Let's go back to October of 2010 for a great pair of guests. First, since the end of US involvement The Vietnam War almost 40 years ago, there are just a few USN Commanding Officers who know what it is like for a warship under attack; one of the handful will be our first guest, CDR Kirk Lippold, USN (Ret.). He was the Commanding Officer of the USS Cole (DDG-67) when it was attacked while in port Aden, Yemen 12 October 2000 - the 16th anniversary will in a few weeks. We will discuss his experienc...
Jan 05, 2020•1 hr
In the 5-years since the publication of his book, Why We Lost, each passing day more and more people are starting to look at what, 18-yrs on, we have brought in to being with our long running land wars in Central Asia and the Middle East. Using his book as a starting point, this Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern, our guest will be Daniel P. Bolger, Lieutenant General, US Army, (Ret.) to discuss these two conflicts and larger implications of our Long War. Bolger served 35 years in the U.S. Army, retiring...
Dec 16, 2019•1 hr 3 min
How do you report history as you live it? When, why, and how do you write about it? When even the most experienced DC watchers are having trouble tracking what is going on in the Trump Administration, what can people expect to learn from first hand accounts? If you haven't already heard about our next guest and his book - and you count yourself as someone interested in national security - then welcome back on the grid. Returning to Midrats, our guest for the full hour this Sunday from 5-6pm East...
Dec 08, 2019•1 hr 7 min
First aired in November of 2012. "If we cannot have the navy estimates of our policy, then let's have the policy of our navy estimates." ---- Lieutenant Ambroise Baudry, French Navy As our guest this week noted in his book Fleet Tactics: Theory and Practice, "These are the watchwords for the twenty-first-century American navy." As we leave our land wars in Asia and look forward to the future maritime challenges of our nation, what size and kind of Fleet should the US Navy have? How will budgets ...
Dec 06, 2019•1 hr 2 min
Keeping a fleet ready for war is a process of years of careful, consistent, and sustained stewardship of both personnel and material. The easiest parts are the buying of equipment and recruiting new people.The hard parts, maintenance, training, and retention – mostly because they are hard – rarely break in to the open. For our fleet, the structure we live in is the Optimized Fleet Response Plan (OFRP). It is a system few understand well, but is one designed around a peace time “efficiency” with ...
Nov 25, 2019•1 hr 8 min
A byproduct of the April 2018 memo from Undersecretary of the Navy Thomas Modly, the newly created position of CLO is described as, “A senior civilian with educational leadership experience headquartered in the Pentagon, with a small supporting staff transferred from extant Navy and Marine education management billets, responsible to the President, Naval University for all matters related to education in policy, budgets, promotion board precepts. Congressional interaction, future requirements, a...
Nov 17, 2019•1 hr 5 min
Episode first aired in July of 2013. We have heard from industry, military leaders, Marines, and private security providers, this Sunday we are going to look at piracy at a more personal level with director Thymaya Payne of the documentary, Stolen Seas; Tales of Somali Piracy. He will be our guest for the full hour. From the show promo: The filmmakers have spent the past three years traveling to some of the world's most violent locales in order to make this documentary on Somali piracy, Stolen S...
Nov 15, 2019•1 hr 1 min
With the sequel to "Top Gun" coming up, if you ever wore the uniform of the US Navy, you're going to get asked a lot of questions. For this week's show we are going to talk about today's Naval Aviation experience with author Kevin Miller, CAPT, USN (Ret.) Kevin is a third generation naval officer. He graduated from the University of Mississippi and was designated a Naval Aviator in August 1983. In his career he flew the A-7E Corsair II and FA-18C Hornet, deploying overseas six times throughout t...
Nov 04, 2019•58 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...
Nov 01, 2019•1 hr 2 min
From Finland to Denmark, Sweden to Poland - from small Latvia to the Continental power of Germany - the return of Russia has brought a renewed focus the last half decade to the Baltic. Not just a SLOC, there are important economic and cultural ties that predate written history that continue to be important today. Our guest for the full hour in a wide ranging discussion will be Dr. Sebastian Bruns. Sebastian heads the Center for Maritime Strategy & Security (CMSS) at the Institute for Securit...
