It is hard to believe that in 8 short months, Ukraine has gone from having a lightly armed and trained Territorial Defense Force, to defending its capital city from one of the world’s most powerful militaries, to now possessing one of the best trained and equipped armies in the world. The turnaround in Ukraine is…

Hello everyone. Recently we welcomed to the studio Amy Rupertus Peacock and Don Brown, authors of “Old Breed General: How Marine Corps General William H. Rupertus Broke the Back of the Japanese in World War II from Guadalcanal to Peleliu” for an awesome and informative conversation. Among many things, General William H. Rupertus is the author of the…

National Museum of the Marine Corps Aviation Curator Dr. Larry Burke joined us on Scuttlebutt this week to talk about Marine Corps Aviation. Dive into the very birth of aviation from the invention of the airplane, through the birth of armed forces aviation, then World War I and into the Caribbean and Central America as…

This week on Scuttlebutt Vic and Nancy lift the veil on the American Legion with Elizabeth Hartman, formerly a Cryptologic Linguist in the Corps, and now the Commander AL Post 539. Elizabeth’s journey began became a Marine to break out of New Cairo, Ohio, and has led to her current job as a financial advisor…

This week on Scuttlebutt Vic and William sit down with best selling author Nick Reynolds, writer of the sterling “Need to Know” which covers the rise of American Intelligence during World War II. From his experience in 1975 when he was told “You don’t want to be in Intel,” through his USMC and CIA career,…

Sara Bock joins us for a special 50th episode of Scuttlebutt! From her interview with Charles Bolden at the Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia, to her stories about John Warner, to her story about Randy Norfleet, a survivor of the Oklahoma City Bombing, to her work cover PTSD and more, Sara’s Leatherneck articles represent a “Greatest…

Learn about Marine Corps Mustangs and their national association this week with William and Vic as they chat with Ronald Cookson, a retired CWO-5 who serves as the national secretary of the Marine Corps Mustangs Association. Beyond chatting about what Mustangs are, and how enlisted Marines become Chief Warrant Officers or 2nd Lieutenants, they dive…

In light of the recent trip to Taiwan by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and the subsequent saber-rattling by China, now seems as good of a time as any to start keeping regular tabs on the Taiwan Strait. Dr. Hunzeker, who has studied the military, political, social, economic, and historical factors that have created one…

Friend of the show Maj Tom Schueman and his Afghan interpreter, friend, and brother Zainullah “Zak” Zaki have written “Always Faithful”, which describes their parallel lives, converging paths, and unbreakable bond in the face of overwhelming danger, culminating in Zak and his family’s harrowing escape from Kabul.  After getting our hands on an early copy of…

Miles Vining returns to Scuttlebutt to chat with us about the immediate fallout after the US pullout in Afghanistan. He and some of his fellow Free Burma Rangers spent time in the mountainous regions on the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border, helping refugees where and how they could. Its an eye-opening discussion about a region of the world…

General Langley is the first Black four-star general in Marine Corps history and we celebrate the occasion by chatting a little bit about the history of USMC generals and the challenges General Langley will face in his new job leading American Forces in Africa. We also dive into the recent ACV rollover in Camp Pendleton…

The team is trying something new this week, segments! Catch up with Gazette, Leatherneck, Friends of the Show and a bit of history as we dive into the MEB, Modern Day Marine, Saipan, and catch up with a bunch of our previous guests! Thanks to Service Credit Union for supporting us, check them out! https://servicecu.org/…

This week on Scuttlebutt we dive into the recently published MCDP-8: Information and talk about this 7th function of warfighting. We also chime in on Marinus’ arguments about Russians employing maneuver warfare in Ukraine, whether or not China is benefitting from the state of the globe, and we even touch on a post Nazarbayev Kazakhstan…

Happy Independence Day! Jon Bernstein and Sam Lichtman join Nick, William, and Nancy to chat about one of the most iconic weapons of war, the M1 Garand. Mr. Bernstein, who works at the National Museum of the Marine Corps is part of the team that is restoring and bringing a unique rifle from the Makin…

Dr. Adam Hunzeker, who served as an Army Psychiatrist prior to his work in private practice, joined Vic to peel back the layers of PTSD causes, awareness and treatment. They investigate the biological causes of PTSD, the history of our understanding of it, and the resistance many feel about getting treated for it. Our understanding…

Vic sat down with Nick Kalt to dig deep into his career, first as a combat engineer in the Marines and then as a firefighter in Long Beach, California. Listen to this great episode that covers a lot of ground, from talking about how Marines in the Middle East were doing good things, regardless of…

Aeron Sullivan, who, during his eight years in the Marine Corps, tested the ACV prototypes and developed a wide toolbelt of leadership and decision making skills and has been able to parley that into a successful career of “democratizing” various industries, allowed Vic into his home to talk about all of it. Listen in as…

