Midrats

Turning merchant ships in to warships is a story as old as mankind. From war canoe to privateers to auxiliary cruisers fo the modern era - they always fit a certain niche in the drive to control the seas. What of today? What options are there if we need the ability to get as much "national will" downrange and over the horizon as soon as possible? Combine that question with a new one, "Where are al...

Some may call it the silly season, some may call it a quickening, some may just get eye cramps from rolling them all the time ... but here we are under 6-weeks from a national election and from swarms of unmanned ideas seeping out of the easy-button to solve all our worries, to doom and gloom from Taiwan to the arctic - all getting in the way of solid navalist conversation. EagleOne and I offer yo...

The neglected American merchant fleet and industry is a problem long standing. The realization of the growing challenge on the other side of the Pacific, and the knowledge of what is needed to support it, has brought the problem in sharp relief. Like most long neglected problems, the causes are many and deep. Ships, personnel, legal, regulatory, and the latest punch from COVID-19 have all intensif...

Concerned with the ability of our maritime industrial base to not just build the navy the nation needs, but to help maintain it? Well, do we have the episode for you! Join us this Sunday at 5pm with out guest for the full hour, Maiya Clark, as we discuss the issues she raises in her recent work, U.S. Navy Shipyards Desperately Need Revitalization and a Rethink. Maiya Clark is a research assistant...

This episode first aired in March, 2016. In the mid-1930s, Leni Riefenstahl showed the power of the latest communication technology of her time to move opinion, bring support, and intimidate potential opponents. The last quarter century's work of Moore's Law in the ability to distribute visual data world wide in an instant has completely change the ability of even the smallest groups with the most...

Culture is upstream from performance. Behind a sometimes playful, sometimes serious, argument about what rank structure the new Space Force should use is the very serious matter of culture. Culture for any organization is the foundation future success or failure, and is a based on words, and titles. These mean things – especially when they are related to the actual work you do. Using their recent...

First airing a little over three years ago, and still as timely as ever. Whenever there is a global crisis, natural disaster or manmade, civilians or of a security related issue - the world turns their eyes to the United States of America. The indispensable nation. The only global super-power. You all know the drill. Is it an honor, or a burden? Is it a habit we should, or can sustain? Our guest f...

In our COVID-19 summer doldrums, what could be better than kicking back with a nice cold drink with the kings of natsec social distancing, Sal & EagleOne for a live Midrats free-for-all? Come join us this Sunday from 5-6pm as we cover the waterfront from Sand Diego to DC; the Taiwan Strait to Cypriot gas fields. As always, the chat room will be up and the phone lines will be open.

It may be 7-yrs old, but the points are still spot on.\ What happens when a global maritime power finds itself in a position where it can no longer sustain the global presence it once considered an essential requirement? The US Navy has been in a period of decline in both numbers and capability for awhile, and as budgetary reality sets in and burn out starts to hollow remaining capabilities - the...

This week we are returning to a critical topic that, like its subject, needs an ongoing push. At the very moment that the need for American Seapower advocacy is most critical, it is nowhere to be found. Are there existing institutions that can refocus their efforts or expand their mandate to do the job - or do we need something new? Building off his article from earlier this week, our guest this w...

How do different standards related to intellectual property influence the spread and adoption of emerging military technology? How does the respect for law, process, and customs impact what shows up on the battlefield in the hands of both friend and foe? In a return visit to Midrats this Sunday, we are going to explore this topic with Robert Farley. As a starting point to our discussion we will lo...

How does Australia best position itself in today's security climate? How does her history shape how she sees her place relative to new and possible future alliances? Our guest for the next hour to discuss this and more will be Doctor Peter Dean. Peter is a Professor & Chair, Defence Studies Director, at the University of Western Australia’s Defence and Security Program, and their Public Policy Ins...

Do policy makers and those who design our grand national strategy really understand what a Navy is? How does the planet's premier naval power seem to have trouble explaining why it needs a navy, what a navy does, and how to get it ready for war? How do navalists set the table when it is time to define, invest, and assign roles, responsibilities, missions and who get what percentage of the DOD pie?...

