Happy First Contact Day! On April 5th, 2063, humans will break the warp barrier and make first contact with the Vulcans. So, as you’re enjoying your traditional salmon dinner, listen to a new episode of “The Joint Geeks of Staff” (@TheJointGeeks) about Star Trek! THIS IS OUR FIRST FAN EPISODE REQUEST. Thanks Andy (@Andy3E), a big supporter of the Joint Geeks on Twitter and Discord. Go check out his Podcast “The Great Derelict” (@GreatDerelict) when you’re done with this episode. We’ll be talking about the classic Star Trek: The Next Generation Episode “Chain of Command” Parts 1 and 2, specifically the arrival of new captain, Edward Jellico, and the resistance of the Enterprise crew to his command style. Also, where is Starfleet Special Forces?

Our hosts for this episode are Eric Muirhead (@StarfleetHIST), Claude Berube (@cgberube), Ian Boley (@IBBoley) and Cory Hollon (@cory_hollon). Don’t forget you have until April 15th to get your presentation requests in for NAVYCON 2021 (@ANavyCon) on June 10th. National Security or Academic Credentials are not required!

April 1 Special: Spring is Here!

In this episode, Ian gives sage dating advice, Matthew gives guidance on how to weaponize Ikenberry, and Clara reveals that she’s been married more than once….

This week features four special guests in a wide-ranging episode, discussing the pandemic, education, uses and misuses of science fiction metaphors, US acquisition programs, and human nature. There’s a little something for everyone. Special thanks to our guests for coming on the show. They are

Dale Hayden, PhD has extensive leadership and managerial experience of both educational and operational organizations. Most recently he was Air University Dean of Research at Maxwell AFB, AL. Before that, he was the Director of the Air Force Research Institute. Dr. Hayden has been a sci-fi enthusiast since the early 50s and traces his love of space exploration from Sputnik to the most recent Mars landing.

Steve Leonard (@Doctrine_Man) joined the University of Kansas School of Business as the Director of the graduate program in Business and Organizational Leadership following a twenty-eight-year career in the US Army. He is the creative force behind Doctrine Man, co-founder of Divergent Options, and a founding member of the Military Writers Guild. He is the editor of Strategy Strikes Back, Winning Westeros, and the upcoming To Boldly Go. You can find his books at https://www.amazon.com/Steve-Leonard/e/B082JXCBVK and https://www.amazon.com/Doctrine-Man/e/B00IV3P1ZM. Preorder To Boldly Go at https://www.casematepublishing.co.uk/subject-categories/political-science/defence-studies/to-boldly-go.html

Dave Lyle is an Active Duty Air Force Lt Col currently stationed at the Pentagon. He has extensive operational experience in the B-52 and command and control systems. He is a member of the Military Writers Guild and runs one of the best pandemic and Star Wars-themed meme collections on FaceBook

Dan Ward (@thedanward) is an author and innovation catalyst at the MITRE corporation, who served for more than 20 years as an acquisition officer in the US Air Force. His 2011 article “Build Droids, Not Death Stars” was a viral sensation and the subject of much discussion in today’s episode. His most recent book, LIFT, is about the flying machines from the late 1800’s and the inspiring people who designed, built, launched, and crashed them. Info about LIFT (free excerpts, links to buy print, eBook, and audio version): http://thedanward.com/lift. You can find all his books at http://www.thedanward.com/books/.

This episode is hosted by Cory Hollon (@cory_hollon).

Join the conversation on Discord (https://discord.gg/GzFcpRqV) or Twitter (@thejointgeeks). Our parent organization is NavyCon (@anavycon).

Kirk vs. Picard. Skywalker vs. Kenobi. Adama vs. O’Neil. The debates over who was the greatest sci-fi captain/leader seem endless. In this episode, the Geeks defend their choices. Characters from our favorite franchises (Honorverse, Star Trek, WH40K, SG-1, Star Wars, Babylon 5) are compared to get at what traits a leader needs to have. The format is a little different, with the folks going head-to-head in a debate style session. Who wins? Host Cory Hollon has the answer at the end of the pod!

Plus Blackholes, upcoming NavyCon news, and more.

A huge thank you to our special guest, Mark Vandroff (@goatmaster89).

In this episode, the Joint Geeks talk about superweapons and how they’re used in the science fiction genre, as well as some real-world issues regarding nuclear weapons and deterrence. Matthew reveals his true feelings towards the French, Eric reminds us why subspace weapons were banned, Cory lays out his struggles with rationality, Clara goes all-in on Babylon 5, and Ian makes a stunning disclosure...

Clara, Eric, and Cory get together to discuss military training and how that training is represented in science fiction. In the course of the episode, the crew discusses what role basic training serves, how creativity and problem solving are taught, how to forge relationships with teams, and we all agree that Wedge Antilles is the best pilot around.

The episode features Cory Hollon (@cory_hollon), Eric Muirhead (@StarfleetHist) and Clara Engle. Feel free to come join us on Twitter or Discord! The link to our Discord is below:

https://discord.gg/Dab6bcrQ73

At the start we made a couple references to the following works:

Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean

The Collapse of Sensemaking in Organizations: The Mann Gulch Disaster by Karl Weick

Drop Your Tools: An Allegory for Organizational Studies by Karl Weick

The Clone Wars was the first major conventional conflict in the Star Wars galaxy after a thousand years of peace. As a result, it had a major impact on how both Imperial and Rebel forces fought during the subsequent First Galactic Civil War – it influenced what some might call ‘the ways of war’ of both sides.

Today’s episode features Matthew Ader (@AderMatthew), Ian Boley (@IBBoley), Cory Hollon (@cory_hollon), Eric Muirhead (@StarfleetHist), and Thomas Harper (@thomasLharper). If Twitter isn’t your thing, come join us on Discord!

You can read the article on the prequels Cory mentioned here – and go check out the Klingon Academy and Old Man Thrawn as well.

There was a bit of a blizzard of academic readings recommended about ways of war – here’s list if you want to follow up in more detail:

• Weigley, Russell F. The American Way of War: A History of United States Military Strategy and Policy. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1977.

• Linn, Brian McAllister. The Echo of Battle. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009.

• Grenier, John. The First Way of War: American War Making on the Frontier. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2005.

• Echevarria, Antulio J. Reconsidering the American Way of War. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2014.

• Martin, James Kirby, and Mark Edward Lender. “A Respectable Army:” the Military Origins of the Republic, 1763-1789. 3rd Ed. West Sussex, UK: John Wiley & Sons, 2015.

Due to some unavoidable technical issues, the audio quality at points is less than ideal. This is something we will address in time for the next episode – which will cover military education through a science fiction lens. Thank you for listening and let us know what you think on social media, Discord, or via carrier pigeon!

Author David Weber's Honorverse comprises one of the most detailed stories in science fiction. Discussing the Honorverse and modern national security challenges are guests:

- Retired navy captain Dr. Jerry Hendrix, former Director of the Naval History & Heritage Command and currently Vice President of the Telemus Group

- CAPT Mark Vandroff, USN (Ret), a former program manager of the DDG51 destroyer program, former commanding officer of NSWC-Carderock, and who recently served on the National Security Council

This episode's Joint Geeks of Staff host: Claude Berube, a commander in the navy reserve and a professor at the U.S. Naval Academy

The Joint Geeks of Staff discuss the storming of the Capitol building within the context of science fiction.

The Joint Geeks discuss the events of January 6, 2021 - the storming of the Capitol - in a two part episode. In this part, they discuss civil-military relations. In episode 4, they discuss January 6 within the context of various science fiction shows.