The 18th Airborne Corps Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Episode 47: The Voices of Vaccine Hesitancy Jul 22, 2021

Show notes

Ok, ok, we promise…this is our LAST episode about COVID.

If you heard episode 46, you got insight from three medical experts on the vaccine and the Delta variant. In this episode, we speak with four Soldiers about their personal decision regarding vaccination. Each Soldier speaks individually with host Joe Buccino about the reasons that went into his or her decision. One of the Soldiers has, to this point, refused vaccination.

We spoke privately (off-mic) with more than 40 Soldiers across the Army and we are certain these four discussions represent a broader set of views on the issues across the force.

These discussions are important, and these are Soldiers that should be heard: It’s critical that Army leaders to understand the set of factors at work here.

So, in the interest in giving voice to the concerns out in our formation about the COVID vaccine, we give this episode to four Soldiers who agreed to go on-air with us.

The 18th Airborne Corps podcast is the official podcast of the US Army’s XVIII Airborne Corps….but, I guess you figured that out based on the title.

We release a new episode every Tuesday (on rare occasions, such as this one, we'll release one on Thursday as well).

If you enjoy the podcast, please leave a five-star rating and a review, as that helps others find the show.

Episode 46: The COVID Vaccine (Again) - Vaccine Hesitancy and the Delta Variant Jul 20, 2021

Show notes

Well, we didn’t want to do another episode on COVID-19, but….with the Delta variant, the rise in cases across parts of the country, and all the misinformation floating around social media….we kinda had to.

For Episode 46, host Joe Buccino brings back Dr. Sammy Choi, the Chief of Research at Fort Bragg’s Womack Army Medical Center, and Army Lieutenant Colonel Owen Price, Fort Bragg Force Health Protection Officer. You may remember Owen and Sammy from Episode 13, our first foray into COVID. These two are joined by Army Lieutenant Colonel Teresa Pearce, a Preventive Medicine Physician and the Director of Fort Bragg Public Health.

Joe leads our experts in an illuminating discussion that will answer any remaining questions:

How concerned should we be about the delta variant?
Am I safe if I’m unvaccinated but already contracted COVID-19?
Will we go back into a shutdown?
Are we going to receive a booster shot?
Is Johnson & Johnson safe?
Have any Soldiers experienced concerning side effects of the COVID vaccines?
Which is the best, most effective, safest vaccine?
What are the risks of myocarditis associated with the vaccine?

This episode comes at a critical moment for the Army. Over the past six months, the Army has clawed its way out of a terrible position with COVID. Most bases have lifted restrictions, children are back in school, and facilities are reopened. With the Delta variant, however, which we know to be twice as transmissible as the strain that caused the winter surge, we’re in danger of losing all that we’ve gained.

Most concerning, the Army now has a number of COVID cases among fully-vaccinated Soldiers. Further, the Delta variant appears to generate much higher viral loads, and unvaccinated individuals may be twice as likely to be hospitalized.

Please listen to Episode 46 and pass this around to anyone who remains unvaccinated or is concerned about the virus.

About Episode 46’s guests:

Choi is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma School of Medicine; he completed a combined Internal Medicine and Pediatrics Residency at William Beaumont Army Medical Center, Fort Bliss, Texas.
Owen Price is an Army Lieutenant Colonel and a graduate of Oklahoma State with a degree in Entomology; He is an Army Environmental Science and Engineer
Teresa Pearce is, like Owen, an Army Lieutenant Colonel. He is a Preventive Medicine Physician with a Masters of Public Health.

Episode 45: "Our Future is War": General J.P. McGee, Commander of the 101st Airborne Division Jul 13, 2021

Show notes

General J. P. McGee called into the 18th Airborne Corps Podcast studio on Fort Bragg, North Carolina from his office in the headquarters of the 101st Airborne Division on Fort Campbell, Kentucky. During his discussion with host Joe Buccino, General McGee reflected on his first four months commanding one of our Nation's most prestigious military units.

For the first time in years, the entire 101st Airborne Division is on Fort Campbell, with no scheduled deployment. This is a critical moment for the Screaming Eagles: with the threat of large scale combat looming and a changing Army landscape, it's time to reflect and change. General McGee explains that he's using the opportunity to develop a culture of trained, disciplined, fit, cohesive units ready to win the future fight.

General McGee also discussed his recent role as director of the Army's Talent Management Task Force. In that position, he transformed the way the service evaluates battalion and brigade commanders through a new assessment program. He offers insights into the Army's focus on revolutionizing the way it selects and develops leaders.

General McGee also offers some recommended reading for Army leaders, discusses the people and events that shaped him as a leader, and explains why the 101st Airborne is the Nation's premier warfighting force.

