Podcasts about Army War College

In this episode of Veteran on the Move, Joe sits down with Army veteran Mark Hurd to discuss the challenges of transitioning away from a military career and a mission he deeply loved. Mark shares practical advice on how veterans can navigate the difficulties of leaving active duty, find a fresh sense of purpose on the outside, and proactively set themselves up for success before stepping into civilian life. The conversation also touches on his post-military path into local public service, including his run for county commissioner in Wilson County, Texas, and how he is applying his decades of military problem-solving to local community leadership. Episode Resources: Mark Hurd About Our Guest  Colonel (Ret.) Mark Hurd is a senior executive and military leader with three decades of experience directing large-scale operations, strategic planning, organizational transformation, and healthcare systems within the U.S. Army and the Defense Health Agency. A graduate of the U.S. Army War College with a Master of Strategic Studies and holder of a Master of Arts in Business Management from Webster University, Colonel Hurd is recognized for his expertise in operational planning, organizational leadership, Lean Six Sigma process improvement, and strategic health system management. His accomplishments include leading transformational initiatives for Army Holistic Health and Fitness (H2F), supporting the Defense Health Agency transition, managing multinational medical operations during combat deployments, and delivering significant operational efficiencies and cost savings. A Bronze Star recipient and member of the Order of Military Medical Merit, Colonel Hurd continues to apply his leadership experience to public service, organizational excellence, and community engagement.   About Our Sponsors Navy Federal Credit Union   If you're looking for a positive sign toward homeownership, this is it. That's because Navy Federal Credit Union's Homebuyers Choice loan has downpayment options as low as zero percent with no required private mortgage insurance. These benefits make homeownership more achievable for their members. Learn more here.  Terms and conditions apply. Loans subject to approval and eligibility requirements.  At Navy Federal, our members are the mission.    Join the conversation on Facebook! Check out Veteran on the Move on Facebook to connect with our guests and other listeners. A place where you can network with other like-minded veterans who are transitioning to entrepreneurship and get updates on people, programs and resources to help you in YOUR transition to entrepreneurship.   Want to be our next guest? Send us an email at interview@veteranonthemove.com.  Did you love this episode? Leave us a 5-star rating and review!  Download Joe Crane's Top 7 Paths to Freedom or get it on your mobile device. Text VETERAN to 38470. Veteran On the Move podcast has published 600 episodes. Our listeners have the opportunity to hear in-depth interviews conducted by host Joe Crane. The podcast features people, programs, and resources to assist veterans in their transition to entrepreneurship.  As a result, Veteran On the Move has over 7,000,000 verified downloads through Stitcher Radio, SoundCloud, iTunes and RSS Feed Syndication making it one of the most popular Military Entrepreneur Shows on the Internet Today.  

September 11, 2001, changed Bob Ellis's life, just as it changed mine. Bob was working at the Pentagon that morning and had walked out of the building only minutes before Flight 77 struck the area where his meeting had taken place. You will hear how he immediately became part of the response, helping organize emergency supplies and support for those working at the Pentagon. We also compare our experiences from two different locations that day, Bob at the Pentagon and me at the World Trade Center with my guide dog Roselle. Twenty-five years later, our conversation is about more than remembering 9/11. It is about leadership, teamwork, service, controlling fear, and deciding what we do with the life we have been given. I believe Bob's story offers lessons we can all use when the unexpected happens. Highlights: 05:29-Bob shares how his early life and military support career shaped his path. 23:53-He recalls realizing the first World Trade Center strike was not an accident. 32:59-Bob describes being just 300 yards away when the Pentagon was hit. 37:00-He explains how he helped organize emergency relief supplies within hours. 1:03:54-Michael reflects on survival, fear, and the responsibility to move forward. 