Midrats

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Episode 609: The Fat Leonard Podcast with Tom Wright Nov 22, 2021

Show notes

If you are even remotely connected to the US Navy you have directly or indirectly been impacted by the "Fat Leonard" scandal.
A husbanding agent who used every tool in a very old book - greed, sex, power, influence, and envy - managed to have have naval officers and high ranking law enforcement officers become party to his drive for wealth and influence.
One of the best places to find the details of the scandal and to hear from Leonard Glenn Frances himself, is in "The Fat Leonard Podcast."
Our guest today will be the podcast's creator, Tom Wright, the coauthor of Billion Dollar Whale and the cofounder of Project Brazen, a journalism-focused production studio.
Tom worked for the Wall Street Journal for over twenty years. He’s a Pulitzer finalist and has won numerous journalism awards, including the Gerald Loeb award for international reporting. In 2020, Stanford University honored Tom with its Shorenstein award in recognition of his services to journalism in Asia.

Episode 608: Time for a Maritime Department? Nov 15, 2021

Show notes

All you need to do is look at a map to tell that we are a maritime nation. A strong Navy is only part of being a maritime power. As everyone is starting to appreciate as they look at empty shelves, rising prices, and fleets of merchant ships waiting for their turn off overburdened ports - the other side of a maritime power can impact everyone's quality of life overnight.
If most Americans knew the relative weakness - and in areas complete absence - of America in the maritime trade that keeps up employed, fed, and secure, they would probably have a mild panic attack.
Is part of the problem simply that we lack a national focus? Could a solution be to establish a cabinet-level Maritime Department with a mission of integrating applications of national power to ensure maritime security and prosperity?
Making a return to visit, our guest for the full hour will be Lieutenant Commander Jimmy Drennan, U.S. Navy, and we'll use his recent article, "Beyond Defense: America's Past and Future Interests at Sea" as a starting point for a broad ranging discussion.
Jimmy is a surface warfare officer and the soon to be outgoing president of the Center for International Maritime Security - a topic we may discuss as well.

Episode 607: The NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan - Hopes & Lessons Nov 08, 2021

Show notes

In what history will show was a failed effort, for almost two decades, the most advanced military and police forces in the West tried to build a security force for the people of Afghanistan, an effort that took off with great urgency towards the end of the first decade of the conflict. A cornerstone of that effort was NATO Training Mission–Afghanistan (NTM-A).
Our guests to discuss this effort and what lessons it holds for the future will be Dr. Martin Loicano and Dr. Craig C. “C. C.” Felker. Using extensive research and two combined years in Afghanistan, they've documented the 2009-2010 effort in their book, No Moment of Victory: the NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan from 2009-2011.
Dr. Loicano served as chief historian, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE). In that capacity, he advised the SHAPE commander and also was part of the SHAPE Strategic Planning Group. Previously, he was an associate professor in the Department of Strategy at the Air War College (AWC). Prior to joining the AWC faculty, Dr. Loicano served with the NATO Training Mission–Afghanistan from 2010 to 2012. He holds a PhD in history from Cornell University, specializing in Cold War conflicts, Southeast Asia, and China.
Dr. Felker is a retired Navy captain and author of Testing American Sea Power: U.S. Navy Strategic Exercises, 1923–1940. He received his PhD from Duke University in 2004 and afterward served as a permanent military professor in the History Department of the United States Naval Academy, chairing the department from 2014 to 2016. He is currently the executive director of the Society for Military History.

Episode 606: China's Dangerous Decade with Andrew Erickson Oct 25, 2021

Show notes

What are the of economic, demographic, and political forces driving China through this decade?
What direction is her growth heading and where will she find herself at the end of the decade?
Are the forces in play likely to move her towards a more peaceful or a more militaristic stance?
Using the recent article he co-authored with Gabriel Collins in Foreign Policy, A Dangerous Decade of Chinese Power is Here, as a starting point, returning to Midrats for the full hour this Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern will be Andrew S. Erickson.
Andrew is a professor of strategy in the U.S. Naval War College's China Maritime Studies Institute and a visiting scholar in full-time residence at Harvard University's John King Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies. His research website is www.andrewerickson.com.

