Midrats

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Episode 215: February Free For All Feb 16, 2014

Show notes

Nothing like some time snowed in to focus the mind.
Join us this Sunday from 5-6pm as we cover the maritime angle from China to shipbuilding to Cyber with a Midrats free for all.
Have a topic you wished we would cover? Well, the phone lines are open.

Episode 214: Best of the Hill Staffer Feb 09, 2014

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When you send your elected representative to Washington DC, you are not just sending one person. For each Congressman and Senator - there is a cadre of staffers that makes it happen. Bills do not sprout out of the heads of politicians - no - they are carefully crafted, often over years, by the people you see in the background on C-Span. Politicians cannot and do not read source documentation all that much, they are too busy - others do that for them and give them the Executive Summary. Who are these people, how do they work, and how what role do they play in keeping the machinery of government and policy moving? Our guest for the full hour to discuss this, the influence of milblogging upon legislation, how HR 5729 was written partially because of blogger activism, the think tank community and the relationship between the Executive Branch and the Hill and how that prevents some great ideas becoming law. And how the 501(c)(3) status's ban on non-profit's lobbying activities hurts national security decision-making - and more will be Michael Clauser. Mike is an Adjunct Fellow at the National Strategy Information Center. He served as the National Security Legislative Assistant to a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in the previous Congress. He was recently identified as a "Next Generation National Security Leader" by the Center for a New American Security and as a "Nuclear Scholar" by the Project on Nuclear Issues at CSIS. Prior to working on the Hill, Mike served in the Presidential Administration of George W. Bush in the Pentagon in both OSD and on SecNav staff. He holds masters degrees from the University of Exeter in England and the Poznan University of Economics in Poland and is a graduate candidate at the U.S. Naval War College. He did his bachelors in philosophy and religion at Penn State and is a native of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Episode 213: Best of Skippy-San on Japan, and Bob Taylor's 13XX Feb 02, 2014

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For those who don't care about Football or get all grumpy if they don't get enough of their Midrats, we're heading back to early in our second year and visit our old friend.
In the small world of the Navy blogosphere, when you think of Japan, one name should immediately come to mind; Skippy-san of the blog FarEastCynic. Though most know Skippy by his "interesting" perspective on some of the "interesting" parts of life - what he also has is a good feel for the Japanese.
Join EagleOne and Sal as they tap into the serious side of the Navy blogosphere's famously infamous Skippy-san to talk about the very Japenese reaction to their earthquake-tsunami-nuclear meltdown national nightmare, and how the Navy and its relationship with the Japanese people is working through this challenge. Staying in the 13XX side of the Navy, but with a slight pivot, for the second half of the hour we will be remembering the funnier side of Naval Aviation with Bob Taylor’s to talk about his new book, "Getting Our Wings — Tales from Naval Aviation Flight School," that looks at flight training in much the same way as his previous book did with Marine Corps boot camp with "A Few Good Memories."

Episode 212: NATO in Afghanistan with Stephen M. Saideman Jan 26, 2014

Show notes

Lost to many whose news sources in the USA consists of the major newspapers and the standard networks, for most of the last dozen+ years, the conflict in Afghanistan has not been a USA-Centric battle; it has been a NATO run operation.
When the Commander of the International Security Assistance Force has been an American 4-star, the visuals can be misleading.
For most of the last decade, American forces were dominate in only one region of Afghanistan, the east. Other NATO nations from Italy/Spain in the west, Germany in the North, and Commonwealth nations and the Dutch in the south.
More important than the actual numbers involved, it was the Rules of Engagement, caveats, and the fickle nature of national politics that drove what effects those forces had on the ground.
The good, the bad, and the ugly of modern coalition warfare was all in view for all in Afghanistan, but outside small circles, has yet to be fully discussed.
Our guest for the full hour will be Stephen Saideman.
Stephen holds the Paterson Chair in International Affairs at Carleton University’s Norman Paterson School of International Affairs. He has written The Ties That Divide: Ethnic Politics, Foreign Policy and International Conflict and For Kin or Country: Xenophobia, Nationalism and War (with R. William Ayres) and NATO in Afghanistan: Fighting Together, Fighting Alone (with David Auerswald), and other work on nationalism, ethnic conflict, civil war, and civil-military relations. Prof. Saideman spent 2001-02 on the U.S. Joint Staff working in the Strategic Planning and Policy Directorate as part of a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellowship. He writes online at OpenCanada.org, Political Violence at a Glance, Duck of Minerva and his own site (saideman.blogspot.com). He also tweets too much at @smsaideman.

Episode 211: 4th Anniversary Free For All Jan 19, 2014

Show notes

That's right ... Midrats has been on the air four years. This week we aren't having guests, just the two hosts and any listeners who want to take the opportunity to call in or throw a question or topic to us in the chat room. Breaking news, regular topics, or whatever you pull out of your seabag - we're going to cove it
Green range, as it were.