1:06:55-Bob shares the lasting life lessons he took from September 11. About the Guest: Bob Ellis is the Vice President, American Logistics Association responsible for Exchange, MWR, Food Service Operations. The native of Fort Walton Beach, Florida began his career with AAFES in 1972. From 1972 through 1984, he held retail management positions as a Branch Manager, and Operations Manager Main Store. In 1985, Ellis began a string of assignments as an Exchange General Manager trainee at Fort Belvoir, VA, and Exchange General Manager, Fort Hamilton, NY and Carlisle Barrack PA, (Army War College). Assignments as Area Retail Manager and General Manager at the former Japan Area Exchange ran from 1989-1992. In 1992, Ellis was transferred to Travis AFB in California as Retail Manager, Main Store. In 1994, Ellis was selected for the General Manager's position at Travis and spent three years assisting in the design and new construction effort of the largest retail Main Store ever constructed by AAFES. From 1997 to 2002, Ellis held the position of Director of AAFES' Washington Office, serving as the principal representative of the Commander, AAFES to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Departments of the Army and the Air Force, Congressional offices and industry representatives. Notable among his accomplishments, Ellis was instrumental in spearheading AAFES support to the Pentagon after the attacks of September 11th. Within 48 hours of the event, AAFES established a mobile exchange in the shadow of the impact site to support rescue workers and investigators with critical need and personal comfort items. After Washington, Ellis moved to AAFES Headquarters' in Dallas to assume the Vice President Specialty and Consumables position. In this role, Ellis was responsible for the SD-C Category Team Managers/Buyers. In August 2003, Ellis took his a position as Vice President of Corporate Planning and Communications where he managed the development of AAFES long range and contingency planning programs, oversight of corporate public affairs and ensured compliance with Department of Defense policy guidance with the goal of preserving and protecting the exchange benefit for soldiers and airmen and their families around the globe. Bob joined the ALA on 31 July 2006 where he continues to serve a role in military resale supporting Exchange, MWR, and Food Service, operations still serving military resale over 51 years continuous service. Ways to connect with Bob**:** You can find more benefits how Branded Riches can help you build your Brand, Product, Business, and Yourself at https://www.BrandedRiches.com   Connect:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/neryk-davydov Branded Riches Audiobook by Neryk Davydov https://www.audible.com/pd/Branded-Riches-Audiobook/B0GCP9MMRB Branded Riches Book https://www.amazon.com/Branded-Riches-Increase-Income-Irresistible/dp/1987753836 $5 Free Gift for Creating A New Ovato Wallet    www.ovatoCoin.com  About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson  00:00 Everyone, I am Michael Hingson, the host of Unstoppable Mindset. You've heard my voice for the last 471 episodes, but I'm calling you all out today and asking you to listen to this because we're going to make a special announcement now regarding the next four episodes, starting with 472. We're going to help commemorate the historic events of September 11, 2001. Yes, they're definitely historic, although not necessarily the most positive things that have ever happened. But as many of you may know, I was in the World Trade Center working on September 11, 2001, on the 78th floor of Tower One, and escaped with my guide dog. I've delivered a speech about that, which we put in the first episode of this podcast series back in August of 2021. But this Friday, episode 472 is going to have an updated speech that I delivered just a few years ago at the Marshfield, Missouri Cherry Blossom Festival. That festival is a yearly event celebrating different kinds of things that have happened in American history, and I was invited to come and speak, which I did. I'm going to put that speech up for you as episode 472. I think you'll find it enlightening. It'll teach you something about blindness and blind people. It'll tell you my story, and it'll give you some inspiration that I hope you will find helpful. Next Tuesday, september 8, Michelle Abraham is going to interview me. Michelle is with Amplify You, the company that does all of our back office stuff and helps me with the editing and other things regarding the podcast. Michelle owns her own podcast, and she is going to interview me about September 11th and other kinds of things relating to what I've learned and things that have happened over the past 25 years. She's also going to be putting this up on her podcast Amplify You, so you can find us in a lot of different places. On September 11th, I'm going to chat with Bob Ellis. Bob was in the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, and