SNAFUBAR

Once more unto the breach, dear listeners of SNAFUBAR, once more. This week on SNAFUBAR, we are going way back in time to the Battle of Agincourt. We know what you’re thinking, “What the heck does the Battle of Agincourt have to do with US military history?” Well Agincourt serves as a cautionary tale, a story of what happens when a military fails to adapt to innovative technologies and strategies...

Chat, are we cooked? Not quite, we just have a couple of guest hosts today! Welcome to SNAFUBAR, a podcast on American militarism and national myths. Today’s episode explores the action packed history of video games, specifically military themed video games. We’ll chart the history of early war games, from the classic boardgame Kriegspiel, used in Prussian military officers training, to major bloc...

Welcome back to SNAFUBAR, the show about American military history and our country's national myths. Today’s episode is from our “Canary in the Coalmine series,” only today we won’t be talking about birds, but about the Atomic Era in the United States. We’ll be focusing on the Nevada Test Site and the servicemen that worked at this facility. World War II was over, but the Cold War was just get...

In 1953 the CIA conducted a covert operation to overthrow Muhammad Mossadegh, the democratically elected leader of Iran. This was the CIA’s very first mission dedicated to regime change and done in collaboration with British intelligence in order to install a government that was sympathetic to western business interests.   The consequences of this action were severe and lasting, casting a long sha...

Welcome back to SNAFUBAR. In this week's episode, we’re going to focus our attention on President Harry Truman: we’re going to look a little bit at his pre-presidential life of military service, and then we’re going to turn to his presidency, highlighting the moral urgency that he brought to questions of global responsibility and interventionism. We’ll introduce the Truman Doctrine and then we...

Welcome back to SNAFUBAR. This week, we’re exploring the concept of American civil religion. This episode, like our Military Lingo episode, offers some insight into the deeper frameworks we’re using to shape our podcast. overall and, this episode will offer a deeper insight into a concept that, as we argue, really shapes the way the United States engages in warfare. Not sure what we mean by Americ...

Welcome to SNAFUBAR! Here in the SNAFUBAR, we explore American military history and America’s national myths, or stories or traditional narratives. We’ll talk about some mishaps, about errors, both strategic and moral. And we’ll focus, a lot of the time, on tension points, on those places where our beliefs and our behaviors don’t quite match up. We’ll look at the ways that our national culture rom...

Welcome back to SNAFUBAR. For today's episode, we will finish our three part series on Afghanistan and its relationship to the United States. Specifically from the post Cold War era to today, including the terror and deep loss of 9/11, the subsequent War on Terror, the continuing dynamic between the two countries, no matter the president and the withdrawal of troops in 2021.  This series is al...

Welcome back to SNAFUBAR. This week's episode marks the second of three episodes focusing on Afghanistan from a historical and cultural perspective, both as a region and later, as a country. In today's episode, we'll look at Afghanistan from the Soviet invasion in 1979 and the later American invasion in 2001. This series is also the first of our "Close Look" groupings where w...

Welcome back to SNAFUBAR. This week's episode marks the start of a three part series focusing on Afghanistan from a historical and cultural perspective, both as a region and later, as a country. And of course, as is the theme of our podcast, we will be discussing in detail the history of war and the role of outside players, namely Britain, Russia and the United States. This series is also the...

Welcome back to SNAFUBAR. This week's episode focuses on a current SNAFU that is ever unfolding, known as "Signal Gate", involving United Secretary of Defense Hegseth, former National Security Advisor Mike Walz and the Editor in Chief of The Atlantic Jeffrey Goldberg. If some questions are starting to form in your head based on that last sentence, this is the show for you. Not only w...

On today’s episode of SNAFUBAR we dive into the first episode of the ongoing theme of “Stalled Supply Lines” where we will be investigating instances how U.S. military institutions either failed, or were prevented, from properly supplying troops in the field with necessary equipment.  Now, this theme isn’t meant to be a flat out condemnation of the institution. There are times where predictions fa...

Welcome back to SNAFUBAR! Over the course of each episode, SNAFUBAR will look at stories from military history and particular moments of U.S. military blunders with added context that can be used by and is accessible to a wide range of audiences. The histories we will look at will make clear the degree to which the U.S. is a warful nation, contrary to the myth of a peaceful nation forced into comb...

Welcome back to SNAFUBAR! Over the course of each episode, SNAFUBAR will look at stories from military history and particular moments of U.S. military blunders with added context that can be used by and is accessible to a wide range of audiences. The histories we will look at will make clear the degree to which the U.S. is a warful nation, contrary to the myth of a peaceful nation forced into comb...

Welcome back to SNAFUBAR! Over the course of each episode, SNAFUBAR will look at stories from military history and particular moments of U.S. military blunders with added context that can be used by and is accessible to a wide range of audiences. The histories we will look at will make clear the degree to which the U.S. is a warful nation, contrary to the myth of a peaceful nation forced into comb...

Welcome to the first episode of SNAFUBAR! Over the course of each episode, SNAFUBAR will look at stories from military history and particular moments of U.S. military blunders with added context that can be used by and is accessible to a wide range of audiences. The histories we will look at will make clear the degree to which the U.S. is a warful nation, contrary to the myth of a peaceful nation...

Welcome to SNAFUBAR. We’re going to talk about military history, but focusing on mistakes and errors that were made, both strategic and moral. The name of the show stems from two acronyms that came out of military lingo, SNAFU standing for Situation normal: all F’d up and FUBAR standing for F’d up beyond all recognition. SNAFUBAR is a podcast about American military mishaps and about the myths tha...