GySgt Benjie Manibog, USMC (Ret), was an anti-authoritarian youth turned MARSOC Raider and is the CEO of Thrash-N-Raid, a Southern California skateboard company and Operations Officer of Six Feet Above, a veteran outreach foundation that uses skateboarding to build veteran community. From the fateful day he met a Marine Recruiter who helped him clean up…

GySgt Raymond Branham, USMC (Ret), is a Quality Engineering Program Manager for the ATACMS system at Lockheed Martin. Anxious to join the Corps, he enlisted at 16, celebrated his 18th birthday at boot camp, spent 21 years in the Marines where he worked on Harriers and Sabreliners, before taking advantage of educational resources to continue…

SgtMaj Justin LeHew has stopped by the studio this week to talk about his upcoming adventure, The Long Road, to walk across America along our county’s longest road, US Hwy 20. He’ll be joined by fellow retired SgtMaj Coleman “Rocky” Kinzer, and they are departing from the USS Constitution in Boston on June 6 and…

This week Vic sits down with Paul Greive, a former ground intelligence officer turned SoCal sustainable, certified wildlife friendly pasture-raised chicken farmer. His company, Pasturebird, is a wholesale pasture poultry operation located just a few miles east of Camp Pendleton, where Paul spent much of his fleet time. Paul talks to us about how his…

Col Tim Hough fills in for Vic this week behind the big microphone at Scuttlebutt, and joins Nick and Nancy as they explore the practical effects of Force Design and Talent Management. As one of the key Marines facilitating Amphibious Combat Vehicles to units, Col Hough talks about working with contractors, both at home and…

Scuttlebutt loves good stories and Kris Battles, the Artist in Residence of the Marine Corps, and combat artist Elize McKelvey join us in studio to talk about capturing the Corps through combat art. We learned a lot, from their Marine Corps journeys, to what art captures that photography doesn’t, why the Marine Corps has an…

Stephen Canty sat down with William to talk about his stunning documentary “Once A Marine” available on Amazon Prime. Canty, who served two tours in Afghanistan, including Marjah, spent seven years on the documentary and takes us on the journey of what it meant to make the film, how to listen to veterans, and the…

Dr. Marc DeVore, a Senior Lecturer at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, is an expert on the political economy of defense, the international arms trade, military innovation, and more joined Vic and William to help us understand Russia’s military and how we were so far off the target when it came to the…

In this edition of Scuttlebutt Col Woodbridge joins Vic and William to discuss military writing for professional defense journals such as Marine Corps Gazette. Learn the broad strokes from argumentative, fact-supported positioning, to knowing the publication’s audience, to avoiding plagiarism. If you or someone you know is contemplating writing for a military journal, listen in…

Everyone here at Scuttlebutt is blown away by the resolve and the fighting spirit of the Ukrainian people as they face down Russian missiles, tanks, and soon, maybe even conscripted soldiers. Nick, Vic, and Will explore the war in Ukraine and some of the directions it has taken and touch on the global interconnectivity of…

Irony: We pushed back our episode with Col Milburn to cover Ukraine. Now, he is in Ukraine. We sat down with Col Andrew Milburn, USMC (Ret), author of When the Tempest Gathers, writer of articles across the internet, and one of the most interesting humans on the planet. Before he was a Marine, Andrew Milburn…

Recently retired Chief Warrant Officer 4 Denise Barnes joined Nick, Vic, and William in studio to educate us on an MOS we know so little about: Corrections. The trailblazing Barnes, along with one other, was one of the first women to achieve CW04 within the MOS, and we were lucky to have her because she…

In what was originally recorded as an Amphibiosity interview shortly before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, our talk about Taiwan’s defensive posture takes on a whole new meaning. In light of Ukraine’s valiant defense, inflicting heavy losses on a numerically superior enemy, we look to the Far East to see if we can’t apply any…

Nick, Vic, and Will are joined by Col Woodbridge, USMC (Ret), Editor of Marine Corps Gazette and using Clausewitz’ cause for war analyze why the Russians and Ukrainians are each fighting, how it impacts NATO and the EU, and talk about whether or not the US can support a Ukrainian insurgency, should the Russians win…

Nick, Vic, and Will dig into Maneuver Warfare and bring everyone up to speed on a long-running segment in The Gazette “Maneuverist Papers” by Marinus. For eighteen months Marinus has been exploring and establishing what Maneuver Warfare is and what it means, lulling the Gazette staff and readers into a sense of ease and familiarity…

Nick, Vic, and Will try to wrap their arms around the situation in Ukraine. Knowing that we can’t keep up with the rapidly evolving situation on the ground, we go over some of the geopolitical history that lead to this point, speculate on where this could lead, and try to paint as complete of a…

