What a Hell of a Way to Dad

This week, Nate and Francis discuss a recent story that reveals the culprit beyond former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn's escape from the Japanese court system: he paid a former Green Beret and extremely Boston cop-seeming guy to smuggle him out in a case. It turns out this patriotic human trafficker has his own incredible story, which we've cribbed from Military Times ( https://www.militarytimes.com/ne...

We started out this episode with the intention of talking about a recent story in which someone tried to catfish a civilian by pretending to be a senior general in the U.S. Army. But then we went down the rabbit hole of trying to reconcile they ways in which the military is portrayed versus how we experienced it, and we wound up spending a lot of time talking about the utterly bizarre donations we...

No matter how much bleach you drink or inject, you may suffer permanent lung damage if you contract covid-19. But don't ask us -- ask the US military, who have decided that a positive covid-19 test may be ground to bar enlistment. https://federalnewsnetwork.com/defense-main/2020/05/people-hospitalized-for-coronavirus-may-not-be-able-to-join-the-military/ We also discuss the military's plans to rai...

This week, Francis and Nate react to an incredible, incredible article in the AP about the gang of morons who tried to do unconventional warfare in Venezuela and wound up getting arrested. It's such an unbelievable story that we had to read it, line by line. The original article is here: https://apnews.com/79346b4e428676424c0e5669c80fc310?fbclid=IwAR1tOM0KKh7Jy3Ja5QTbvhhXdj0bIvh3x__HhCOGb195OsUAsx...

This week, we're discussing the fact that President Trump wants to recall West Point cadets from their home of record and transport them all to their campus in the Hudson Valley of New York in order to make them listen to him give a speech. There is nothing the military can do to prevent this, which means young people from basically all 50 states and a bunch of US territories will be traveling int...

For this unlocked bonus episode (originally recorded in September 2017), Nate speaks with Reggie Bell, a former enlisted infantryman and two-time combat veteran of the war in Afghanistan. They discuss Reggie's transition, the experience of trans people in the military, what life was like before and after the repeal of the DOD's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, and more. If you want to get other bon...

This week, Nate and Francis chat about the recent uprisings across America, by which we mean a few dozen astroturfed morons protesting their right to die in a pandemic. However, as we recorded it on 4/20, we also discuss weed, the Army's decision to reopen basic training, and the sub-contingent of right-wingers protesting the lockdown who want to blame the Jews for it somehow. This week's bonus fe...

Did you hear the one about the Twitch streamer who said mean things about Rep. Dan Crenshaw? Well, it turns out that the story's a bit more complicated than that, and we decided to get to the bottom of it by bringing TYT host and general internet superstar Hasan Piker ( @hasanthehun ) on to the show. We also get into a discussion about the ways in which the military discards people when they're no...

This episode features a round-up of a number of issues: the recent Labour party leaks in the UK, the prospect of having to support Biden as the Democratic nominee, and some amazing stories from the world of the armed services -- to include the fact that apparently the commandant of Camp Pendleton, CA ordered that all barbershops stay open. Why? Because he'd rather Marines die than have long hair....

We are humble servants to you, the fans. You voted and said that we should watch Rambo 2. So, we watched it, and boy is it... something. Hope you enjoy our unlocked review of this extremely coherent and realistic movie. We love it! If you want more bonus episodes like these, please sign up on the Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/Hellofawaytodie

Did you know that the DOD has decided to order troops to make their own masks? Yes, we've applied just-in-time delivery to live-saving medical equipment, and now the true tactical tailors will have their time to shine: by making masks out of old brown t-shirts, 550 cord, and 100 mph tape. The story is here: https://www.newsweek.com/us-military-tells-members-make-their-own-masks-fight-coronavirus-n...

In this episode, Nate and Francis make the argument that there is no military failsafe in which uniformed services can rescue a failed civilian response to the current pandemic. Or, to put it succinctly: hospital ships are nice, if you live near the coast. What about everyone else? We also discuss the recent news that the President is recalling IRR and reservists back to active service ( https://w...

