What a Hell of a Way to Dad

This week, we react to the news of Derek Chauvin's conviction, discuss a story of a drill sergeant who got arrested for assault and battery of an unarmed Black man because he has a terminal case of cop brain, and all the reasons why it is incumbent on veterans to debaathify their own heads. For this week's bonus, we ask important questions. Why does Missouri produce so many bonkers politicians? Wh...

Well, they've said we're leaving Afghanistan for good! This will certainly be different than all the other times we've supposedly left, because while there won't be any "combat troops," that won't include special operations or any Afghan auxiliaries under the command of the CIA. So, that means we're leaving, right? DadChat ends at 11:34! For this week's bonus, we have to drop some knowledge on you...

This week, Nate and Francis discuss a viral story about a Navy officer based in Japan accused of writing a letter about why he doesn't want to live among 'deviant' enlisted troops. Who knows if the letter is real? What we do know is that the Navy absolutely loves to segregate between officer and enlisted, more so than most other branches, and also it's an opportunity for us to read the comments se...

This week, Nate and Francis discuss a recent CNN article that examines how the U.S. Government might be on the hook for billions of dollars in settlements or lawsuits if the war in Afghanistan ends on time. Why? Because the DOD has kept issuing contracts for services in Afghanistan that extend to 2026 and in some cases beyond. The CNN article is here: https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/29/politics/pe...

We were not entirely surprised to read the story this week about a man who looks like Saddam Hussein in a spider hole attacking a National Guard convoy in Texas. Although they haven't gotten to the bottom of it yet, it's pretty safe to assume it's some Q sort of thing, and we discuss a lot about what the responsibility of tech platforms is versus arguments about free speech.   DadChat ends at 10:5...

In 2019 we had a bonus episode featuring Sam Knight of the District Sentinel (@TheDCSentinel) to discuss his predictions about the 2020 Presidential election. Well, at least in as far as the primary was concerned, he called it exactly right. So, we brought Sam back on to talk about what we've seen since Biden assumed office--all the good, bad, and ugly.   Sam is also a correspondent for Means TVs...

We figured that, if you've followed the news lately, you've probably heard about the recent debacle with the British royal family and the Oprah Winfrey interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. This is an expressly anti-royalty podcast, but to discuss the particular dynamics of British racism and the experience of being a Black American woman married to a slightly younger redhead who is kind...

This week, Nate and Francis discuss the recent news that the military may require service members to take the covid-19 vaccine (much like it requires other vaccines) now that the FDA has approved it. So, why does the military have, on average a 30% refusal rate for the vaccine? And what really is going on with vaccination in the US? (source: https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/03/01/military-...

This was supposed to be an episode with a detailed, thought-out script. However, we got on the topic of bad weather and the state of Alaska, and by the end of it we found we'd devoted 40 minutes to The Last Frontier. So, it's more of a DadChat than anything else! We do discuss a recent video of terrible CQB training at 10th Mountain, and why you should probably stop training if it looks like your...

For any of this to make sense, it must be understood that Texas has a power grid comprised of 95% fossil fuel and nuclear sources. And yet somehow, in the minds of the chuds and Republicans, those wind farms are the reason that Texas' extremely libertarian grid cannot function in a winter storm. Nate and Francis get to the bottom of this conundrum, to include a Marine Todd reading of a recent Texa...

We took the time to discuss a recent Washington Post article about the military doing a stand-down day for combating white nationalism in the ranks. However, it took us about 30 minutes to get there, because we decided to talk about the weather, '90s alt-rock, the military's secret plan for a 'gay bomb,' and much more. DadChat / fun chat ends at 27:56 You can read about the gay bomb here: https://...

Why on earth were 11 soldiers hospitalized at Fort Bliss, Texas for drinking ethylene glycol? Well, there's a whole extended universe of 'things soldiers do to get hammered in the field / on deployment', and who better to examine this phenomenon than a huge nerd officer who never did anything illegal and the NCO who made gallons of prison wine in Iraq.   We do a bit of DadChat at the beginning, bu...