Oct 20, 2019•1 hr 12 min
Everyone has half-baked ideas ... some quarter-baked and some three-quarters-baked ... that in a just world of their making would have a funding line. Are there some ideas so far "out of the box" that they really should be "in the box?" Find yourself saying, "If I were CNO/emperor/Chairman of the HASC for a day, I would..."? Have some ideas that you are convinced our Navy needs to win, but everyone else thinks is impossible/stupid/insane? Well, that is the Navy we're going to ponder today. With ...
Oct 13, 2019•1 hr 10 min
As the USN continues its slow goodbye to 355 ships, what are some other measures it can use to expand maritime power, presence and influence? Would better and expanded integration, support, and interoperability with the USCG be part of the answer? Our guest this Sunday for the full hour to discuss this and all thing USCG will be Chuck Hill, and we’ll used his recent post, Navy, this is Coast Guard, we need to talk ( https://chuckhillscgblog.net/2019/09/29/navy-this-is-coast-guard-we-need-to-talk...
Oct 07, 2019•1 hr 1 min
First aired in October 2015: One man's chore is another man's hobby. Another man's dread, is the other's fantasy. Such, in a fashion, is Program Management in the Navy. To be a good one, step one is to be self-aware. From his latest article in USNI's Proceedings, Confessions of a Major Program Manager, Captain Mark Vandroff, USN just lays it out; "Face it: Everyone hates MPMs. For the budget-conscious officials in the Pentagon, our products are never cheap enough. For technologists both inside a...
Oct 06, 2019•1 hr 2 min
From the week before the 2016 election, in this episode of Midrats we discuss the systems that trains, mans, and equips our military - and provides guidance and support to their civilian masters is broadly shaped by Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986. There is much discussion that in the middle of the second decade of the 21st Century, is there a better system to serve our national security requirements than one designed at the height of the 20th Century's Cold War? Using his article in War on the Ro...
Sep 30, 2019•32 min
Almost to the day, our direct military involvement in Afghanistan has reached its 18th year. Those Afghans, American, British, and others who were had yet to reach their first birthday when the attacks of September 2001 led us to move in to direct military action in Afghanistan, those children of 2001 are now on their way to that Central Asian country to pick up the conflict other generations have yet to put an end to is. Nation building, counter-terrorism, training, capability building, infrast...
Sep 16, 2019•1 hr 1 min
Even developed nations have difficulty effectively managing marine resources, enforce pollution controls, and maintain the rule of law in their territorial seas. With most of the world's coastal nations struggling to maintain authority ashore, the sea is left lawless. From fisheries to waste disposal, bad actors are taking advantage of these localized challenges with negative impacts not just on the coastal nations, but on the global environment and integrated ecosystems. For over four decades, ...
Sep 09, 2019•1 hr 6 min
First aired in AUG 2018. With a resurgent Russia, the security environment from former Soviet Republics to the traditionally neutral nations of Finland and Sweden has changed dramatically. What are those changes and how are they changing how these nations see their place in the larger Western security infrastructure? We’re going to look at how thing are changing in how they work and see each other, NATO, and what they need to do to provide for both their and collective defense. Our guests for th...
Sep 09, 2019•1 hr 12 min
Not since the last decade of the Cold War have ballistic missile defense, land based cruise missiles, as well as short, intermediate, and medium range ballistic missiles received this much attention outside the compartmentalized and esoteric warfare specialities they belong in. With the realities of our century bidding farewell to the previous century's INF limitations, you shouldn't expect the topic to fade away anytime soon. Shipboard and land based missile defense are rising to meet the threa...
Aug 26, 2019•1 hr 6 min
In parallel efforts that in the Navy which led to Top Gun, the US Air Force looked hard at the lessons of air to air combat in the Vietnam War and brought forward "Red Flag," Moving beyond the technical focus, they looked to training and fundamentals to bring back a primacy of combat skills. Our guest for the full hour to discuss this and his new book, The Air Force Way of War: U.S. Tactics and Training after Vietnam, will be Dr. Brian D. Laslie, Deputy Command Historian, North American Aerospac...
Aug 25, 2019•1 hr
Put the popular, and mostly accurate, image of the flamboyant General Patton, USA given to us by popular culture to the side for a moment. Consider the other side of the man; the strategic thinker, student of military history, and innovator for decades. This week's episode will focus on that side of the man. For the full hour we will have as our guest J. Furman Daniel, III, the editor of the next book in the 21st Century Foundations series; 21st Century Patton. Furman is an assistant professor a...