Episode 45 of the 18th Airborne Corps Podcast is an important one for any Soldier currently serving in the 101st Airborne Division. The episode also offers insight for all Army leaders, as well as anyone interested in the Army's new talent management program.

Please tell others about the program and leave a five-star rating and a review on Apple podcasts.

Episode 44: Around the World with Ash Carter Jul 08, 2021

Show notes

Ash Carter, the 25th American Secretary of Defense, joins 18th Airborne Corps Podcast host Joe Buccino from his office at the Harvard Kennedy School where he is the director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

Ash, who served as President Obama's final SecDef from 2015 to 2017, gives his view of the world from his Harvard perch. Joe and Ash discuss the global security environment today. The Secretary walks our host around the world, offering insight into Afghanistan, Russia, Iran, the Indo-Pacific, and lands in the United States.

Ash was among our Nation's most consequential public servants. Under his service at the top of the Pentagon, ISIL was defeated in Mosul, the Department of Defense opened combat roles to women and the United States entered the Iran nuclear deal. In this half hour discussion, Ash reflects on his legacy and remarks on the US military today. Finally, the two discuss some of Ash's predecessors at the Pentagon and why serving as US Secretary of Defense in the best job in the world.

The 18th Airborne Corps Podcast is the official podcast of the U.S. Army’s XVIII Airborne Corps. Recorded on Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the program releases new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday. We ask you to tell others about the program and to please leave a five-star rating and a review on Apple podcasts.

Episode 43: Air Assault! The History of Army Air Mobility Jul 06, 2021

Show notes

Today, helicopter assault offers American ground forces an advantage on the battlefield. In any part of the world in which warfare is waged, air assault is a pivotal capability for our Army. So it has for more than 50 years. The air mobile concept is not simply a legacy, it's critical to overcoming the tyranny of terrain and distance. But, in the mid-1950s, the idea was revolutionary, rejected by bureaucratic Army officers and outdated thinkers.

Episode 43 of the 18th Airborne Corps podcast reveals how a group of inspired strategists fought through interservice rivalry, plowed through bureaucracy and politics, and changed the way the Army thinks about maneuvering ground troops. This is the story of the development of the air mobile concept and how that concept is manifest in our Army today.

Sometime co-host and friend of the 18th Airborne Corps podcast Matt Visser joins host Joe Buccino from location on Fort Campbell, where much of the Army's air assault capability resides. Matt augments the history lesson with wisdom from some of the veterans who helped pioneer Army air assault.

Anyone interested in revolutionizing the way the Army thinks, trains, or prepares for combat will find insight in Episode 43 of the 18th Airborne Corps podcast.

Episode 42: The Other Side Of the Iron Curtain Jun 29, 2021

Show notes

18th Airborne Corps podcast host Joe Buccino generally spends a lot of time talking about the Cold War, a subject with which he's fascinated. Nixon, LBJ, Kennedy. The Cuban Missile Crisis. Chernobyl.

He generally talks about these things from the American perspective. The way the American military and government reacted to these events. The American public's view of the world from these moments.

Not on this episode.

Serhii Plokhy, an American historian born in Nizhnii Novgorod, Russia who grew up in Zaporizhia, Ukraine, joins the show by phone from his Burlington, Massachusetts home. Serhii, one of the most prolific historians in the U.S. on the Cold War, tells story after story about the Cold War.

Serhii discusses the WWII origins of the Cold War, the role of the Chernobyl disaster in the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the events leading up to the end of the Cold War. He describes these things from the perspective of the Soviet leadership and the Soviet commoner. His is a fascinating purview on critical world events.

Serhii Plokhy is the Mykhailo Hrushevsky Professor of Ukrainian History at Harvard and the director of the university's Ukrainian Research Institute. He's the author of literally dozens of books on the Cold War. He and Joe discuss, in particular his 2014 book The Last Empire: The Final Days of the Soviet Union, which received the Lionel Gelber Prize for the best book on international relations, 2018's Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy, which was awarded the Baillie Gifford Prize for non-fiction, and the 2019 Forgotten Bastards of the Eastern Front: American Airmen Behind Soviet Lines and the Collapse of the Grand Alliance, about how the American-Soviet alliance began to fray toward the end of WWII.

This is an episode rich with insights on the Soviet Union and the Cold War.

Episode 41: The Skateboarding Sergeant Major Jun 22, 2021

Show notes

Anthony Gregerson is an interesting guy. The Command Sergeant Major of an airborne battalion on Fort Bragg is a YouTube skateboarder (he performs all his own stunts and edits all his videos), an aging Paratrooper, and a deep thinker. He entered the 18th Airborne Corps Podcast studio to chat with host Joe Buccino about leading through the end of COVID, life after the Army, and a dark moment for him and his troops.

This discussion with Sergeant Major Gregerson has something to offer leaders throughout the Army. His conclusions and experiences may surprise you.

