Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. Thank you for joining us and your continued support. This week, we welcome Mac Caltrider to the show. Mac is a veteran Marine, former Baltimore police officer, elementary school teacher, and author of the book Double Knot. Double Knot is a powerful memoir that is actually a collection of essays that weave a narrative thread of a Marine, cop, husband, father, son, and the effects of coming of age in a combat zone. His humor, wit, and humility are evident in this conversation as they are on the pages of his book. This was such a fun interview, and it was great to hear about Mac’s unique experiences and the depth of insight he has pulled from the eternal contradictions that come when sending young men and women to war.  There is so much to unpack, and there is much to glean from our conversation. Not just for military buffs but also for those interested in creativity and literary art. Maybe more so for the latter. We are grateful that Mac was so generous with his time, and we are excited to see more of his work.

Enjoy!

The post #177: Mac Caltrider talks his book, Double Knot and using writing as a way to remember first appeared on Marine Corps Association.

Hey Scuttlebutt listeners, today we have another episode from our series of Fallujah bonus content. These episodes are part of our 20th anniversary of Fallujah II/Operation Phantom Fury programming. These bonus episodes are the full-length interviews we have been collecting for our 20th anniversary documentary of Fallujah II, which is out now on our MCA YouTube channel. Please go check that out. All these interviews were so good, we didn’t want them to just sit in our archive, so we decided to launch them as individual episodes.

This episode is with Col Michael Shupp. Col Shupp was the commanding officer of Regimental Combat Team 1 during the battle.

Here is the fourth and final episode of our bonus content for our 20th anniversary of Fallujah II series.

Enjoy!

www.linkedin.com/in/michael-shupp-colonel-u-s-marine-corps-ret-544aa83/

The post Corps Voices Season 2: Col Michael Shupp Reflects on Fallujah 20 Years Later first appeared on Marine Corps Association.

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. Thank you for joining us and your continued support. This week, we get the pleasure of having Nate Boaz back on the show for a third time. This one is on the heels of his latest visit with Tom Schueman last week. So he gets to be the first back-to-back guest. A Scuttlebutt first! Nate is such a great guest and we have so much fun talking to him, we keep getting sidetracked in talking about his book. Well, we locked him in the studio (crap, I think we may have forgotten to let him out…he’s fine I’m sure) and dedicated an entire episode running toward his book, Running Toward Fire. Nate talks to us about what it means to run toward fire, the meaning of sacrifice, and ignoring the values that external forces impose on us and doing what matters to you.

Running Toward Fire is a great book and this is a great conversation with Nate.

Enjoy!

The post #176: Nate Boaz talks meaning, sacrifice, and Running Toward Fire first appeared on Marine Corps Association.

Hey Scuttlebutt listeners, today we have another episode from our series of Fallujah bonus content. These episodes are part of our 20th anniversary of Fallujah II/Operation Phantom Fury programming. These bonus episodes are the full-length interviews we have been collecting for our 20th anniversary documentary of Fallujah II, which is out now on our MCA YouTube channel. Please go check that out. All these interviews were so good, we didn’t want them to just sit in our archive, so we decided to launch them as individual episodes of our show.

This episode is with Col Michael Del Palazzo. Col Del Palazzo was a combat advisor to the Iraqi Army during the battle.

Here is the third episode of our bonus content for our 20th anniversary of Fallujah II series.

Enjoy!

www.linkedin.com/in/mdelpalazzo/

The post Corps Voices Season 2: Col Michael Del Palazzo Reflects on Fallujah 20 Years Later first appeared on Marine Corps Association.

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. Thank you for joining us and your continued support. This week, we welcome LtCol Tom Schueman and Nate Boaz back to the show. Tom and Nate are both returning guests, and Tom so much so we may need to get him a designated parking spot, especially now that he’s here giving his pound of flesh at TECOM. For those who haven’t been keeping track, Tom is the founder of Patrol Base Abbate, and Nate is its chairman of the board of directors. Please go back and listen to our previous interviews with Tom and Nate. Tom and Nate give us updates on what is going on with PB Abbate and how veterans support organizations provide a critical need to help prevent veteran suicide through community and purpose. Especially now, as we approach the holiday season and people who are at high risk for suicide, such as veterans, we encourage everyone to find VSOs like PB Abbate so that we can all RTB (or return to base) for 2025.

Enjoy!

www.pbabbate.org

www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-schueman-3448269/

www.linkedin.com/in/nate-boaz/

The post #175: LtCol Tom Schueman and Nate Boaz talk PB Abbate and Staying Left of Bang with Veteran Suicide first appeared on Marine Corps Association.

