School of War - Nebulous Media

Latest Episodes:

Ep 227: Yaakov Katz on What Went Wrong on 10/7 Sep 02, 2025

Show notes

Yaakov Katz, senior fellow at The Jewish People Policy Institute and author of While Israel Slept: How Hamas Surprised the Most Powerful Military in the Middle East, joins the show to discuss Israel’s intelligence and military failures on the night of 6-7 October, 2023.

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Times

• 01:35 Introduction

• 02:47 Foundational facts

• 09:45 Communication failure

• 17:39 Minority reports

• 25:40 Left alone

• 30:15 Accountability

• 39:37 Cultural costs

• 47:30 A deal

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Ep 226: Geoffrey Wawro on the Vietnam War Aug 29, 2025

Show notes

Geoffrey Wawro, founding director of the Military History Center at the University of North Texas and author of The Vietnam War: A Military History, joins the show to discuss the causes of U.S. failure in Vietnam.

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Times

• 01:21 Introduction

• 01:50 Schools of thought

• 07:45 Orthodoxy

• 13:24 A war of choice

• 17:49 Ambivalence

• 20:15 Korean nightmare

• 23:53 Lessons

• 28:38 Policy makers

• 32:34 Obvious flaws

• 37:10 Ground war

• 42:21 South Vietnam

• 51:30 Certain defeat

• 56:21 Local politics

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Ep 225: Geoff Ball on the Evacuation of Kabul Aug 26, 2025

Show notes

Major Geoff Ball, USMC, co-founder of the Connecting File, commanded Company G, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines during the evacuation at Kabul International Airport in 2021, including the suicide bombing at Abbey Gate on 26 August. He shares the story of his company and their extraordinary service in Afghanistan.

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Times

• 01:51 Introduction

• 02:03 The Marines

• 08:20 Quantico

• 13:07 29 Palms

• 16:32 On the job training

• 21:54 Ghost Company

• 26:44 The call

• 32:10 Isolation

• 38:30 Abbey Gate

• 46:16 Unity of effort

• 48:53 Who got through

• 51:40 The Taliban

• 52:54 26 August

• 56:52 Take command

• 59:47 No good choices

• 01:06:42 The Fallen

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Ep 224: Barry Strauss on Ancient Rome’s Wars with Israel Aug 22, 2025

Show notes

Barry Strauss, Corliss Page Dean Fellow at the Hoover Institution and author of Jews vs. Rome: Two Centuries of Rebellion Against the World's Mightiest Empire, joins the show to discuss the long, fractious, often violent relationship between Ancient Rome and her Jewish subjects.

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Times

• 01:11 Introduction

• 01:37 Rome and Parthia

• 07:50 Judea

• 12:07 Roman control

• 17:58 Jewish warfighting

• 20:20 Herod

• 26:03 The Great Revolt

• 31:06 Enter Parthia

• 33:23 The Temple

• 35:01 70 years

• 40:24 Driven out

• 42:02 Parallels with today

• 44:33 Donald Kagan

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Ep 223: Mick Ryan on Ukraine Negotiations and Fighting Aug 19, 2025

Show notes

Major General Mick Ryan, Australian Army (retired), Senior Fellow for Military Studies the Lowy Institute and author of the Futura Doctrina Substack, joins the show to break down the latest on Ukraine, from the battlefield to the White House.

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Times

• 01:05 Introduction

• 02:06 The front

• 06:23 Fortress belt

• 08:38 ROI

• 10:55 Shifting feelings

• 14:41 A realistic settlement

• 20:53 After Alaska

• 23:15 Boots on the ground

• 25:45 Unpredictability

• 28:49 A different vibe

• 31:31 Stop the killing

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Ep 222: Peter Mansoor on MacArthur’s Return to the Philippines Aug 15, 2025

Show notes

Colonel Peter Mansoor, U.S. Army (retired), General Raymond E. Mason Jr. Chair in Military History at The Ohio State University and authors of Redemption: MacArthur and the Campaign for the Philippines, joins the show to discuss the largest campaign of the Pacific War, the liberation of the Philippines.

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Times

• 01:08 Introduction

• 01:30 Why West Point?

• 06:11 Petraeus

• 09:55 A huge scale

• 11:25 War Plan Orange

• 16:25 Inevitable

• 20:07 The guerrilla war

• 26:53 Mindanao & Luzon

• 31:33 Leyte Gulf

• 37:52 A do or die campaign

• 40:04 Manila

• 44:34 Command responsibility

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Ep 221: Joel Wuthnow and Phillip Saunders on China’s PLA Aug 12, 2025

Show notes

Joel Wuthnow and Phillip Saunders, both of the U.S. National Defense University and authors of China's Quest for Military Supremacy, join the show to discuss the origins, organization, and strategic outlook of China’s military.

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Times

• 01:22 Introduction

• 01:57 Origins

• 06:58 Crisis control

• 08:48 PLA structure

• 13:05 1960

• 20:17 Horizontal escalation

• 24:34 By land or sea

• 28:23 American resolve

• 30:54 Xi

• 36:41 A lack of experience

• 44:10 Military diplomacy

• 48:17 Reading list

• 50:43 Be unpredictable

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Ep 220: Marc LiVecche on Hiroshima and Morality Aug 05, 2025

Show notes

Marc LiVecche, McDonald Distinguished Scholar of Ethics, War, and Public Life at Providence and author of The Good Kill: Just War and Moral Injury, joins the show to discuss Just War Theory and whether the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki fit in that framework.

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Times

• 01:23 Introduction

• 01:30 Misspent youth

• 07:51 Moral injury

• 13:27 Conflicting views

• 19:15 Richard Frank

• 28:53 Right not moral

• 39:12 Not the same

• 40:36 Gifts from heaven

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Ep 219: Stephen Platt on Mao's China and the Original Marine Raider Aug 01, 2025

Show notes

Stephen Platt, professor of Chinese history at UMass Amherst and author of The Raider: The Untold Story of a Renegade Marine and the Birth of U.S. Special Forces in World War II, joins the show to discuss the incredible life of Evans Carlson.

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Times

• 01:48 Introduction

• 02:50 American quirk

• 08:14 China

• 10:18 Soviet policy

• 14:01 Nicaragua

• 16:29 Edgar Snow

• 21:11 FDR

• 24:42 8th Route Army

• 31:52 Embargo

• 38:30 Raiders

• 42:40 Makin Island

• 46:30 Force multiplier

• 52:44 1946

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Ep 218: Lawerence Freedman on Endless Wars Jul 29, 2025

Show notes

Lawerence Freedman, Emeritus Professor of War Studies at King’s College London and author of ‘The Age of Forever Wars’ in Foreign Affairs Magazine, joins the show to discuss why protracted warfare seems to be a mark of the era.

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Times

• 01:32 Introduction

• 02:01 Aligning strategy

• 04:37 Mass

• 07:14 Iraq and Afghanistan

• 11:14 Al Qaeda

• 14:25 Survive

• 17:50 Results matter

• 22:04 Trade-offs

• 27:23 Avoiding mistakes

• 32:13 Why does Putin continue?