Episode 605: the Navy in Afghanistan at Flood Tide: PRT Khost Oct 18, 2021

Show notes

Afghanistan is a land locked nation, but in the USA’s two-decade presence in that country, her Navy was there from the beginning to end serving along with her sister services.
Many are familiar with the untold number of Individual Augmentation (IA) assignments Navy active duty and reserve component personnel filled, Navy Corpsmen serving with USMC units, and even SeaBee deployments to Afghanistan, but there were other units with a large US Navy presence, a few of the Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRT).
This Sunday we’re going to take a snapshot of this part of the Afghanistan conflict from its high-water mark - 2010 and 2011 - with our guests Captain Steve Deal, USN (Ret.) and Command Sergeant Major Alexander “Beau” Barnett, USA (Ret.). They served together as the Commanding Officer and Sergeant Major of Provincial Reconstruction Team Khost in 2010 through 2011.
Captain Deal had extensive experience in command. In addition to his tour as Commanding Officer, PRT Khost, he commanded Patrol Squadron 47 in Ali AB, Iraq (2007-2008) and Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing TEN in Whidbey Island, WA (2012-2013).
Command Sergeant Major Barnett impressive experience as senior enlisted leader in addition to his tour in Khost included Operations Sergeant Major and Command Sergeant Major at Battalion level and as a USASMA Instructor, Command Sergeant Major for the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division and concurrently the Regimental Sergeant Major of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment. His final assignment prior to retirement the 189th CATB CSM at JBLM Tacoma Washington.

Episode 604: October Natsec Free-For-All Oct 11, 2021

Show notes

From the fleet parked off Long Beach, to the already forgotten Afghanistan, to the particular aspirational desires of the latest 30-year Shipbuilding Plan - and whatever else comes across then quarterdeck - Eagle One and Sal are back LIVE for an October maritime and national security discussion.
As with all free for alls, the chat room will be open as will the studio phone lines … come join us this Sunday starting at 5pm Eastern.

Episode 603: September Maritime Melee Sep 20, 2021

Show notes

Sal and EagleOne are tanned, rested, and ready to dive in a … well … where does one start for the last couple of weeks.
Australia pivots strong to China with here plans to move to SSN, France gets grumpy with the Anglosphere as a result but still kills a baddie for us, fleets of container ships are haunting out ports, and we’re all digesting what happened in Afghanistan. That’s just a start.
Join us for the full hour LIVE Sunday. The chat room will be open and the studio line too.

Episode 602: The US Navy's Unmanned Programs, with CAPT Captain Pete Small, USN Aug 30, 2021

Show notes

While a lot of the attention in unmanned systems the last two decades has been in the air, significant developments on and under the surface of the oceans were happening in parallel.
From small mine hunting unmanned surface vessels and the development of the Large Unmanned Surface Vessel above the seas, to unmanned systems the size of lightweight torpedoes to midget submarines below the surface, unmanned maritime systems capabilities are growing each year.
With each incremental advance in engineering automation to autonomous operations, their utility from maritime security to war fighting increases as well.
For the full hour this Sunday to discuss the potential of unmanned platforms will be Captain Pete Small, USN, Program Manager for Unmanned Maritime Systems (PMS 406) in PEO Unmanned and Small Combatants.
A submariner by trade, CAPT Small has led PMS 406 since 2018 after multiple tours on submarines at sea, and ashore as an instructor, and leading program management and development.
He earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Virginia as well as earning a Master of Science Degree in Operations Research in 2002 from Columbia University and a Master of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Naval Engineer Degree in 2005 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Episode 601: All Roads Lead to Kabul Aug 22, 2021

Show notes

I’m not sure where today’s Midrats will take us. Our co-host is getting a little underway time, so this will be just you and me.
As the initial stage of the collapse of Kabul unfolded last weekend, a lot of Midrats loyalists reached out to me to ask, “Where is this week’s Midrats?”
In hindsight, perhaps I should have brought up a show, but last Sunday was just not a good time to put a microphone in front of me,. By Monday I was ready, and my posts last week at the homeblog covered much of the thoughts bouncing around my head then.
Today we’re going to free-form this together. The chat room is open for questions or points of order, and the studio phone line is open as well if you have a question you want to call in or if you served in Afghanistan and just wan to talk it out a bit. Call in.
Outside of that, I’ll try over the next hour or so to give you my thought on how we got here, what happened, and what we need to look at next.

Episode 600: Shipping in the time of COVID Aug 08, 2021

Show notes

Shipping rates, supply bottlenecks, and some nightmare abandonment stories for some mariners, like everything else on our water plant, COVID-19 impacted our shipping industry hard at sea and ashore. The impacts of which rippled in to everything.
As economies, nations, and corporations adjust to the new reality, what trends can the consumer and maritime professional expect?
It’s time to catch up with returning guest, Salvatore Mercogliano.
Sal sailed with MSC from 1989 to 1992, and worked MSC HQ as Operations Officer for the Afloat Prepositioning Force 1992-1996. He has a BS Marine Transportation from SUNY Maritime College, a MA Maritime History and Nautical Archaeology from East Carolina University, and received his Ph.D. in Military and Naval History from University of Alabama. He is the chair of the Dept of History, Criminal Justice & Political Science at Campbell University. He was awarded 2nd place in the 2019 CNO History Essay Contest with his submission, "Suppose There Was a War and the Merchant Marine Didn't Come."

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