had literally just walked out the door of the Pentagon when the plane crashed into the Pentagon and did the things and the damage that it did, and of course generated all the things that occurred at the Pentagon. On the 15th of September, I'm going to come back and have a conversation with all of you about lessons that I've learned over the past 25 years, and just reminisce a little bit about all of that. While the podcast is occurring on September 11th, I will be actually in Kilgore, Texas, doing a speech about September 11th. So lots of things going on, I hope you listen to these episodes. I hope that you'll tell everyone that you can about them. I really enjoy all of the support that you've given us over the years, and we're going to continue to do things with Unstoppable Mindset. And of course, as always, if you'd like to come on or know anyone who would, please let us know. We're always looking for guests. Thanks very much. We'll see you on Friday with the first of these four episodes. What if the biggest thing holding you back isn't what's in front of you, but rather what you believe? Welcome to Unstoppable Mindset, where inclusion, diversity, and the unexpected meet. I'm your host, Michael Hingston, speaker, author, and advocate for inclusion and possibilities. This podcast explores how the beliefs we carry shape the way we live, lead, and connect with others. Each week, I talk with people who challenge assumptions, face adversity head-on, and show what's possible when we choose curiosity over fear. Together, we focus on mindset, resilience, and the small shifts that lead to meaningful change. Let's get started. Hi everyone, and welcome to another episode of Unstoppable Mindset. You are listening to us today, or at least I'm assuming you're listening just when this came out. But whenever you're listening, it is today, September 11th, 2026, which is needless to say, a special day. If you have kept up with my podcast from the beginning, you know that I worked in the World Trade Center on September 11th, and ever since then I've been a public speaker, traveling the world, talking about trust, teamwork, leadership, the human-animal bond, and a variety of things. But recently, I met Bob Ellis. Michael Hingson  04:40 Now, Bob, as it turns out, on September 11th worked at the Pentagon, and I have not ever really had the opportunity to talk with someone who was at the Pentagon, especially on September 11th. But we get to chat about that today, and Bob knows our rules, which are basically. He sent me a series of questions that he wants to cover, but we are doing this as a conversation, so we'll probably talk about a lot of the things that he specifically sent. But we can go any old way that Bob wants to go, so that's what we'll we'll make this really fun. And I'm really looking forward to having the opportunity to talk with Bob. So again, welcome to September 11th, and Bob, I want to welcome you to Unstoppable Mindset. We're really glad you're here, Bob Ellis  05:28 Michael. Thank you for inviting me. I know you you've inquired several times, and I've debated it, and and I was just holding it for the right time, and this is the right time-the 25th anniversary of the event. Michael Hingson  05:40 Yeah, it is, and and and as as we've said, if you find anybody who needs a a speaker to come in and speak, let me know. But but for now, we get to chat about you and and hear your story, which I think is the important thing. I think we'll probably talk about both of our stories in the course of the day, no doubt about it. But I really am glad that you are here and that you are able to to talk with us today and and and talk about things. So let's start the way I love to start with people. Let's start at the beginning. Tell me kind of about the early Bob growing up and so on. Let's start with that. Bob Ellis  06:17 Well, I I grew up in let's say grew up until I was four years old. I lived. I was born in Pensacola, Florida. Lived in the Panhandle. Mother and father got divorced, and we moved to Norfolk, Virginia. And it was just my my mother and I until I was 14 years old. And I found out about my dad and found some letters from him and insisted to go see him. And so, between 14 and 15, I made a couple of unauthorized attempts to to make my way to Florida. On the third attempt, I made it, and it was quite a surprise for my father. Ended up living with him and being my closest friend up until I had he had grandkids, we had kids, and so I lived and grew up in the Destin, Fort Worth, Fort Walton area. Went to work, and this is where the story begins. I went to work at Eglin Air Force Base as a as a janitor in a gas station for the Army Air Force Exchange Service, so that I could continue to play high school football and