Thank You For Your Service

Last week, President-elect Joe Biden made an historic announcement to name Lloyd Austin as his nominee for the position of Secretary of Defense. This nomination is unique for two reasons: First, because Austin would be only the third retired general to serve as Secretary of Defense since the passing of the National Security Act of 1947. Second: Austin would be the first Black American to serve as Secretary of Defense. Jim explores the civil-military implications of this nomination with Ambassador Eric Edelman, Dr. Kori Schake, and Mr. Bishop Garrison.

The relationship between the military and the media is not always an easy one. But, without the news media, the American public would have a far narrower understanding of what our military is doing in our name. As difficult as it sometimes may be for both parties involved, getting the relationship between the Defense Department and journalists right is essential for our democracy. In this episode, Alice and Jim speak with scholar Dr. Amanda Cronkhite, Washington Post National Security journalist Greg Jaffe, and Army Public Affairs Officer Colonel Myles Caggins to get their perspectives on what journalists and members of the military should do to get this relationship right more often.

On this Veterans' Day/ post-election episode of Thank You For Your Service, we talk to Loren DeJonge Schulman about the draft and the civilian national security workforce. Then Alice and Jim discuss the personnel churn at DoD and what the change in presidential administration might mean for civ-mil relations. And we leave you with a little something to get inspired.

Whether we like it or not, the military's role in the election has become a topic of conversation this year. But military involvement in the election could mean a lot of things -- absentee voting by service members, veterans running for office, retired officer endorsements, or even the use of National Guard or active troops in the aftermath of a contested election. Alice and Jim talk with experts Don Inbody, Kori Schake, and Risa Brooks about some of the ways the military will, and hopefully won't, be involved in the 2020 Presidential election.

The U.S. military has struggled with racism throughout its history. This week, Alice and Jim talk to active duty military personnel, veterans, and a civilian expert about race, bias, and discrimination in the armed forces. Guests Bishop Garrison, Radha Iyengar-Plumb, Jada Johnson, James Johnson, Dana Pittard, and Daniel White talk about their personal experiences as well as recruiting, retention, promotion, and representation in the military.  

The war stories we tell both reflect and shape the relationship between American society and its military. In the second of two episodes, Alice and Jim explore how the stories Vietnam veterans told about their war have shaped America's experience of the war in Afghanistan. They interview author and Army veteran Matt Gallagher, about his most recent novel, Empire City, and consider how blogs and social media have influenced the ways we tell war stories, drawing on insights from counterinsurgency expert, Dr. Erin Simpson, and Marine Corps veteran and creator of the Duffel Blog, Paul Szoldra.

Features "Born to Drive Me Crazy" by Lance Conrad via Artlist.

On an early October morning in 2009, an overwhelming force of Taliban fighters attacked a small unit of U.S. soldiers located at Combat Outpost Keating in a remote valley in Afghanistan's Nuristan province. Drawing on source material from Jake Tapper's book, The Outpost, director Rod Lurie has brought the story of the Battle of Kamdesh -- one of the bloodiest and most heroic American engagements of the 19-year war in Afghanistan -- to the screen in a film of the same name. In this special episode of Thank You For Your Service, Jim and Alice speak with Tapper and Lurie as well as with Ty Carter (Medal of Honor recipient and film advisor), veteran Daniel Rodriguez (who fought in the battle and played himself in the movie), Stoney Portis (the last commander of Combat Outpost Keating), and Katie Kopp (the brigade psychologist who helped soldiers process and debrief the 14-hour firefight) about the battle, the movie, and mental health.

For the video of this interview, please visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHISA70-CAo

Almost immediately after the American invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, people started to wonder if we were getting ourselves into another Vietnam. Eighteen years later, victory in Afghanistan remains elusive and questions about the limits of American power remain. In the first of two episodes, Alice and Jim talk with historian Greg Daddis, counterinsurgency expert Erin Simpson, and retired General Barry McCaffrey about the similarities and differences between the wars in Vietnam and Afghanistan and consider how these conflicts have shaped the U.S. military and American society.

Features "Taoudella" by Azalai via Blue Dot Sessions.

As America's volunteer force continues to grow smaller, fewer civilians have contact with the military in their daily lives. But many civilians are interacting with service members in the one place they both are: online. Alice and Jim talk with guests Heidi Urben, Nate Finney, Paul Szoldra, and Kristofer Goldsmith about the various ways the military's online activity can be inappropriate, thoughtful, funny, and sometimes even damaging to America's civil-military relationship.

Alice and Jim promised to give you their thoughts on the Space Force TV series, and here they are in a special bonus episode. Spoilers everywhere! But really, if you listen to this podcast and you haven't seen Space Force yet, it's time you caught up anyway.