used to the 'Pacific Pivot" - in case you missed it this summer, it is morphing in to the Indo-Pacific Pivot. Extending our view from WESTPAC in to the Indian Ocean, how are things changing that will shape the geo-strategic environment from Goa, Darwin, Yokohama, Hainan, to Vladivostok? Our guest to discuss this and more will be Dr. Toshi Yoshihara,...
Aug 04, 2013•1 hr 11 min
We ran this as a best of back in December, but with yesterday being the 60th anniversary of the Korean War armistice, there is no question this is the right episode. Also, with the last year's announcement of the naming of DDG-116 after Medal of Honor recipient CAPT Thomas Hudner, USN (Ret) - it is an easy decision on today's show. A replay of our Navy Air Korean War episode with CAPT Hudner in the first half hour, and then author David Sears to discuss his book Men Such as These: The Story of t...
Jul 28, 2013•59 min
So, which is it? Do we forget our history and are therefor doomed to repeat it, or are we always preparing to fight the next war? As we finish up the final chapter of our participation in Afghanistan after well over a decade, and reflect on the changes in the arch of the Muslim world from the Atlas mountains to Mindanao - what do we need to intellectually, retain for what is coming "next?" With one eye on historical patterns and another on developing economic, demographic, and political trends -...
Jul 21, 2013•1 hr 3 min
What is the impact of the right man at the right time with the right ideas? What is the impact of what seems to some as just a man, but to a son is all? For the first half of the hour we will have LCDR BJ Armstrong to discuss his book, 21st Century Mahan: Sound Military Conclusions for the Modern Era. For the second half of the hour our guest will be Stephen Roderick to discuss his book, The Magical Stranger: A Son's Journey into His Father's Life. LCDR BJ Armstrong is a Naval Aviator and an occ...
Jul 14, 2013•1 hr 3 min
Don't hate - but we're at the beach. We'll be back next week live, but until then - today's show is a pre-recorded best of with three of the authors we interviewed in 2010 about their books; James S. Robbins, Senior Editorial Writer for Foreign Affairs at the Washington Times on his book, "This Time We Win: Revisiting the Tet Offensive." David Sears' book on Navy Air in the Korean war with, "Such Men as These." United States Naval Academy Professor Bruce Fleming's new book on one part of the cul...
Jul 07, 2013•1 hr 15 min
I cannot believe it has been almost 2.5 years since this show. Unquestionably time to have it again. Much of the conversation about the USMC over the last decade has been about its "Second Land Army" status .... well .... Marines are still second to none at their core skill set. In case someone forgot that - our next guest and his Marines reminded everyone of not just that - but the power of the Navy-Marine Corp team. Over a 48 hour period, the 15th MEU/PELARG team conducted offensive air operat...
Jun 30, 2013•1 hr
Here is your chance; its the end of 2QCY13 and you haven't heard the topic you wanted on Midrats yet? There is a question you would like to hear the hosts grapple with about maritime and national security issues? Or, are you just interested in discussing the latest developments in unmanned systems, pacific pivot, budget battles, Russian relations, China intentions, and more? On, above, and under the sea - we'll cover it today for a full hour free for all. The phone lines will be open and we'll a...
Jun 23, 2013•1 hr 4 min
Father's Day Best of from almost a year ago. Can't believe we have waited a year since we talked about Russia ... so with Syria in the news - it might be interesting to see what the view was a year ago. For the full hour we will have returning guest Dr. Dmitry Gorenburg, Senior Analyst, CNA Strategic Studies, an Associate at Harvard’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, and author and host of the Russian Military Reform blog.
Jun 16, 2013•1 hr 1 min
Policy is never set - it is never agreed. As the global maritime security situation changes, so must the ideas and plans of nations. In the best Western tradition, it is generally accepted that more ideas, and more discussion is better in working towards the best solution to any challenge - especially national security challenges. One of the newer additions to the discussion are the writers at the Center for International Maritime Security (CIMSEC) Since they joined the conversation in force in ...
Jun 09, 2013•1 hr 3 min
Narrow seas, unseen mines, punitive expeditions, and "come as you are" ASUW on the sea and in the air. Yes, it has been a quarter-century, but little has changed since the USS SAMUEL B. ROBERTS (FFG-58) struck a mine, and in retribution, the US Navy launched Operation PRAYING MANTIS. The tactical and operational aspects of each, as well as combat leadership, remain constant even while the tools may have changed a bit. To discuss this an more, our guest for the full hour will be BRAD T0N, author ...
Jun 02, 2013•1 hr 12 min
The show we had in July of 2011 was one of our better, as it showed two sides of "leave no one behind" from two very different wars. Especially the second half of the show, you'll shake your head a bit. History does echo, often in the same countries. This nation has been served by those who come home, and those who never make it back. Some have had their stories preserved and celebrated within living memory, some are almost unknown. This weeks episode will cover both sides of our military experi...
May 26, 2013•1 hr
How did the US Marine Corps and local tribal leaders turn the corner in Fallujah? Who were the people on the ground, Iraqi and American, who were the catalyst for the change that brought about a sea change in the tactical, operational, and strategic direction in Iraq? Our guest for the full hour to discuss that and more will be author Bill Ardolino. We will use as a base of our discussion his new book, Fallujah Awakens: Marines, Sheikhs, and the Battle Against al Qaeda. Bill is the associate edi...
May 19, 2013•1 hr 3 min
