The #BruteCast

The #BruteCast returns with an episode on something that is both an interesting historical case study of attempted military innovation, and an initiative close to the heart of our namesake, "Brute" Krulak: the Combined Action Program undertaken by the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. Cavender Sutton has researched this program in detail, and joined us to discuss his insights. Mr. Sutton refere...

In this episode of "Down the Rabbit Hole," Dr. Yuval Weber reviews the horrific missile attack on an apartment complex in #Dnipro, new Western military aid packages to #Ukraine, and initial preparations both #Ukraine and #Russia are making for likely spring offensive operations. Also added to the surreal lexicon of this war is the concept of "performative air defense" by #Russia. All opinions expr...

We're excited to bring you the first #BruteCast of 2023 with the return of a Krulak Center alum chairing a timely discussion on cyber warfare in Ukraine. About a month into the war, we hosted a panel on how the cyber conflict in Ukraine had unfolded, both in things expected and unexpected. With the invasion of Ukraine approaching the one-year mark, Dr. Brandon Valeriano and Mr. Gavin Wilde will lo...

"Down the Rabbit Hole" returns with a focus on the intense fighting now ongoing in and around the town of Soledar. Dr. Yuval Weber, #TeamKrulak's Russia subject matter expert, looks at the combat underway there and the implications of the Wagner Group private military company leading Russian efforts. We also discussed the recent appointment of Russian General Valery Gerasimov as Putin's point man...

#Russia's invasion of #Ukraine approaches its 11th month and has crossed into a new year, and #TeamKrulak's Russia SME Dr. Yuval Weber brings us up to speed on the last two weeks and what 2023 bodes. We discuss two very different leadership trips - Zelensky to Washington, DC, and Putin to Minsk - Russia's days-long drone and missile attacks on Ukraine entering the new year, and today's HIMARS stri...

This episode continued our look at some of the changes taking place across the Marine Corps under #ForceDesign2030, and highlighted an example of practical application and experimentation. Our guests discussed how the Marine Air Ground Task Force Training Command contributes to Marine Littoral Regiment (MLR) training and Service-level experimentation. They covered how the exercises prepare deploye...

Dr. Njord Wegge is a professor at Norwegian Defence University College/Norwegian Military Academy, and for the last 6 months has been resident at Marine Corps University as Chair of Arctic Security. We talked about Norway's strategic outlook, the challenges and requirements for American and NATO forces to operate in the High North, Russian threats in the context of the ongoing invasion of #Ukraine...

Understanding complex military concepts on one's own is hard; distilling their essence to quickly and coherently explain them to others is much harder. Our guest on this episode, 1stLt Kayla Haas, has nevertheless cracked the code on this challenge with the help of the humble whiteboard. Lt Haas tells us why she started this project, how she deconstructs complex concepts into a single whiteboard f...

It's been a while since we've provided a "Rabbit Hole" update, so in this episode #TeamKrulak #Russia SME Dr. Yuval Weber updates us on the missile attacks of the last month, an overview of integrated air defense systems and how the Patriot missile will impact #Ukraine's ability to protect civilian infrastructure, Putin's build-up for a possible future 2023 offensive, and the state of the Russian...

A few months back, SSgt Miranda stopped by the #TeamKrulak spaces to learn more about what we do and share our approach to innovation with his Air Force audience. In this episode, it's our turn to do the learning! SSgt Miranda works at the "Tesseract" office in the Air Force's Air Staff Logistics Directorate, with a mission of accelerating combat-focused logistics innovation by empowering Airmen a...

In this special episode, we had the unique opportunity to talk to Dr. Hanna Shelest. She recently returned to Ukraine from extensive travel across that country and throughout Europe, and we are extremely grateful to her for taking the time to talk with us. We discussed some misperceptions about the war, the condition of Ukrainian forces on the front lines, the remarkable performance of Ukrainian f...

This lecture is part of the AY23 Middle East Studies (MES) Research Talks series. The implications of great power competition are increasingly apparent across South Asia, especially within the Indian Subcontinent where the two largest nuclear armed nations in South Asia, Pakistan and India, are locked in a protracted rivalry.  Rather than primarily relying on India’s simultaneous ability to e...

