Both history and common practice show that the most fundamental role of a major power’s naval forces is to “show the flag.” The world’s premier naval power has additional responsibilities if it wishes to remain the premier power; command of the seas. From material condition of our ships to failures of basic seamanship, the last few years have signaled that whatever we are doing, it isn’t being done in the best service of the nation or its Navy. As we face an accelerating challenge from the Peopl...
Dec 05, 2021•1 hr
If you are even remotely connected to the US Navy you have directly or indirectly been impacted by the "Fat Leonard" scandal. A husbanding agent who used every tool in a very old book - greed, sex, power, influence, and envy - managed to have have naval officers and high ranking law enforcement officers become party to his drive for wealth and influence. One of the best places to find the details of the scandal and to hear from Leonard Glenn Frances himself, is in "The Fat Leonard Podcast." Our ...
Nov 22, 2021•1 hr 6 min
All you need to do is look at a map to tell that we are a maritime nation. A strong Navy is only part of being a maritime power. As everyone is starting to appreciate as they look at empty shelves, rising prices, and fleets of merchant ships waiting for their turn off overburdened ports - the other side of a maritime power can impact everyone's quality of life overnight. If most Americans knew the relative weakness - and in areas complete absence - of America in the maritime trade that keeps up ...
Nov 15, 2021•1 hr 8 min
In what history will show was a failed effort, for almost two decades, the most advanced military and police forces in the West tried to build a security force for the people of Afghanistan, an effort that took off with great urgency towards the end of the first decade of the conflict. A cornerstone of that effort was NATO Training Mission–Afghanistan (NTM-A). Our guests to discuss this effort and what lessons it holds for the future will be Dr. Martin Loicano and Dr. Craig C. “C. C.” Felker. Us...
Nov 08, 2021•1 hr 3 min
What are the of economic, demographic, and political forces driving China through this decade? What direction is her growth heading and where will she find herself at the end of the decade? Are the forces in play likely to move her towards a more peaceful or a more militaristic stance? Using the recent article he co-authored with Gabriel Collins in Foreign Policy, A Dangerous Decade of Chinese Power is Here, as a starting point, returning to Midrats for the full hour this Sunday from 5-6pm Easte...
Oct 25, 2021•1 hr 6 min
Afghanistan is a land locked nation, but in the USA’s two-decade presence in that country, her Navy was there from the beginning to end serving along with her sister services. Many are familiar with the untold number of Individual Augmentation (IA) assignments Navy active duty and reserve component personnel filled, Navy Corpsmen serving with USMC units, and even SeaBee deployments to Afghanistan, but there were other units with a large US Navy presence, a few of the Provincial Reconstruction Te...
Oct 18, 2021•1 hr 6 min
From the fleet parked off Long Beach, to the already forgotten Afghanistan, to the particular aspirational desires of the latest 30-year Shipbuilding Plan - and whatever else comes across then quarterdeck - Eagle One and Sal are back LIVE for an October maritime and national security discussion. As with all free for alls, the chat room will be open as will the studio phone lines … come join us this Sunday starting at 5pm Eastern.
Oct 11, 2021•1 hr 8 min
Sal and EagleOne are tanned, rested, and ready to dive in a … well … where does one start for the last couple of weeks. Australia pivots strong to China with here plans to move to SSN, France gets grumpy with the Anglosphere as a result but still kills a baddie for us, fleets of container ships are haunting out ports, and we’re all digesting what happened in Afghanistan. That’s just a start. Join us for the full hour LIVE Sunday. The chat room will be open and the studio line too....
Sep 20, 2021•1 hr 15 min
While a lot of the attention in unmanned systems the last two decades has been in the air, significant developments on and under the surface of the oceans were happening in parallel. From small mine hunting unmanned surface vessels and the development of the Large Unmanned Surface Vessel above the seas, to unmanned systems the size of lightweight torpedoes to midget submarines below the surface, unmanned maritime systems capabilities are growing each year. With each incremental advance in engine...
Aug 30, 2021•1 hr 8 min
I’m not sure where today’s Midrats will take us. Our co-host is getting a little underway time, so this will be just you and me. As the initial stage of the collapse of Kabul unfolded last weekend, a lot of Midrats loyalists reached out to me to ask, “Where is this week’s Midrats?” In hindsight, perhaps I should have brought up a show, but last Sunday was just not a good time to put a microphone in front of me,. By Monday I was ready, and my posts last week at the homeblog covered much of the th...