The 18th Airborne Corps Podcast is the official podcast of the U.S. Army’s XVIII Airborne Corps. Recorded on Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the program releases new episodes every Tuesday.

Episode 40: Preventing Soldier Suicide Jun 16, 2021

Show notes

Episode 40 of the 18th Airborne Corps Podcast is a somber episode focused on a very heavy subject. Dr. Eren Watkins, a supervisory epidemiologist and Division Chief of the Behavioral Health at the U.S. Army Public Health Center, joins host Joe Buccino to discuss her work in studying soldier suicide.

This is a deeply important episode, and Dr. Watkins’ is a voice that should be heard by leaders throughout our Army. She’s been studying soldier suicide for years and, in this candid discussion, offers indicators, trends, and causes of soldier suicide. She also describes what leaders can do to build positive organizational environments, reduce the factors for suicide, and seek out signs of trouble.

Soldiers are resilient. There are actions leaders can take to build up soldier resilience and to drive down risk factors. Dr. Watkins offers these insights in a thought-provoking conversation.

Dr. Watkins has a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of South Carolina Arnold School of Public Health, a Master's in Public Health in Epidemiology from Eastern Virginia Medical School, a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology with a concentration in Human Biology from Temple University, and a Certificate in Diversity and Inclusion from Cornell University. She began her service at the U.S. Army Public Health Center in January 2011 where she leads a multidisciplinary team of public health professionals that monitor behavioral and social health trends among Army units. Dr. Watkins has published a number of studies on Soldier suicide in scientific journals.

This is a critically important and urgent episode of the 18th Airborne Corps Podcast. There is a great deal of wisdom in this discussion with one of the Nation’s leading experts on soldier suicide.

Episode 39: A Soldier's Story of Alcoholism, Depression, Hope, and Recovery Jun 14, 2021

Show notes

Col. Eric Kreitz spent a two-decade Army career silently suffering from depression and alcoholism. To the world he was thriving, successfully commanding a battalion on Fort Bragg and raising a family. Internally, he was plummeting deeper and deeper into darkness, unwilling to face his demons. A suicide attempt and subsequent hospitalization forced him out of command and into recovery. He's been on that glide path ever since. Eric joined host Joe Buccino in the podcast studio to tell his story with courage and candor. It's an important story, one that every Soldier and leader should hear. There is a great deal of value in this episode for all of us. We all want anyone who is suffering right now to get help. Military One Source (https://www.militaryonesource.mil/) is a 24/7 resource for all Soldiers and a trained specialist is always available at the National Suicide Prevention Hotline (800-273-8255). This is a dark story, but it's an inspirational story, one filled with courage, love, and hope. One thing is clear: Eric's leadership never gave up on him, kept him in the Army, invested in his family, and put him on the road to recovery. There is so much to be learned from their example.

Episode 38: King Richard: A Conversation on Nixon and Watergate with Journalist Michael Dobbs Jun 09, 2021

Show notes

On January 20, 1973, Richard Nixon was riding high. Sworn into office for his second term of the U.S. presidency, he’d just won a massive landslide victory, capturing 49 states and more than 60 percent of the popular vote. His stunning diplomatic move to reopen relations with China, combined with his efforts to negotiate an end to the war he inherited in Vietnam, made him an enormously consequential president. He was popular, brilliant, and seemingly headed for an FDR-like legacy.

20 months later, Nixon resigned in disgrace, his presidency shattered by his conspiracy to cover up the break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex during the 1972 election. Nixon, a complicated man overcome by the urges of insecurity and ego was brought low by his own design: a secret and ubiquitous taping system that recorded an enormous volume of White House conversations served as the smoking gun that forced his resignation.

Journalist Michael Dobbs just published a stunning new book into the drama inside the White House as the Nixon presidency collapsed under the weight of scandal. In “King Richard, Nixon and Watergate: An American Tragedy,” Dobbs plumbs the psyche of our 37th president for fresh insight into his undoing. The book is a triumph: cinematic and scintillating, it pulls the curtain on the fight for survival within Nixon’s staff. By using the tapes as a primary source material, Dobbs locks the reader in a shrinking room with Nixon and his aides, the walls closing in as reporters tie the president to the break-in.

Michael joins host Joe Buccino for one of the most vivid episodes of the 18th Airborne Corps podcast to date. Anyone interested in conspiracy, the American presidency, or the workings of the White House will find insight in this episode. Also discussed are the ties between the Watergate break-in and subsequent cover-up and the catastrophically unpopular Vietnam War.

Watergate was a critical moment in American history, one that has shaped the way Americans think about the federal government ever since. The build-up to the Iraq War, the January 6, 2020 insurrection, and the public response to COVID-19, all have their origin in Watergate.

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