What a Hell of a Way to Dad

Yes, we've read the terrible article. A genius decided that it would be a wise idea to propose allowing 16-year-olds to enlist in the military (as a means of solving our current recruiting issues). We think this would be a bad idea -- read the original piece here: https://www.militarytimes.com/opinion/commentary/2019/07/10/why-we-should-lower-the-age-for-recruitment-to-16/?fbclid=IwAR2JcuTfe7Na6hs...

It's a season of good ideas, and by good ideas we mean people wanting to change things in the Army because they heard that keto was good for you or that you need to do deadlifts to have Warrior Strength. In this week's episode, Nate and Francis discuss a few hot topics in the military: a proposal to recruit combat arms soldiers to the tune of $250k bonuses; a (pie-in-the-sky) proposal to enforce d...

10 years ago, an American soldier walked off an outpost in southeastern Afghanistan. It didn't make the news in the US to a great degree, but 5 years after that, it precipitated a right-wing freakout and an entire season of the podcast Serial. In this episode, Nate speaks with Jon Thurman, a veteran of 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry, who was there on the search for Bergdahl. They of course know eac...

That dastardly Vladimir Putin, the bane of our existence, is constantly deploying active measures to make Eric Garland tweet too much. Or is he? As Trashfuture cohost and longtime resident of Russia, Milo Edwards (@milo_edwards), has experienced, sometimes Russia is too insane for even Putin himself. In this episode, Milo and Nate discuss everything from terrible Russian supermarkets to the slight...

We've all seen chest candy. Whether it's a private rocking an airborne badge or some terrifying spec-ops E-8 with every spaceship-commander skill badge in existence, at some point we've all encountered the Army (and it's basically just the Army) penchant for giving people skill badges for just about everything. Well, there's chest candy to come: apparently we'll soon get to experience the Expert S...

Okay, seriously, what the hell--apparently Reince Priebus (former Trump Chief of Staff) has joined the Navy as an O-1… at age 47. We're confused, but hey, there's time enough to give him a red belly. Read that story here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/former-trump-chief-of-staff-reince-priebus-joins-the-navy/2019/06/10/20174f2a-8bbf-11e9-8f69-a2795fca3343_story.html?utm_term=.0d8e5712f01...

This week, Nate and Francis discuss two recent news stories that are painfully dumb but also, surprisingly, relevant to the military. First, we examine the story of Trump's lackeys trying to forcibly relocate the USS John S. McCain because of Trump's strong dislike of the guy the boat was named after. We also discuss Duncan Hunter's recent conversation in which he admitted to shelling civilians in...

This week, Nate is in-studio with Hussein Kesvani ( @HKesvani ), the author of the recently-published book "Follow Me, Akhi: The Online World of British Muslims." Hussein is also a cohost of the Trashfuture podcast and a man who can enrage everyone's Facebook uncles with a simple tweet. They discuss how Hussein met his Islamophobic troll in person, how he managed the pressures of growing up as an...

Donald Trump, America's big, wet President, recently pardoned a war criminal named Mike Behenna. Recently, he indicated that he wants to pardon even more war criminals -- all of them white dudes who murdered people in Iraq and Afghanistan. In this episode, Nate and Francis break down why this is pathetic and why your Once An Eagle ass cosplay about being The Leader Who Will Stop Bad Things means n...

Our friend Joe Kassabian ( @jkass99 ) , THE HOOLIGANS OF KANDAHAR and host of the Lions Led by Donkeys podcast, has a new book coming out called CITIZEN OF EARTH. You can buy it here, and you should: https://kyanitepublishing.com/product/citizen-of-earth/ In this episode, Joe and Francis discuss the new book, bad Army training, laser tanks, insane future weapons, and why the higher your rank the i...

Francis is out doing dad things, and Nate is covering down with a weird one out of left field. This week, Nate and special guest Riley Quinn ( @raaleh ) of Trashfuture Podcast discuss a looming horror in the distance: Donald Trump fans' weird crossover with the Warhammer 40k universe. Riley explains what 'grimdark' is, why the fash seem to love slapping Trump's head on the Emperor of All Mankind,...

In this episode, Francis speaks with Army public affairs veteran Fred Wellman ( @fpwellman ) about a recent article by an Army PAO that basically blames the media for not being patriotic enough. As fellow flacks, they discuss why this is a garbage take and why everyone should demand more truth from the military. Here is the dumb article that sucks: https://mwi.usma.edu/takes-two-tango-journalists-...