It is the opinion of this show that the whole Tom Cotton Ranger thing is not a big deal or worth caring about. However, for the benefit of the doubt, Nate explains this in the episode with Milo Edwards (@Milo_Edwards), in which they also cover the types of British veteran politicians and why they're weird and different to American eyes. Hope you enjoy! This week's bonus episode features Francis in...

Let us state for the record that we hate Trump and we are happy he's gone. But we also feel it's important to recount some the highlights/lowlights of his tenure, how absurd it's all been, how much older and more exhausted we feel after 4 years, and so much more. Because here is a president who hates sharks, stares at eclipses, is obsessed with badgers, and is easily the dumbest man to ever breath...

Well, we're a bit late to the party, as we were recording our episode last Wednesday prior to The Event. But you can rest assured that we were not surprised to discover that the mob on Capitol Hill included lots of veterans and active duty military. In this episode, we talk about what 20 years of war have done to the American psyche, and why we think the people who count themselves as 'not part of...

This week, we discuss the election results in Georgia, have a long aside about what America did in Central America in the 1980s, and genuinely predict that the Dems' worst nightmare has come to pass: now they have to govern! We also had a bonus DadChat/New England Chat this week with Shocks and Joe Kassabian, and you can get it on the Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/45820091 *SPECIAL A...

We're off this week, but we've unlocked a bonus episode from earlier in the year. Francis speaks with journalist Jasper Craven about the right-wing veteran mythos and why ex-SEAL Carl Higbie will probably survive the Trump administration and factor in our lives for a while, despite being a huge piece of garbage. Jasper has a substack and you should absolutely sign up for it:  https://battleborne.s...

We're off this week, but we've unlocked a bonus episode from March in which Francis speaks with Jared and Elizabeth Kilmer from Game to Grow , an organization that uses tabletop gaming in therapy. Specifically, they discuss how they've seen tabletop gaming work to support therapy for veterans, and how roleplaying can be therapeutic in a variety of contexts. Hope you enjoy! If you want more bonus c...

The word on the street (by which we mean the feeds of extremely Q-pilled individuals on twitter) is that the Chinese PLA tried to invade Maine via New Brunswick but were stopped when their entire force was killed by one 14-ton bunker buster that left no trace. 50,000 PLA troops dead with all evidence obliterated. To assess the military significance of this, we decided to report on it.   For this w...

The Army released a report into the handling of sexual assault prevention at Fort Hood, TX, and it's proof that the institution doesn't care about anything besides protecting itself. We offer our thoughts and why we feel it underscores our previous point: don't enlist. You can read the report in its entirety here: https://www.army.mil/e2/downloads/rv7/forthoodreview/2020-12-03_FHIRC_report_redacte...

This week, we read a Task and Purpose article about how 2nd Division Marines are apparently really into doing LSD. Which, quite frankly, we support: for one because we think that by and large drugs are fine, and for another because this is the logical consequence of the military's actual drug policy, which makes it almost impossible to use cannabis without getting caught, but makes it much easier...

  This week, we're discussing the recent fall from grace that Black Rifle Coffee Company has experienced in the opinions of insane MAGA freaks--its core audience--because it refused to endorse or sponsor a 17-year-old accused of murdering BLM protesters. That's right! The Big Racist Coffee Company wasn't right-wing enough.   The story we read from is available here: https://www.thedailybeast.com/b...

Why did the Marines make a video that basically says you should join in order to be less online? Why did the Army arrest a chaplain in Kuwait for wearing headphones? Why do we think it's unlikely that anyone will ever fully withdraw troops from Iraq and Afghanistan? This week, we dive into all of these, and more.   Here is the article about the Kuwait arrest: https://www.armytimes.com/off-duty/mil...

Well, it seems Biden won and we're settling back into the usual run of being outraged at the Dems being bad (while never forgetting that the Republicans are basically comic book villains). However, since we recorded this episode on the most troop-respecting of days, we decided to discuss Veterans Day and its British counterpart, Armistice Day. We brought on friend of the show Milo Edwards (@milo_e...

No one knows what happened! We recorded this the morning after the election and we give our thoughts on what's next given the tentative results of the election. This will either be a preview of things to come or a snapshot of a more innocent era. Hope you enjoy!   The video from the Intercept that we mentioned about Black organizers in Philadelphia is here: https://theintercept.com/2020/10/29/phil...