Aug 25, 2019•1 hr 1 min
It is a civil war, tribal war, religious war, and proxy war with local, regional, and global implications. The specific and larger implications of the war in Yemen will be our topic for the full hour with our guest Katherine Zimmerman. Katherine Zimmerman is a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and the research manager for AEI’s Critical Threats Project. As AEI’s senior analyst studying terrorist groups, she focuses on the global al Qaeda network and covers the Salafi-jih...
Aug 05, 2019•1 hr 2 min
From Baltic air policing, through the Russian border areas, to Afghanistan and curling back to the Strait of Hormuz, NATO alliance members are being tested not just by external powers, but by domestic politics and the slow churn of history. Since the end of the Cold War, NATO members continue to grapple with their larger mission - and what alliance members mean and owe to each other. From purpose to public support, returning to Midrats for a thorough review of NATO near the end of the 2nd decade...
Jul 29, 2019•1 hr 4 min
Beat the heat by joining us today from 5-6pm Eastern for a mid-July maritime free for all. We're going to cover the chart from Iran seizing Brit owned tankers, to the future impact of growing naval powers like India & Japan, to the new-new CNO to be, and anything else that seems to be breaking above the natsec ambient noise. Jump in the chat room with your own question, or you can even call in.
Jul 22, 2019•1 hr 6 min
From limpet mines on tankers, drone shootdowns, and the HMS Montrose just short of loading grape - the decades long story of Iranian posturing in their near seas continues. A lot sounds familiar, but the economic and security environment has changed a lot in the four decades. What is a constant, what has changed, and what should we expect to evolved in one of the most globally important areas of water? Dr. John T. Kuehn is the General William Stofft Chair for Historical Research at the U.S. Army...
Jul 16, 2019•1 hr 7 min
First aired 3.5 years ago, but worth a re-listen. How do you design a game that has practical tactical application to the naval tactician? Even more ambitious, how do you make one accessible and understandable with the goal of making it a mobile wargame for eventual use by sailors and warfare commands. For today's show we will discuss one of the projects of the CNO's Rapid Innovation Cell (CRIC), the game "Fleet Battle School." Our guests to discuss this game, gaming in general, and its practica...
Jul 16, 2019•1 hr 6 min
China will continue to expand its holdings and presence in the South China Sea and the first and second island chain as long as it can and does not face pressure to do otherwise. They have an unmatched shipbuilding program to expand not just their traditional navy, but their coast guard and maritime paramilitary fleets. To discuss these and related topics will be returning guest, Hunter Stires. As a starting point for our discussion, we'll review the major points in his US Naval Institute Genera...
Jul 01, 2019•1 hr 3 min
Punitive expeditions, retaliatory strikes, raiding, hitting pirate camps, attacking enemy ships in the dark of night, striking enemy facilities & resources on shore and other forms of irregular naval warfare - sound new, transformational? No. They've been with the US Navy from day-1. Join us this Sunday with returning guest BJ Armstrong to discuss his latest book, "Small Boats and Daring Men: Maritime Raiding, Irregular Warfare, and the Early American Navy." CDR Benjamin "BJ" Armstrong is an...
Jun 24, 2019•1 hr 5 min
Recently, when one hears of disease and Africa, if you only listened to the media, then what would come to mind would be Ebola. That is not the real challenge in Africa. There is a disease that not only kills, it impedes economic growth, interferes with good governance, and as a result is just another catalyst to conflict there and in South Asia. To give a better understanding of the ongoing impact of malaria and the fight against it, our guest will be Rear Admiral Tim Ziemer, USN (Ret.) Rear Ad...
Jun 20, 2019•1 hr 4 min
How does our Army help officers understand military doctrine, history, and theory? How do we ensure that our staffs have leaders capable of generating options for commanders engaged with our most complex operational and strategic problem sets? It doesn't happen by accident. To address these questions and related topics, our guest this Sunday will be Colonel Kirk Dorr, USA the Director of the U.S. Army’s School of Advanced Military Studies (commonly known as “SAMS”) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. C...
Jun 12, 2019•1 hr 6 min
He’s back! EagleOne is back in the studio to help us kick of summer with a Midrats early-summer melee! With most schools out, what you need right now is a good maritime hour to refocus the brain. For the full hour we’ll try to cover it all from the latest McCain kerfuffle to WESTPAC to NATO to the FFG(X) dropouts and more, we’ll cover the waterfront. As always, the phones and chatroom will be open if you want to join the show. See you Sunday!
Jun 06, 2019•1 hr 6 min