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. Thank you for joining us and your continued support. This week, we continue our Road to 250 segment, celebrating the Marine Corps’ 250th birthday in 2025. Over the next year, we’ll feature stories and history from throughout the 250 years of the Marine Corps. These episodes will be nested within the MCA’s overall Road to 250 Campaign, where you will find featured articles in both the Gazette and Leatherneck magazine shighlighting events and battles within specific periods in Marine Corps history. The MCA also has a commemorative Road to 250 coin collection. These commemorative challenge coins can only be found through the MCA. Go to marineshop.net to order individual coins or email [email protected] to pre-order the entire set or learn more.

This month, we walk the Road to 250 with the post-Revolutionary War Marines. Dr. Mike Miller is a historian who retired from History Division in 2016 after 34 years exploring Marine Corps history. We talk Derna and all the details behind the legacy of Marines in the Barbary Wars and this iconic battle. It was fascinating going beyond the mythology and learning why it is we sing, “to the shores of Tripoli” in the Marine Hymn.

Enjoy!

The post #174: Road to 250 Part 2 – Barbary Pirates, The Battle of Derna, and the Shores of Tripoli with Dr. Mike Miller first appeared on Marine Corps Association.

Hey Scuttlebutt listeners, today we have another episode from our series of Fallujah bonus content. These episodes are part of our 20th anniversary of Fallujah II/Operation Phantom Fury programming. These bonus episodes are the full-length interviews we have been collecting for our 20th anniversary documentary of Fallujah II, which is out now on our MCA YouTube channel. Please go check that out. All these interviews were so good, we didn’t want them to just sit in our archive, so we decided to launch them as individual episodes of our show.

This episode is with SSgt Luis Agostini. Luis was a combat correspondent attached to India Co, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines during the battle.

Here is the second of our bonus content for our 20th anniversary of Fallujah II series.

Enjoy!

The post Corps Voices Season 2: SSgt Luis Agostini Reflects on Fallujah 20 Years Later first appeared on Marine Corps Association.

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. Thank you for joining us and your continued support. This week, as a continuation of our 20th anniversary of Fallujah II/Operation Phantom Fury programming, we welcome the Founder and CEO of Victura, Peter Tamte back to the show. Peter was on our show a year ago to talk about his game, Six Days in Fallujah. You can check that out in Episode 114. Peter is on today to talk about the feedback he’s gotten from the early access release of his game back in June and the newest release of the Command And Control update, which came out on November 7th to coincide with the anniversary date of the Second Battle of Fallujah. It was great to get the perspective of someone who is not a Marine but is just as passionate about honoring those who served. As we focus on wargaming as a way of getting in your reps and sets, Six Days in Fallujah goes well beyond the typical run-and-gun paradigm of first-person shooters and uses the experiences and stories of actual veterans of Fallujah to bring a real-world experience to its players.

Enjoy!

The post #173: Six Days in Fallujah updates with Victura Founder and CEO, Peter Tamte first appeared on Marine Corps Association.

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. Thank you for joining us and your continued support. This week, we’re featuring the first of a series of bonus episodes we’ll be running over the course of the next few weeks. These episodes will be part of our 20th anniversary of Fallujah II/Operation Phantom Fury programming. These bonus episodes are the full-length interviews we have been collecting for our 20th anniversary documentary of Fallujah II, which will be coming out soon. Please stay tuned for that. All of these interviews were so good, we didn’t want them to just sit in our archive, so we decided to launch them as individual episodes of our show.

This episode is with Col Ben Venning. Ben was the AAV company commander during Fallujah I/Operation Vigilant Resolve. His thoughts and perspectives from the spring of 2004 help provide context and set the stage for the accounts of the veterans of Fallujah II we interviewed.

Here is the first of our bonus content for our 20th anniversary of Fallujah II series.

Enjoy!

The post Corps Voices Season 2 with Col Ben Venning, USMC first appeared on Marine Corps Association.

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. Thank you for joining us and your continued support. This week, as a continuation of our 20th anniversary of Fallujah II/Operation Phantom Fury programming, we welcome Col Willie Buhl to the show. Col Buhl is a veteran of Operation Phantom Fury/Al-Fajr. He was the commanding officer of Task Force 3rd Bn/1st Marines at the battle. Col Buhl shares with us his experiences in Fallujah and his thoughts on the battle 20 years later. We are truly honored that he was willing to share the details of his story with us. We hope you find it as informative as you do engaging.

Enjoy!

The post Scuttlebutt Ep 172: Corps Voices Season 2 with Col Willie Buhl, USMC (Ret.) first appeared on Marine Corps Association.