When does the Long War go feet wet? Given the track record of the preceding couple of decades, it was expected shortly after the start of this phase of the war after 911, that terrorists would take the war to sea. There was an incident now and then, but the threat never really played out to the extent we thought early on. Recent events point to the possibility that this may be changing, in perhaps...

From the alpine lakes on the Indo-Tibetan frontier to the sweltering tropics of the South China Sea, China is on the offensive in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Aggressive and persistent in her pursuit of expanding her control and influence in her near-abroad and globally, she is challenging the distracted and slothish West to keep up with her. What are the latest moves on the global ch...

First airing in DEC 2016, For the full hour this Sunday our guest will be then Lieutenant Colonel Seth W. B. Folsom, USMC the author of Where Youth and Laughter Go. Described by USNI Books: It is the culminating chapter of a trilogy that began with The Highway War: A Marine Company Commander in Iraq in 2006 and continued with In the Gray Area: A Marine Advisor Team at War in 2010. "Where Youth and...

Long deployments, new SECNAV, civ/mil stew bubbling, and everyone who left the USN to the USNR because they couldn't stand being in the yards, are being activated to spend a year ... in the yards. These are just a few of the topics that we'll be covering in this month's LIVE Melee. No guests this week, just us and you. As with all melees, we'll take questions in the chat room or on the phone.

Most people think they know about the evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940 … or at least they do … but it is an incredibly complicated and enthralling story that was just one part of an almost unimaginable year that was 1940. Our guest Dr. Phil Weir here to discuss his upcoming book on the topic, “Dunkirk and the Little Ships." Phil is a naval historian specializing in the Royal Navy in the first half of...

The relentless advance of knowledge and technology has always been with us. The speed and impact of the advance can vary, but the key - especially when it comes to those advances related to warfare - is to at least pace the advance, and if possible, be at the front. There can be box canyons, false trails, mirages and other dead ends you may follow, but mixed in with the wrong is "what's next." Are...

He is quoted often, correctly and incorrectly, but few have actually read his works in full - and even fewer know much about the man himself, Major General Carl von Clausewitz, Kingdom of Prussia. Out guest for the full hour will be Donald Stoker, author of the new book, Clausewitz: His Life and Work. Stoker is a Professor of Strategy and Policy for the U.S. Naval War College's program at the Nava...

From international relations to trade to almost every aspect of modern society, the outbreak of COVID-19 has altered the global landscape in ways we are only now getting a grasp on. As the world's largest nation and the source of the pandemic, how China responds and how it impacts her growth will be the top-line story of this change. This Sunday we are going to look at China's response and reactio...

This first aired in June of 2015. 18 June 2015 was the 200th Anniversary of the battle of Waterloo, fought in present-day Belgium. Just in time, regular guest to Midrats, John Kuehn has his latest book out, Napoleonic Warfare: The Operational Art of the Great Campaigns where he covers the operational level analysis of European warfare from 1792 to 1815, including the tactics, operations, and strat...

If it hasn't hit you yet, it will soon. Everyone's assumptions about what the defense budget will look like - what it will buy and who gets what part of the pie - are gone. The larger impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is unknown, but we do know this; at no time has so much debt been piled so high on top of an incredible spike in unemployment and economic collapse - in so little time - in the lifetim...

Last week, we could have gone another hour, so we thought the easy thing would be to bring it forward to this Sunday. We will cover the waterfront as the Navy continues to struggle to get past COVID-19's dominating Navy news, not just with the TR, but now the USS Kidd and everything from boot camp to the Naval Academy. Throw in a pick up game presence missions in the South China Sea, and the Russi...

Take a break from trying to find a way to socially distance yourself from the people you are non-self-isolating with this week by joining us LIVE for a free for all Midrats. We have a lot in the maritime domain to discuss from the response to the outbreaks on the carries Theodore Roosevelt and Charles de Gaulle, PCS, the budget, upcoming FFG(X) selection, Iran, China and more. As we always do, we...