In this episode, we welcomed Megan J. Hennessey, Ph. D., who is the Director of the Teaching and Learning Center at Air University. We talked about the Air University approaching to #wargaming as an educational tool, but our wide-ranging discussion covered broader learning methodologies and assessments, and a "save the date" for next year's Military Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Forum! You...

The #BruteCast audience knows that we’ve had several episodes this year in which we asked the question: What will the next fight look like, and what changes must be made to compete and win? In the context of the institutional restructuring undertaken through Force Design 2030, these are important questions. Today, we look at the problem through the lens of another topic we’ve often focused on, and...

Dr. Yuval Weber, #TeamKrulak's Russia SME, reviews the liberation of Kherson, the recent tragic missile explosion in Poland, and looks ahead to what might develop in the winter months. All opinions expressed here are those of the individual and do not necessarily reflect those of the Krulak Center, Marine Corps University, the United States Marine Corps, or any other agency of the U.S. Government....

In the military, it's often said that "words mean things;" but is the meaning always obvious, or even conscious? In this episode, Dr. Elena Wicker walks us through the difference between the documents and symbols of strategy - such as the National Security Strategy and National Defense Strategy - and the actual process of strategic thinking that occurs at all levels of the military. Artificial int...

Note: we experimented with new microphones in this episode and they worked a little too well, picking up unexpected ambient sounds. However the audio for our guest is unimpeded, and we'll have the mics placed better next time! For this episode we were excited to welcome the newest member of #TeamKrulak, Mr. Dan Rice, who has joined the Center and Marine Corps University as our dedicated subject ma...

#TeamKrulak community, we have a special Marine Corps birthday gift for you - a new episode of "Down the Rabbit Hole on the #Russia-#Ukraine War" with our Russia SME Dr. Yuval Weber. We take a look at two of the biggest developments from the last couple of weeks - Ukraine's maritime drone attack on Russia's Black Sea Fleet anchored in Sevastopol, and the announcement that the Russian military woul...

#TeamKrulak community, we're pleased to bring this special update on events unfolding in #Iran from our Middle East Studies gurus, Dr. Amin Tarzi and Dr. Christopher Anzalone. We look at the state of the protests which started at the end of August following the death of Mahsa Amini at the hands of Iranian authorities, and the recent Islamic State-claimed terrorist attack on the Shahcheragh Shrine...

Dr. Yuval Weber, #TeamKrulak's Russia subject matter expert, caught us up on a few things today: the state of play in Kherson, Russia's declaration of martial law for its non-martial special military operation, and Putin's speech yesterday - with Russian literary interpretation - to the Valdai Discussion Club in Moscow and its implications on war termination. Come for the Soviet science fiction mo...

In this episode, we welcomed some of our neighbors from just across the highway on Quantico - Col Greg Jones, Commanding Officer, Weapons Training Battalion – Quantico, and Gunner John Costa, Director, Marksmanship Program Management Section discussed the Marine Corps' new Annual Rifle Qualification course of fires, and the Advanced Marksmanship Training Program and Infantry Marksmanship Assessmen...

It's episode 100 of the #BruteCast! How did we get this far? Listen and find out! We talked with Krulak Center Director Ms. Valerie Jackson on how #TeamKrulak has grown and changed since its chartering in 2018, how its programs (including the #BruteCast) have impacted professional military education at Marine Corps University and across the Fleet Marine Force, our favorite episodes, our "dream gue...

This episode was special because while we’ve previously done historical case studies and book discussions on the #BruteCast, we haven’t done one with a specific naval focus, and so our guest helped us rectify this. We were pleased to welcome author Trent Hone to talk about his newly released book Mastering the Art of Command: Admiral Chester Nimitz and Victory in the Pacific . The book is a detail...

This is the second #BruteCast episode we were fortunate to host as an offshoot of the recent "NATO's Northern Flank" writing workshop coordinated by Dr. Njord Wegge of the Norwegian Defence University College, who is in residence with us here at Marine Corps University as the Chair for Arctic Security. We spoke with Professor Tom Røseth and LTC Palle Ydstebø on Norwegian security considerations an...

Today we caught up with Dr. Yuval Weber in the latest developments in the #Russia-#Ukraine War. We reviewed the status of the Kharkiv and Kherson counteroffensives, mobilization, internal struggles between the Russian military and Russian security services, and finally focused on the recent strike on the Kerch Bridge connecting Russia to occupied Crimea, and this morning's retaliatory attack on Uk...