practice, was a great job. It was an opportunity to work with the military, be around the military, and I took great pride in that feeling that that that that while I I wanted to go into the air force and I wanted to fly jets, that opportunity just never presented itself because the Vietnam War was going on and they were banking pilots instead of taking pilots. Anyway, I I ended up staying with the Army Air Force Exchange Service for 34 years. I moved all over the world. I've seen the every AOR and every combat scenario since the Vietnam War. Not in the Vietnam War, but I was in the refugee program, helping with the resettlement back in 1972, 1973. Spent the rest of my career going wherever they sent me, and and and that was from Tokyo, Japan, to to Tuli, Greenland, to California, and ultimately to to Texas. Michael Hingson  08:30 I remember during the Vietnam War, someone called me one day. I was a student at UC Irvine, and there was a refugee camp fairly close to the university, and someone said, and someone said, "There's a blind young man at the sent at the refugee center, and we should go see him. And so we we bought a transistor radio for him and went out to visit with him and spent some time with him, and I never got to see him after that. But I hope I hope he did well. He he seemed like he was doing okay, but he was a little bit lost, needless to say, because it's a whole bunch of people. There are no a lot of people who knew much about blindness and blind people, but I would presume he did reasonably okay. I hope so, but that was the only time I specifically had an involvement with him or anyone at the refugee camps. Later, when I met my wife Karen, she lived, I think, a door down, and she and her parents lived a door down from a Vietnamese couple, and he was a tailor and actually made her wedding dress, which was kind of cool, and so we got to spend a fair amount of time with the Voo's, which was was good, but what's. Interesting for me now, with with now being well so many years later. In November, I will be going to do a speech in Hanoi, so I'm really looking forward to to going over there and and experiencing it. At least it'll be a little bit cooler then than it probably is now. So we'll see, but it'll be it'll be pretty enjoyable to go and again see a different a different part of the world, and I I think we'll be fine. At least that's that's that's the plan. Bob Ellis  10:34 That that that that tour that I had at Eglin Air Force Base with the refugees, will come back to to to 911 2001 and the experiences that I had at that refugee camp replicated in the Pentagon park and lot there in 911. So we'll get to that. I'll explain it further. Michael Hingson  10:56 Yeah, I'm sure it was a a great a great lesson. Where did you do college, or did you Bob Ellis  11:03 went to went to Duke University and the University and the University of Maryland? Michael Hingson  11:10 Okay. Well, at Bob Ellis  11:12 least much of it was correspondence as well, only because I was deployed for for so many years back to back, 17 moves in 34 years. Michael Hingson  11:22 Wow, Duke University. At least you didn't go to one of those other schools in North Carolina. Boy, talk about talk about rivalries and basketball. What a what a group down there. Bob Ellis  11:35 Oh, I know, I know. Michael Hingson  11:38 I once spoke in Kentucky, and the Wildcats were in the NCAA championship that year, and I was asked to speak at an event on the night of the championship. But I was told I had to end by 630. I could not go one second past 630 because the gym I was speaking in was going to clear out. Well, I ended in time so that at 630, what they said was absolutely true. That gym cleared out. Everybody went home to watch the game. Bob Ellis  12:09 That's that's sports. Michael Hingson  12:11 Not sports. It is, but it's okay. I I learned a lot down there and got to meet a number of people, and so it was it was a lot of fun to to do it, and then years later I was in North Carolina when NC State and UNC were playing to see who was going to go into the championship. So again, pretty interesting world, and and sports ruled everything then, so it's okay. It Bob Ellis  12:43 hasn't it hasn't changed at all because my my my daughter I got her graduate studies done at NC State, and it hasn't changed a bit. It's just I'll bet it's just crazy as it's when was 20 3040 years ago, Michael Hingson  12:58 and it shall ever be, won't it? Bob Ellis  13:01 Yeah, yeah. Her undergraduate degree was at University of Texas. This was my son's, and she went on to NC State, and and he went on to medical school in in Houston. Michael Hingson  13:16 Okay. Well, UC Irvine, when I was there, had the championship water polo team, but that's what we had. But they started basketball while