Midrats

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...

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 gue...

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 t...

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, timel...

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 permeat...

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...

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...

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 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 i...

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, Darwi...

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 th...

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 on...

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 Magic...

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...

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 N...

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 t...

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 h...

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...

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 ma...

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 liv...

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...

There could be only one show from last year for this year's Mothers Day: For the career minded Naval professional, to have a chance for the greatest advancement and promotion, you have to push and push hard. The reputation you build in your first 10 years sets the tone for the rest. Except for very rare exceptions, there are no second chances. There are no pauses, one iffy set of orders, one poorl...

Last month saw the newest shipbuilding plan hit the streets. Is this good news, more of the same, or are there some systemic issues that are being painted over? What can the Navy expect over the next few years as the defense cuts bite deeper and the battle for wedges of the defense budget pie heats up. Using their latest article in RealClearDefense as a starting point, our guests will be Mackenzie...

If the requirement is to be able to operate, fight, and win in the Littorals - is the Littoral Combat Ship the answer? Other nations have the same requirement - yet have come up with different answers. Are we defining our requirements properly in face of larger Fleet needs and the threats we expect? What platforms and systems need to be looked at closer if we are to have the best mix of capabiliti...

The events of the last week in Boston has brought back to the front of the national conscience what, for the lack of a better description, is known as The Long War. The threats we face are both domestic, foreign, and increasingly a mixture of both. Communication and transportation has created a breed of transnational threats that are not new, and whose causes, resources, and threat vectors are not...