In a preview of this week's 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 to listen to the wh...

This week, we react to the recent happening at the US-Mexico border, in which a group of paramilitaries (among them ex-cops and veterans) held unarmed asylum seekers at gunpoint until the Border Patrol could arrest them. As Francis and Nate discuss, this sure sounds like some fascism. We also talk about a Marine general's fixation on yard care, which brings us to the larger point: why is the milit...

We figured it was time to dig in a little deeper on British military stories. This week, Nate speaks with British Army veteran and journalist Joe Glenton ( @joejglenton ) about his recent piece in the Independent, on the topic of paratroopers shooting at a picture of Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn. The conversation also touches on reactionary sentiments in the British Army, the UK's history of...

It's been something of a banner week for dumb military and veteran news. For starters, a scandal emerged in Nate's adopted home of Britain after a video showed British Army paratroopers happily shooting a portrait of Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/video/2019/apr/06/british-army-chief-addresses-claims-of-unacceptable-conduct-by-soldiers-video We also discuss...

Rumor has it that leftist politics podcasts only exist to rip on Democrats. Well, that's only half-true: we rip on right-wing politicians all day long, but we know that they're fascists and plutocrats. Democrats, on the other hand, are supposed to be on our side -- hence our desire to actually elect people who represent our desires. And in that vein, we're discussing Pete Buttigieg and Joe Biden....

This week, we speak with Current Affairs ( @ curaffairs ) Editor-in-Chief Nathan J. Robinson ( @ NathanJRobinson ) about pacifism: why it's so maligned in popular discourse, and why a horror of war and violence is a necessary thing in our violence-saturated era. Nathan recently published a piece on the topic of pacifism and the memoirs of Vera Brittain, which you can read here: https://www.current...

In the aftermath of the tragic and horrendous massacres in New Zealand, we witnessed what you might describe as performative innocence on the part of people who traffic in Islamophobia. However, some young heroes were not having it — yes, we're talking about Egg Boy and Leen Dweik, two beacons of hope in an otherwise garbage discourse. This week, Francis and Nate discuss why it's good to confront...

This week, Francis and Nate discuss two new military-related stories that will likely bring comically unintended consequences. First, the Army intends to assign lieutenants to basic training units as platoon leaders. Which lieutenants? Well, all of them: pre-basic-course, post-basic-course, and post-platoon-leader, all of which sounds like a good (read: bad) idea. That story is available here: htt...

This week, Francis speaks with Army veteran and sociology student @ Falsemotive  about what it's like on the Army post where he lives as a military dependent. The Army offers free housing to military families, but what you may not know is that on many posts that housing is privatized. The government paid contractors to build it, pays contractors to ostensibly maintain it, and allows those private...

How did a white supremacist spend 30 years in the US military? Well, he enlisted, and then he reenlisted. This week, Nate and Francis discuss a recent story that appeared in Vice on the topic of a Coast Guard lieutenant with a kill list. Additionally, they discuss how some ex Navy SEALs wound up arrested in Haiti with a lot of firepower — like normal people do. Read the Vice article here: https://...

This week, Francis did some damn journalism. He interviewed Joe Haldeman, author of the 1974 sci-fi masterpiece 'The Forever War,' about his Army service and how it informed his writing (and about blowing things up with C4). We really hope you enjoy this. Additionally, we've got an update on some of 2019's newest war crimes stories, in which gamer and vaper Duncan Hunter weighs in on whether it sh...

This week, Nate speaks with Army veteran and author Matt Gallagher ( @ MattGallagher0 ) about being a veteran writer in the age of online, about his recent NYT op-ed discussing Trump's trip to Iraq, about how he got his start as an Army blogger writing from Iraq, and how Claire Vaye Watkins' Battleborn changed his perception of his hometown. Matt's recent NYT op-ed is available here:  https://www....

This week, we spoke with 82nd Airborne veteran Michael McGuinness ( @beardedcynic473) about a story he knows particularly well: the saga of Clint Lorance, an Army officer convicted of murder in Afghanistan and sentenced to 18 years in prison. As you may know, every war criminal in military prison wants to get RT'ed into Trump's timeline in hopes of getting a pardon. Michael served with Clint Loran...