Aug 22, 2021•1 hr 20 min
Shipping rates, supply bottlenecks, and some nightmare abandonment stories for some mariners, like everything else on our water plant, COVID-19 impacted our shipping industry hard at sea and ashore. The impacts of which rippled in to everything. As economies, nations, and corporations adjust to the new reality, what trends can the consumer and maritime professional expect? It’s time to catch up with returning guest, Salvatore Mercogliano. Sal sailed with MSC from 1989 to 1992, and worked MSC HQ ...
Aug 08, 2021•1 hr 4 min
For coming up on two decades, the United States military has been engaged - if you want to call it by the medal they give everyone for it - a Global War on Terrorism. As we have invested two decades, trillions of dollars, and thousands dead across the globe in response to the attacks of September, 2001 - our best friends have been with us. They do this of their own free will, and share the good fortune and bad with us in our contact of the war. Today’s Midrats is a wide ranging discussion on the...
Aug 01, 2021•1 hr 12 min
Tired of hearing "DELTA" related to COVID, when in a good and just world when you heard that word it would be used to talk about old Russian Soviet Era SSBN or 2-seater all weather F-18s? Well, we're not sure we'll cover either of those topics on today's episode or that we'll totally ignore COVID's impact in the natsec arena, but it's a melee - so you never know what will come up in the maritime national security conversation. giving Deming a second look, the CNO admits what everyone knew about ...
Jul 26, 2021•1 hr 9 min
If it is early summer in the Black Sea, it is time for the annual Ukrainian hosted international exercise Sea Breeze. Why is this exercise important, who came along, and what does it tell us about the state of the Ukrainian Navy, maritime security in the contested eastern Black Sea, and some interesting responses from the Russians. Recently returning from the exercise and joining us for the full hour will be returning guest, Captain Chris Rawley, USNR CAPT Rawley is the Reserve Chief of Staff fo...
Jul 18, 2021•59 min
Sal and EagleOne are back after July 4th with a full plate of catching up to do on the waterfront from ghosting Afghanistan, Japan & Taiwan's awkward natsec flirting, the INDOPACCOM J2 isn't all that happy with what he's discovered west of Wake, and the ever popular question, how many years is a 30-yr CG good for. Come join us! Editor's Note: Due to interruptions during stormy weather during the live show, to improve the listening experience, there were edits and cuts in post production that...
Jul 12, 2021•55 min
One week prior to the July 4th holiday, and it's time to catch up on the latest events in the maritime security arena ... and an arena it is. We have a new SECNAV nom ... but no one is talking about it. We have the CNO expending T-AKE amounts of personal, professional, and institutional capital defending quaint academic social theory, FORD enjoys a banging time at sea, and the Royal Navy enjoys a Russian air and sea spectacular! ...and that is just the first few things. As always with our free f...
Jun 28, 2021•1 hr 9 min
China is interested in a lot more than just the first or second island chain. In the vast reaches of the Pacific Ocean, the islands of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia are critical to the sea lines of communication for the economic powerhouses on both sides. From the Age of Discovery to today, their importance rises to the top of any power who wished to influence the area. To look at this area of returning importance with us for the full hour will be Alexander B. Gray. The starting point for...
Jun 13, 2021•1 hr
In a sharp departure from the ideas that brought them to the fleet, the Navy, "...appears poised to sunset the MK VI and Cyclone-class patrol craft programs in rapid succession, with no replacements on the horizon." Why are these small craft in our Navy today, what missions are they doing, and what risk are we accepting if we let this capability go? What follow on craft could even do the job better? To discuss these and related issues will be LCDR Jordan Bradford, USN. The starting point for our...
Jun 07, 2021•1 hr 4 min
After two decades of a low boil, but highly demanding series of conflicts in Asia required an extensive focus on the now - in both funding and leadership time. America finds herself facing the 2020s with a rested, increasingly well equipped and confident People's Republic of China on the other side of the Pacific stretching herself on a global scale. Advances of the last few decades that were made were focused on the fight at hand, but they may not be the right equipment for the expected fight t...
May 24, 2021•1 hr 7 min
OK, it is the day after May Day ... but that's close enough for government work. As the entire maritime world this week decided to pick up on some Midrats favorites - poaching the Army's budget and making the Taiwanese porcupine a bit more imposing - could there be a better time for another Sal & Eagle One green range? Open topic, open chat room, open phones. We'll cover the waterfront and invite you to come on board for a broad ranging discussion of national and maritime security issues. Su...