This week's episode features Nate in conversation with P.E. Moskowitz ( @_pem_pem ). They're the author of two books -- 'How to Kill a City: Gentrification, Inequality, and the Fight for the Neighborhood' and 'The Case Against Free Speech: The First Amendment, Fascism, and the Future of Dissent." We discussed free speech absolutism, the military-centric nature of our discussions of PTSD, and why i...

In this unlocked bonus episode, Francis speaks with Bryan Quinby ( @murderbryan ) of Street Fight Radio on the topic of the recent Netflix film 'Triple Frontier.' Why is it so long? Why is Ben Affleck basically playing himself? And why do a bunch of Delta Force guys apparently really suck at planning? They answer all these and many more of your questions. If you want more bonus episodes like these...

Nate and Francis discuss the coronavirus this week, as well as the novelty of handwashing for people who haven't had it forced on them as the military does. There's a discussion of what we hope follows next, and an update on the neck-and-neck competition between the US and the UK to have the worst possible response. We hope you enjoy. This week's bonus features Francis discussing Americorps with a...

This episode includes the full interview between Nate and Matthew Hoh, a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan and current peace activist. Their conversation covers Matt's experience in Iraq as a planner working closely with the Coalition Provisional Authority, as a Marine company commander during the height of the civil war, as a State Department political officer in Afghanistan at the same time that N...

Friends, we know the news is not good. Which is why we've brought on friend of the show and gaming expert Brock Wilbur to discuss Plague Inc, a game that lets you earn high scores for creating pandemics. He and Francis also discuss their various situations in the Midwest and what the COVID-19 pandemic is shaping up to be in non-coastal America. Hope you enjoy! This week's bonus is at the $1 tier -...

Well, the primary is moving pretty quickly and we've seen the demise of the Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar campaigns. We obviously have no love for Pete, and we're happy to see him go -- even if this means we're likely to see him all haunting Democratic politics for the rest of our lives. But for now, he's done. We also discuss the US-Taliban peace agreement and whether or not it will mark an en...

The latest scandal in the military news world is the NYT publishing an op-ed from Taliban deputy commander Sirajuddin Haqqani. In this more-or-less anodyne editorial, Haqqani lays out his reasoning for entering peace talks with the US. This has of course caused a certain type of online veteran to explode into white-hot diarrhea fragments, ignoring the fact that the NYT has previously published op-...

A long time ago, i.e. when Nate and Francis were teens and the Global War on Terror started, you didn't really get internet while deployed. However, even if the war has gone nowhere, the slow march of progress has made it possible for troops to get personalized greetings from porn stars while overseas. This seems great, but also bad, and even worse when you consider the multi-generational time sca...

In the least shocking news you could imagine, Donald Trump was acquitted in the senate because our constitution is a garbage document that allows for infinity crimes. This is not a surprise to anyone, but one thing that did surprise us was the weird fixation on Alexander Vindman, particularly on Fox News. In fact, Pete Hegseth brought on Medal of Honor recipient Leroy Petry to tell the world that,...

You've surely noticed this phenomenon. In recent years, whenever a famous person dies, there's always a parallel outrage from people online demanding that you grieve for fallen troops instead of the person for whom you're grieving. In this episode, Nate and Francis discuss this at length, particularly in the wake of Kobe Bryant's death and calls to instead grieve for the victims of a military heli...

It's long been a truism in American politics that anyone who gets close to Donald Trump gets slimed. This week, we're discussing Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, the grown-up version of the "you're disrespecting a future U.S. Army soldier" kid, who has decided that it's not a big deal for Trump to make fun of US injuries in Iraq because--as you know--nothing matters except defending Dad. Don't get us...

This week, we've got a huge suite of content. For starters, we discuss the recent unveiling of the Space Force name tape: a zero-effort attempt to make a Space Force uniform that all of us inveterate shammers can appreciate. Why make a distinct uniform when you can, uh, just slap a name tape on something and call it a day? Honestly, it's all kinda exhausting anyway (source: https://nypost.com/2019...

Well, Iran retaliated. They did so in a way that was seemingly meant as a massive show of force without serious casualties. They almost pulled it off, except for when they shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet. And this week, Nate and Francis discuss Iran -- the horniness for war, the insane interpretations from neocons -- and what might come next as we seemingly blunder around in a decades-long wor...