What a Hell of a Way to Dad

It's hard riding a tiger. It's even harder if you're McHooyah the 'I Shot Bin Laden' guy and the Trump/QAnon people decide that actually Bin Laden is still alive because of a conspiracy theory. However, this does in fact dovetail into Francis' theory that--due to the preponderance of cop-worship in the Trump era--troops are playing second fiddle to cops in the eyes of bonkers Americans.   We do a...

Well, a lot of things are going away: the NYT's 'At War' section, the Bombshell podcast from War on the Rocks, and the previous editorial direction of Task and Purpose (where Nate and Francis both got their starts, in different ways). Is America simply tired of respecting the troops? Well, apparently Troy Aikman and Joe Buck are. To which we can only say: this is a good thing. For this week's bonu...

Francis wrote a radio play about the Kandahar Giant. It's deeply stupid, but that's what you signed up for. We brought on Joe Kassabian and Carey Shockey to read some of the parts, but before we get to the play, we just do a lot of war stories TroopChat. So, we hope you enjoy. If you want the whole thing, get it on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/42455226  

Maybe you've encountered GruntStyle. Maybe you've been vicariously embarrassed by it. This week we do a deep dive (courtesy of a great article from the San Antonio Express News) about GruntStyle's founder being an idiot. There is a big reveal that you will enjoy a lot! (source: https://www.expressnews.com/sa-inc/article/A-Reckoning-Grunt-Style-An-inside-look-at-San-15629615.php ) This week's bonus...

What does the future hold? What can we say about this final month of the US Presidential election? Why does it feel weirdly appropriate that Trump got covid after basically pretending it isn't real and getting people to cough in his mouth to prove it? Well, we're assessing it. We're talking about him having the virus. We can't get enough of it. We do some Britain Chat at the beginning—the episode...

The internet is a wonderful thing. It lets us podcast, lets us make friends, and lets us share the 100 percent true and verified story about how, in 2002, the US Army did battle with a biblical giant. Who was the Giant of Kandahar? Why do people seem to think this is real? Should we rebrand as a military crypto-zoology podcast? All this and more, in this week's episode. The absurd article we quote...

This week, Nate and Francis are joined by sci-fi author and technologist Cory Doctorow (@doctorow) to discuss his new book ATTACK SURFACE. Are you getting spied on by your smart washing machine? Is your out-of-date WiFi printer going to hack the Gibson? Learn more about it on this episode. You can pre-order ATTACK SURFACE from your local bookstore here: https://www.indiebound.org/book/978125075753...

This week, Francis is on vacation and Nate is joined by the What a Hell of a Way to Die official zoomer correspondent Kevin Frint ( @kevin_frint ) to discuss the Call of Duty franchise. Didn't we just discuss this on a bonus episode with Brock? Yes, but we're not good at scheduling things. Anyway, in anticipation of the new COD installment, Kevin takes us through the storied and increasingly fasci...

It's a combo episode of What a Hell of a Way to Die and Well There's Your Problem, in which we discuss the history of the technical and have a debate about what actually counts as one. You will love it hopefully as much as Uday and Qusay Hussain loved technicals. If you want to hear the whole thing, get it on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/41575118

Donald Trump is at war with the generals. Well, not really, but he's a big idiot and is lashing out at anyone he thinks is criticizing him -- which has led him to make the statement that the military rank-and-file love him, but the top brass don't because they just want to go to war in order to make money for defense contractors.   Now, we're not saying we agree with him, and we don't endorse him...

You know what's bad? The general concept of 'military TikTok.' You know what's even worse? An active duty Army lieutenant posting a Holocaust joke on his TikTok with 3 million followers. But, as we point out in our discussion, he's only telling the kind of jokes that anyone who grew up in a majority white and Christian part of America grew up hearing. We argue that the true reckoning should be ask...

Why is it that there's one particularly online SEAL, the guy who shot Bin Laden, and he won't stop talking about it? Have you ever read his book? Well, Nate and Francis dug through the McHooyah story and have brought out some choice quotes for you to examine. We explore the deeply unwell psychology of the Navy SEALs and why this particular guy is just so much all the time. We do a bit of a DadChat...

We did a joint episode with the cast of the Well There's Your Problem podcast ( @wtyppod ), covering the checkered history of the V-22 Osprey. We're going to do another bonus episode with WTYP soon, so check out the Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/Hellofawaytodie *SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT* We now have a storefront to sell the patches, buttons, and magnets that we also give out as flair for our $...

