Midrats

If you missed the good stuff the first time and don't like digg'in in the archives; then here you go!

Special guests will be Mackenzie Eaglen, Research Fellow for National Security at The Heritage Foundation.

Secondly, we have Claude Berube, a teacher at the U.S. Naval Academy with a background in naval research and development, acquisition, and intelligence. He is also co-author of two books, a former Senate Staffer, and as a LCDR in the USNR has experience in maritime interception operations, humanitarian relief, and anti-piracy.

We will also have Hans de Vreij is the Netherlands correspondent at Jane’s Defence Weekly, and the Security and Defense specialist at Radio Netherlands Worldwide.

Hans previously was web editor, Economics, and EU & NATO correspondent for Radio Netherlands World.

Command at Sea. What does it mean, how do you do it, what it takes to succeed - and more importantly - what are the responsibilities of Command at Sea?

Join Navy milbloggers Sal from "CDR Salamander" and EagleOne of "EagleSpeak" for a wide ranging discussion with three present of former Navy and Coast Guard Commanding Officers on the nature of Command.

Our guests will be; CDR E. A. Westfall, CDR, USCG, Commanding Officer of the USCGC ESCANABA (WMEC 907).

CDR James H. Ware, Commanding Officer, VAQ-135.

CDR Michael Junge, USN, former Commanding Officer of the USS WHIDBEY ISLAND (LSD 41).

To project power from the sea - you need a sustained presence that has the ability to project power ashore. The enemy gets a vote - how do we protect our sea based forces from threats above sea level?

Join Sal from the blog "CDR Salamander" and EagleOne from "EagleSpeak" as they discuss 21st Century Anti-Air Warfare (AAW), Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD), and Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) will all their permutations.

Our guest for the entire hour will be fellow blogger SteelJawScribe.

The budget axe points to sea; the nation suffers sea blindness; a non-traditional actor challenges a fundamental exercise of naval power.

Join milbloggers Sal from "Sal" from "CDR Salamander" and EagleOne from "Eaglespeak" as they look at the return of familiar challenges to making the Navy effective.

As our guests we will have two Midrats regulars; Bryan McGrath and Claude Berube.

To discuss “The Navy Under Siege—SECDEF and Naval Preponderance” and "Sea Blindness" will be Bryan McGrath, CDR USN (Ret.) the Founding Director of Delex Consulting, Studies and Analysis (CSA), a division of Delex Systems, Incorporated, headquartered in Vienna, Virginia.

Bryan spent 21 years on active duty including a tour in command of USS BULKELEY (DDG 84), a guided-missile destroyer homeported in Norfolk, Virginia. His final duties ashore included serving as Team Lead and Primary Author of the US Navy’s 2007 Maritime Strategy “A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower”. He also hosts his own BTR format radio show and blog by the same name, Conservative Wahoo.

Claude Berube, LCDR USNR will follow up with a broad discussion of NGOs at sea. Though the recent incident off Gaza brought the issue to the front - his recent article in the Small Wars Journal outlines that there is a lot more out there involving aggressive civilian entities from NGOs to advocacy groups using the maritime domain to pursue their larger goals.

Claude is a Visiting Fellow for Maritime Studies at The Heritage Foundation. He has taught at the U.S. Naval Academy, and worked on Capitol Hill, at the Office of Naval Intelligence, and for a defense firm. He's been mobilized several times including a deployment with ESG5 in 2004-05. In addition to many articles, he has co-authored two books. His next book will be published next year on maritime security companies (Eagle1 is a contributor). For the past year, he's served as the President of American Independent Writers.

Memorial Day Weekend, EagleOne and I thought we would revisit some of our best guests. 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.

Join Sal from the blog "CDR Salamander" and EagleOne from the blog "EagleSpeak" with their guests - holder of the Medal of Honor from the Korean War CAPT Thomas J. Hudner, Jr., and author of SUCH MEN AS THESE, David Sears as they talk about the role of Naval Aviation in the Korean War.

Stuck between the Greatest Generation's high-water mark of World War II and the Baby Boomer's Vietnam War - the Korean War often gets lost in the shuffle despite its critical role is setting the foundation for the Cold War and our ultimate victory with the fall of the Berlin Wall.

When the average person thinks of the role of Navy Air in the Korean War, they think of James Mitchner's novel and movie THE BRIDGES OF TOKI-RI. As usual, the real story is better than fiction.

We will talk to CAPT Hudner about his and his shipmates experiences - and will finish up with David Sears exploring what he discovered in researching his book on what happened in the skies over Korea in the early 1950's.