Midrats

For our new listeners and for those who just need to hear the goodness all over again, here is a repeat of our Memorial Day Weekend Best Of. For the first half hour, from Episode 11, prolific author, historian, and military strategist Dr. Norman Friedman. Not to miss Midrats. The second half will be from Episode 4, regular commenter in the Navy Blogosphere our "Yeoman in the 'Stan" AKA "Battle Yeoman" calling in from Bagram, Afghanistan. Enjoy the "Best of" - we'll be back live next Sunday.

We all know about the ground services "Strategic Corporal (E4)," but in the sea services - what is the role of the Junior NCO (1st, 2nd, and 3rd Class Petty Officers, E4-6)?

Join milbloggers Sal from "CDR Salamander" and EagleOne from "EagleSpeak" with their guests Yeoman Second Class Lucien Gauthier, USN - Aviation Electronics Technician First Class Charles H. Berlemann Jr, USN - and Machinery Technician First Class Tony Turner, USCG.

Join bloggers Sal from "CDR Salamander" and EagleOne from "EagleSpeak" as they discuss the way forward for the Navy in the coming decade with John Patch, CDR USN (Ret.), Associate Professor of Strategic Intelligence at the U.S. Army War College's Center for Strategic Leadership.

We will touch on Counter-piracy vs. Antipiracy, the relevance of the carrier, the Littoral Combat Ship, Naval Surface Fire Support, the relevance of Amphibious capability, and other topics that may come up.

As a maritime mercantile republic, were you aware that 90% of our trade relies on commercial ships' access to the world's oceans? Without the ability to bring goods at market prices worldwide - all that we know as a nation would grind to a halt?

From piracy, shipbuilding, the merchant marine, and the economic factors involved in the maritime shipping industry, join bloggers Sal from "CDR Salamander" and EagleOne from "EagleSpeak" for a broad-ranging discussion with Stephen M. Carmel, Senior Vice President, Maersk Line, Limited.

When you mention the possibility of an Electro Magnetic Pulse attack (EMP) - people have a reaction of, "What?" - either that or they get all fidgety or roll their eyes.

Is the EMP threat trick or treat?

Join bloggers Sal from "CDR Salamander" and EagleOne from "EagleSpeak" this Halloween to discuss the issue with their guests Jason Sigger, defense policy analyst, opinion writer and blogg'r for the first half of the hour. For the second half of the hour, James Carafano, Ph.D., Deputy Director, The Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies and Director, Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation.

From our show in Command from last June. If you missed it - listen again. If you already have heard it - hear it again.

When UK's Gen Y goes to war.

Join Sal from the blog "CDR Salamander" and Eagle one from "EagleSpeak" as they discuss Afghanistan, leadership, culture and conflict with Patrick Hennessey, author of the book, "The Junior Officers' Reading Club - Killing Time and Fighting Wars."

Patrick is an Oxford graduate who served as Junior Officer in the Grenadier Guards in Helmand province, Afghanistan, in May 2007.

This Tuesday is the 235th Birthday of the US Navy. There is only one place to get your Navy on BlogTalkRadio - and that is Midrats!

Since the end of US involvement The Vietnam War almost 40 years ago, there are just a few USN Commanding Officers who know what it is like for a warship under attack; one of the handfull will be our first guest, CDR Kirk Lippold, USN (Ret.). He was the Commanding Officer of the USS Cole (DDG-67) when it was attacked while in port Aden, Yemen 12 October 2000 - the 10th anniversary will be this Tuesday.

We will discuss his experiences then as well as the work he has done since his retirement with senior military fellow with Military Families United, and any other topics that fold their way in to our conversation.

Our second guest will be from the shadows of the Navy EOD world, Steve Phillips. After graduating from Annapolis in '92, Steve found honest work as a SWO, but then transfered into EOD where he served as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician at EOD Mobile Units Six, Eight, and Ten. He is the author of Proximity: A Novel of the Navy's Elite Bomb Squad which received a Gold Medal from the Military Writers Society of America in 2008.

Some of the proceeds from Proximity support the EOD Memorial Foundation which provides scholarship to the children of EOD Technicians who made the ultimate sacrifice.

If you like his work, Steve is currently working on a non-fiction account of EOD Technicians in our current conflict with a working title of Improvised: EOD Techs in the War on Terrorism. The first two of the chapters for the non-fiction work are available at: "The Birth of the Combined Explosives Exploitation Cell" and "A Remembrance of 9/11"

Join milbloggers Sal from "CDR Salamander" and EagleOne from "EagleSpeak" as they talk about the U.S. Coast Guard's role in defending the USA from the flow of illegal drugs.

Their guest will be CDR E. A. Westfall, CDR, USCG, Commanding Officer of the USCGC ESCANABA (WMEC 907).

When the budget crunch comes - what gets the squeeze?

Our guest to discuss will be Dan Darling, a military markets analyst for Forecast International, an aerospace and defense market research and consulting company based in Newtown, Connecticut. He covers the Europe and Middle East defense markets for Forecast, which involves analyzing everything from national defense budgets and military force structures to geopolitical and economic trends. He also writes a column in the World section of The Faster Times online newspaper. His work has been cited by Defense Industry Daily, the NATO parliamentary assembly, Small Wars Journal and has been quoted in such publications as The Financial Times, Flight Global, National Defense Magazine, Arabian Business and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He's also contributed commentary to Defense News regarding the frozen conflicts in Moldova and Georgia and attempts by the European Union to create its own defense body.

Our second guest will be returning guest James S. Robbins, Senior Editorial Writer for Foreign Affairs at the Washington Times.

Jim has a new book out, "This Time We Win: Revisiting the Tet Offensive." and that will be the focus of our discussion. He is also the author of "Last in Their Class: Custer, Pickett and the Goats of West Point," and is a political commentator and contributing editor for National Review Online.