The DNC platform didn't exactly make a strong impression on us, so we decided to discuss it in detail -- with specific emphasis on the stuff that pertains to America's wars. We're both really excited about 'right-sizing' our presence in combat zones! For this week's bonus, Francis speaks with journalist Jasper Craven ( @Jasper_Craven ) about the right-wing veteran mythos and why ex-SEAL Carl Higbi...

This week features a story that very few people outside of Oregon have seen fit to cover. The story of what appears to be an ex-Navy SEAL chucking pipe bombs at protestors in Portland and then bragging about it on LinkedIn. A tale as old as time: what is wrong with the Navy. (Source: https://www.opb.org/article/2020/08/10/man-seen-in-area-of-homemade-explosive-at-portland-protest-ided-as-ex-navy-s...

This week, Nate and Francis are joined by special guest and friend of the show Ken Klippenstein (@KenKlippenstein), a reporter for the Nation who has become the master of leaks. We discuss his recent reporting about DHS's "Fusion Cells" in Portland, their presence as masked goons disappearing people into rental vans, and how the entire structure of the agency is a holdover of Bush-era paranoia.  ...

This week, Nate and Francis discuss the amendment put forth by Rep. Ocasio-Cortez to defund the military's recruiting on Twitch and similar platforms. We talk about how recruiting worked when we were in school, how people get assigned to be recruiters, and why (once again) the correct position is Do Not Join. (source: https://thehill.com/policy/defense/budget-appropriations/509218-ocasio-cortez-ca...

This week, Francis speaks with an Air Force reservist paralegal named Pat who takes us through the way that the military approaches sexual assault cases. As you might expect, it leaves an inordinate amount of leeway for commanders' discretion. But we hope that this episode gives you a better idea of why things don't seem to be getting better. Our bonus this week features Milo and Alice from Trashf...

No, we're not Grover Norquist. Far from it -- we want to raise taxes on the rich and to eliminate all the absurd loopholes, never mind the ridiculous levels of pain that everyday taxpayers go through in the US. But, what do we get for our taxes? If this recent meltdown has taught us anything, it can be boiled down to one thing: cops (for this argument, the troops are also lumped in with cops). As...

This week, Francis and Nate discuss the recent DOD actions to ban the Confederate flag (a good thing to do) and rename bases named for Confederate generals (why we have these is a mystery). We also discuss the recent, horrific case of the murder of Specialist Vanessa Guillen, killed by a soldier in her own unit and buried in the desert near Fort Hood, TX. (source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-...

This week, we're doing a deep dive into Francis' hometown of St. Louis -- discussing the heavily armed couple with the huge weird mansion, the mayor of St. Louis doxxing protestors on a FB Live event, and why a blue dog Democrat resurgence is in fact bad. The bonus features an interview in which Francis speaks to St. Louis activist and historian Umar Lee ( @umarleeiii ) about the recent uprising,...

On today's episode, Nate speaks with author Matt Gallagher ( @MattGallagher0 ) about his new novel 'Empire City'. Matt's an Army veteran of the war in Iraq and has also written two other books, the novel Youngblood and the memoir Kaboom: Embracing the Suck in a Savage Little War. We talk about incrementalism versus radicalism, how to write dystopian fiction when we already live in a dystopia, and...

This week, Nate and Francis discuss revelations that Louisville restauranteur David McAtee was killed by National Guard soldiers, how it relates to the Louisville PD's unwillingness to prosecute or even release the most basic details related to the murder of Breonna Taylor. We also talk about why MPs act the exact same as cops. Here's a piece about David McAtee's murder: https://eu.courier-journal...

This week, Nate speaks with journalist Vincent Bevins (@vinncent) on the topic of his new book, 'The Jakarta Method: Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program That Shaped Our World.' The book covers clandestine Cold War operations in countries like Indonesia, Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, and elsewhere in the world in which the US aligned itself with forces of reaction to extermin...

This week's episode focuses on the current uprising, our takes on whether or not the military will turn on Trump, and much more. This week's bonus is a DadChat, which can be yours for only $1 a month on Patreon. Get it here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/37738952 *SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT* We now have a storefront to sell the patches, buttons, and magnets that we also give out as flair for our $10 tie...