Chaplain Captain Rabbi Mendy Stern, USA, joined Vic and Nancy to bring our Four Chaplains series to a satisfying end. He expanded our understanding of the Four Chaplains story, took us through a day of a Chaplain working at Arlington National Cemetery, used his own trailblazing story to expand of religious accommodations in the military,…

Scuttlebutt’s first ever Mini Pod! In less than 10 minutes, learn about some of what the Coast Guard was contributing to World War II and dig a little bit deeper into the USCGC Escanaba, one of the three Coast Guard vessels escorting the convoy on the night the USAT Dorchester was sunk. Four Chaplains Month…

COL James Driscoll (Ret) joins Scuttlebutt for the third part in our Four Chaplains Month special. COL Driscoll is the Special Assistant To The President at Wesley Theological Seminary overseeing the military chaplain doctoral program and a hospital chaplain at Chesapeake Regional Healthcare.  This week he takes us on an exploration of chaplaincy from his…

Four Chaplain’s Month continues as RADM Alan T. “Blues’ Baker joined Vic to talk all things chaplaincy. As the 16th Chaplain of the Marine Corps who literally wrote the book on chaplaincy, Foundations of Chaplaincy, there was nobody better to learn from. From stories about his marksmanship badges to baptisms, “Blues” Baker will keep you…

Bill Kaemmer, MSG (US Army – Ret.) Executive Director, Four Chaplains Memorial Foundation, joins us to kick off our Four Chaplains special series, running throughout February. We learn all about the the build-up of the chaplain corps after World War I, and the story of the Four Chaplains and the doomed USAT Dorchester. As a former…

In this episode of Scuttlebutt, Nick, Vick and William dig into some of the big news items from around the world, including the USMC clearing ACVs for service, an accident involving a F-35 in the South China Sea, coups in Africa, and the ongoing situation in Ukraine. We also dig into some of the different…

Col. Andrew Milburn, USMC (Ret), joined us in the booth to talk about Amphibiosity. Col Milburn is the author of the superb When the Tempest Gathers and draws from his vast experience in the Corps, especially the fight against ISIS, to help us continue our exploration into what truly defines the Marine Corps combat capabilities,…

This week on Scuttlebutt: Vic sits down with actor Geoff Stults to get the scoop on what it means for an actor to take on the role of someone from the military and how military advisors help actors to accurately portray warfighting personnel. We learned about Geoff’s affiliation with Merging Vets and Players (MVP) an…

Col Tim Hough rejoins the Scuttlebutt to talk about the importance of the Marine Corps maintaining amphibious capabilities as we compete with China, our near peer adversary. Vic, Will, and Col Hough compare the Army to the Marine Corps in culture and capability as it pertains to executing Expeditionary and Advanced Base Operations. Finally, we…

Then Major, now Lieutenant Colonel, Adam Yang joined us in the studio to talk about a few different education opportunities for Marines, including the PhD program he participated in. We then dive into his work bringing Destination Unknown to life, which included a fortuitous lunch at My Deli in Quantico. Destination Unknown is a graphic…

tale of Pvt Bill Turner, but veering into more lighthearted fare as we peruse ancient December editions of Leatherneck Magazine for dinner menus, old advertisements, and poetry.

Deterrence is more likely to prevail the more we are thinking in worst case scenarios.

What is a scuttlebutt? Really, its time to learn why the logo looks like that. In other news, we dive into the Marine Corps COVID vaccination rate this week, as well as the congressional budget, the natural development of refugee enclaves and, most importantly, whether or not Thomas Jefferson would be able to use a…

This week on Scuttlebutt we talk a little bit about the Afghan refugees in America and what we can all do to help before diving into an engaging conversation with Col Tim Hough. Col Hough is the Program Manager for Advanced Amphibious Assault and plays a key role in the fulfilling the requirements of the…

This week on Scuttlebutt we take a listen to a few Commandant Berger and ACMC Smith’s recent remarks at MCA What is a force defining capability? Why are Marines amphibious? What does it mean to be amphibious? How deep does the rabbit hole go? We crack open the egg of what the expeditionary Marines are…

This week on Scuttlebutt we take a listen to a few Commandant Berger and ACMC Smith’s recent remarks at MCA events regarding Force Design 2030. Nick, Vic, and William spend some time discussing how the Marine Corps needs to outpace China and what outpacing actually means, intellectual diversity, talent management, how to tap into the…

Happy Birthday Marines! As part of our 246th Birthday celebration we get to know our new CEO LtGen Charles Chiarotti, USMC (Ret). We dig into his experiences as a Marine, from almost becoming an draft dodger in his native Italy and his belief that citizenship comes with a price, to a career of Marine Corps…