The Fuji Fire is considered by many to be one of the most serious peacetime disasters suffered by our United States Marine Corps. Among the 54 Marines badly burned, thirteen Marines lost their lives. Yet, many people have never heard of it. Marine Corps Veteran Chas Henry has written a book to try and remedy that situation. It is called “Fuji Fire; Sifting Ashes of a Forgotten U.S. Marine Corps Tragedy”. Chas is a combat decorated Marine Corps Veteran himself [...]
The Devil’s Playground was the name given to the Arghandab Valley of Afghanistan by the US troops who fought there. It is also the title of a book written by Andrew Bragg about his fellow paratroopers of Charlie Company’s 2nd Platoon and their 2009-2010 deployment to the valley. His unit experienced fifty percent casualties and six KIA during that deployment. Andrew says “I thought about the guys in my platoon every single day for 12 years, but I never reached [...]
Havok Journal owner Charles Faint joins us for an update on some of the topics covered on their website. Charles is a 27-year Army Veteran with seven combat tours in Iraq & Afghanistan, many in an intelligence capacity with Special Operations Forces. He currently serves as Managing Editor at the Modern War Institute. We begin with a discussion on several topics regarding China. Several years ago Charles published an article about China and the tiny Pacific Island nation of Kiribati. [...]
Athletes who have served in our military has always been a fascinating topic for me. Hence, I was extremely excited to read Bill Brown’s book “Wartime Athletes; Stories of Sports Stars Who Joined the US Team.” Bill had an extensive career as a sports broadcaster including calling games for both the Cincinnati Reds and the Houston Astros. Bill also served in Vietnam as a sports broadcaster for Armed Forces Network Vietnam. They would record contests and then rebroadcast them to [...]
“Grit to Glory” by Green Beret Veteran Darrell Utt recounts his journey from the woods of West Virginia to his role as team Sergeant for ODA 043 in the streets of Baghdad during some of the most vicious fighting. Darell grew up “dirt poor” and he says a trip to Burger King was “fine dining” for his family. He spent a great deal of time in the woods hunting, fishing and trapping with his father, which he says would later [...]
Farmers helping Veterans and a program to help more Veterans pursue careers as farmers are the subjects of this episode. We begin with Michelle Keller, Senior Director of Farm 2 Veteran, a non-profit with headquarters in Manhattan, Illinois. A study showed that one in five of our nation’s Veterans are currently facing food insecurity. Farm 2 Veteran began in 2020 with one 60-acre farm in Manhattan owned be a “serial entrepreneur” who wanted to do something for Veterans and funded [...]
Stand-Up comedian and Marine Corps Veteran Erik Knowles got an early start with a set of Nickelodeon jokes at 4th grade summer camp. He joined the Marine Corps because he was looking for a father figure. In fact, a Marine Corps Drill Instructor taught him to shave. Erik soon learned that being a comedian does not always fly in the military. He got busted down in rank a couple of times. His Sergeant liked him but realized he couldn’t bust [...]
Havok Journal writer Dave Chamberlain joins us to discuss some of his recently published articles. Chamberlain served 38 years in the Air Force and Air National Guard as an aircraft crew chief. He retired at the rank of Chief Master Sergeant. Dave is one of the more prolific contributors to the Havok Journal. We discuss a rather unusual situation early on in Dave’s military career. (Outlined in his article “How to go from Basic Training to Instructor in One Step”.) [...]
TAC-P (Tactical Air Control Party) personnel are the Air Force’s premiere close air support and joint fires integration specialists. JTAC (Joint Terminal Air Controller) is a certification that allows an individual to say “cleared hot” on the radio. Ethan Brown spent 11 years serving as an Air Force TAC-P and had six deployments to multiple combat zones. His book “Visual Friendlies, Tally Target” uses the stories of multiple Forward Air Controllers to show how close air support in the war [...]
New York Homicide host Robert K Boyce spent 35 years with the New York Police Department – the largest municipal police for in the country. He served as Chief of Detectives for the last four years of his career, overseeing a team of 5,800 uniformed and civilian members. New York Homicide is entering its third season broadcasting on the Oxygen Channel True Crime Network. Bob was approached about hosting show at the peak of the George Floyd riots. He jumped [...]