Episode 210: John Kuehn & Joint Operations from Cape Fear to the South China Sea Jan 12, 2014

Show notes

Though nations for thousands of years have been wrestling with the challenge of Joint operations, we're still trying to get it right.
As an island nation with significant global interests ashore, the USA has a rich history of doing Joint right, and blind parochialism as well.
Using this as a starting point, this Sunday for the full hour we will have returning guest, John Kheun.
Dr. John T. Kuehn is the General William Stofft Chair for Historical Research at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. He retired from the U.S. Navy 2004 at the rank of commander after 23 years of service as a naval flight officer in EP-3s and ES-3s. He authored Agents of Innovation (2008) and co-authored Eyewitness Pacific Theater (2008) with D.M. Giangreco, as well as numerous articles and editorials and was awarded a Moncado Prize from the Society for Military History in 2011.
We will also discuss his latest book, just released by Praeger, A military History of Japan: From the Age of the Samurai to the 21st Century.

Episode 209: Kenya and East Africa with Alexander Martin Jan 05, 2014

Show notes

Many continue to focus on the "Pacific Pivot" and/or IndoPac, but the news seems to keep finding its way back to Africa.
This Sunday we're going to leave IndoPac and all that in order to focus the full hour discussing the eastern part of Africa with a returning guest Alex Martin who will give us a first hand report from a personal and professional perspective.
Alex graduated with distinction from the U.S. Naval Academy and went on to lead infantry, reconnaissance and special operations units in multiple combat deployments. Upon leaving active duty, Alex started a private maritime security company that served commercial shipping interests in the Indian Ocean. In July 2013 Alex joined Nuru International and currently serves as a Foundation Team Leader in Kenya.

Episode 208: Best of the General Board Dec 29, 2013

Show notes

Though over three years old, this topic remains at the top of the list of importance and if you are a new listener to Midrats and haven't listened to it yet - this is required listening.
If you caught it in a previous year, then it is well worth a relisten.
Look at the performance of the US Navy in World War II - those ships came in the shipbuilding programs of the 1920s & 1930s. At a time with no computers or modern communication equipment - and working through the naval treaty limitations and the Great Depression - we saw incredible innovation & steadily improving ship designs. Why?
A lot of the credit is given to something the Navy had then, but does not have now; The General Board.
What was The General Board, what did it do, and is the Navy today suffering for the lack of one?
Our guest is John T. Kuehn, CDR USN (Ret) PhD. A former naval aviator, he completed cruises aboard four different aircraft carriers. He flew reconnaissance missions during the last decade of the Cold War, the First Gulf War and the Balkans.
Kuehn has served on the faculty of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College since July 2000. He earned a Ph.D. in History from Kansas State University in 2007. He is the author of the Agents of Innovation: The General Board and the Design of the Fleet that Defeated the Japanese Navy, and Eyewitness Pacific Theater with Dennis Giangreco.

Episode 206: Small Ships, Flotillas & the Requirements of Naval Supremacy Dec 15, 2013

Show notes

For a maritime power with global requirements, what is the role of the small ship in times of peace and war?
What are the tradeoffs between quantity and capability, size and range, survivability and affordable?
Does the US Navy need a high-low mix; or a Strike Group-Flotilla mix?
Where do our national requirements influence how we build our Fleet vs. the process other nations build theirs?
Do we have a sustainable path towards a balanced Fleet, or are we sailing on based on outdated charts?
To discuss this and more for the full hour will be returning guest U.S. Naval War College Center for Naval Warfare Studies Dean, Captain Robert C. Rubel, USN (Ret.)

Episode 205: A 21st Century Navy With John C. Harvey, Jr, ADM USN (Ret) Dec 08, 2013

Show notes

In less than a month we will be firmly in the middle of the 2nd decade of the 21st Century. What path were we put on at the start 21st Century that got us here? How do we evaluate the right decisions, the neutral decisions, and the less than optimal calls of the last decade and a half? What lessons can we take away now in order to make decisions to best position the Navy on the approaches to 2030?
Our guest for the full hour this Sunday to discuss this an much more will be Admiral John C. Harvey, Jr, USN (Ret).
Almost a year since he joined the retired ranks, when in uniform Admiral Harvey was one of the of the more engaged, visible, and accessible Flag Officers of his generation - and in retirement he continues to be an influential voice.
Admiral Harvey was born and raised in Baltimore, MD and is a 1973 graduate of the U S Naval Academy.
In his thirty-nine year Navy career, he specialized in naval nuclear propulsion, surface ship and carrier strike-group operations and Navy-wide manpower management/personnel policy development.
He commanded the USS DAVID R RAY (DD 971), the USS CAPE ST GEORGE (CG 71), the THEODORE ROOSEVELT Strike Group/CCDG-8 and also served as the Navy’s 54th Chief of Naval Personnel and as the Director, Navy Staff.
Prior to his retirement from the Navy in November, 2012, Admiral Harvey served as Commander, US Fleet Forces Command. He now makes his home in Vienna, Virginia where he resides with his wife, Mary Ellen.

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