May 03, 2021•1 hr 7 min
Home is thousands of miles away on the other side of the great Pacific Ocean. A deadly and relentless enemy is challenging ships and sailors for every island, cove, sea and shipping lane. There is no time – or yardspace – for damaged ships for travel home for repairs or resupply. Large shore facilities and ports anywhere near the fight are either under enemy control, or too dangerous and damaged to be useful. How can the US Navy fight and win under these circumstances? We know the answer. We’ve ...
Apr 26, 2021•1 hr 2 min
Sometimes, Midrats is like a VLS cell; you don't know what you have until ... wait ... bad analogy... but you get the concept. Today for the full hour, come join us for a classic Midrats melee ... we take on all topics as they come in to range. I'm sure we'll cover the latest Black Sea happenings, interesting justifications for more DDG in Rota, and WESTPAC always makes and appearance.
Apr 19, 2021•1 hr 15 min
Our comfortable, modern life exists on a delicate fabric of global transportation, laws, and lines of communication supported by assumptions of stability, peace, and professional competence. Over the last twelve months, from COVID-19 to EVER GIVEN in the Suez, the delicate nature off the global system of trade that allows affordable technology, food, and the full spectrum of consumer goods has broken in to the open for everyone to see. Is the global system of trade as delicate as it seems? Where...
Apr 12, 2021•1 hr 10 min
Wars are full of accidental battles, unexpected horror, and the valor of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. Often lost in the sweeping stories of the Pacific in WWII, there is a story that - if not for one man's inability to properly recognize one ship from another - should have never have happened. Because of that one man's mistake, and a leader's stubborn enthusiasm to double down on that mistake, the lived of hundreds of men were lost - and possibly the course of a pivotal early ...
Apr 11, 2021•1 hr 2 min
Can a military organization suffer from attention deficit disorder? There are very few moments in time – the mid-1990s was a rare one – where a nation’s national security apparatus has the luxury and white space to get distracted and complacent. 2021 is not one of those times. With a new leadership team in place in DOD, are we sure they are focused on the important challenges of China, North Korea, Iran, and Russia? What are the top distractions that those concerned with the proper stewardship o...
Mar 28, 2021•1 hr 2 min
The Navy wants to talk some more about unmanned systems, the unknown war we have been fighting for years along the bleeding edge of Islam in Africa seems to be going nowhere we want it to go, China decides to let the mask slip at last, in the mandated extremism training The Pentagon realized the military reflects the nation it serves and not the readers of The Washington Post ... and we still don't have any Service Secretaries nominated. This week produced more news than can be covered in one Mi...
Mar 22, 2021•1 hr 9 min
While the rest of the world paused to focus on COVID-19 the last year, even though the pandemic started there, the People's Republic of China did not stop her long, steady push out to the world to take the place she feels she in entitled to. From the border of India to South America and back to the Western Pacific, China feels the wind at her back. Where is China signaling she will be be the greatest challenge to her neighbors and the global community? Returning to Midrats this Sunday for the fu...
Mar 15, 2021•1 hr 3 min
If geography is destiny, then Singapore is a nation of destiny. Sitting astride one of the world's most critical chokepoints, this polyglot island republic with a population of Denmark on a spot of land 1/4 the size of Rhode Island. For her size, she has a modern, large, and capable navy and military - important for what has always been a rough neighborhood. What makes Singapore's national security requirements unique, and what role does she play as the Indo-Pacific Theater becomes the center of...
Mar 08, 2021•1 hr 3 min
Where is European naval power in 2021, what is shaping it, and where is it going? This week returning guest Jeremy Stöhs is with us to review the above issues as outlined in an exceptional report he produced for the Centre for Military Studies at the University of Copenhagen., "How High? The Future of European Naval Power and the High-End Challenge." Jeremy is the Deputy Director of the Austrian Center for Intelligence, Propaganda and Security Studies and the editor for their journal, JIPSS. Aft...
Feb 28, 2021•33 min
After a week moving from the warm embrace of Valentines Day to the cold jolt of a nation wide arctic freeze, come join us this Sunday at 5pm Eastern for a live Midrats Free For All! Open chat room, open phone, and open topic on the - mostly - maritime national security front. From the new Biden DOD and State Department's first moves, to the ongoing efforts of the USA and our allies as we try to figure out what we need to do to ensure the global system that serves us all. Come join us and if you ...
Feb 22, 2021•1 hr 6 min