I was there, although it wasn't anything huge. But a couple of years ago, they made it to the Sweet 16, and that was kind of fun for UC Irvine. One of these days, it'll go all the way. Bob Ellis  13:40 Yep. Michael Hingson  13:41 Well, anyway, so you you went to college, and and what did you major in? Bob Ellis  13:45 Political science. Michael Hingson  13:47 Okay, political science Bob Ellis  13:48 and business management. With a with my two aspirations, I wanted to. I really wanted to major in in aviation science, but that that wasn't offered. So that's political science and business science, business law. Michael Hingson  14:06 But you were working for the Army Air Force Exchange Service. What is that exactly? Bob Ellis  14:11 Yeah, it's a it's it's it's a non-appropriated funded Service provided all goods. I think of it as the the Walmart or the Target of of the civilian sector, except the Army Air Force Exchange Service has stored everything from stores, every business that you can think of therein, from stores to convenience stores to gas stations to beauty shops and barber shops to dining facilities, franchise Burger Kings, anything that a soldier and his family needs at the base or overseas or in the combat arena, where we were there with it, providing it. It's been a great career. Michael Hingson  14:59 Did you? Do you have any involvement with, especially here in the U.S. the the Randolph Sheppard programs, the blind vending stand operations at any of the facilities? Bob Ellis  15:09 Yep, sure did many many times. We're still working with it. There's there's some issues present right now under the Randolph Shepherd that they're looking at. I don't know what what's going to change, but yes, sir, we were very, very close to that. Michael Hingson  15:24 Yeah, I know there. The current government's looking at it; they want to scale a lot of it back, which would, I think, not be a good thing. I think there's a lot of reasons to keep it, but we'll see. We'll see. We'll see how it goes. But I, the closest I ever came to dealing with anything from AAES was I was invited to speak once at an organizational meeting of the National Property Managers Association in the military. Are you familiar with that? Bob Ellis  15:56 I am. Yes. Michael Hingson  15:57 And when I was asked to come, the Speakers Bureau didn't do a good research job because they told me, "Oh, it's the people who rent apartments and all that. When I got down to the to the event, I will say that the National Property Managers Association certainly serves a nice breakfast. But anyway, the conversation just didn't seem like what I what I was expecting. So I asked somebody, and they told me that the organization was the organization that had complete jurisdiction over anything physical that the government owned, and Bob Ellis  16:30 absolutely Michael Hingson  16:31 that that changed my grass. Sorry, Bob Ellis  16:34 right down to the grass, right down to the grass and the concrete. Michael Hingson  16:37 There you go. Well, it also changed my speech in 10 minutes, but it was fun. They invited me back the next year, so that was good. But it's it's fun when you're you're planning to do a particular speech, and suddenly it turns out it's got to change. It's good to have the flexibility to do that. But I'm I'm glad I had the opportunity to do it, and hopefully we'll have opportunities to do it again, but you have served a lot of different kinds of of services within AAES, and and I assume that's all worked out pretty well. Bob Ellis  17:14 That that worked out very well. Yep, I had I started at the bottom and and climbed as close to the top as I possibly could, but Michael Hingson  17:23 you eventually got the the highest medal that was available for civilians when you retired or after you retired. Bob Ellis  17:31 No, the highest award that I ever received was from my man over the Pentagon 911 support program, which was a nice medoris civilian award. Michael Hingson  17:46 Okay, where is your favorite place to live in the world? Or is that really easy to say? I mean, you've been all over the place and seen a lot of different kinds of places. Don't know how much you got to two of them, but anyway, Bob Ellis  18:00 it wasn't the two places that I that I went overseas, which was Japan and Greenland. Those were the longest tours of my life. Beautiful country in Japan, and and great facilities and support in tuning Greenland. But I would I would guess throughout the United States, I had a great assignment at the Army War College, and I had a great assignment at Travis Air Force Base here in Michael Hingson  18:26 California. Yeah, Bob Ellis  18:28 yeah. Michael Hingson  18:30 I've spoken. Bob Ellis  18:30 My son was born in Japan. He's dual citizen as a result on the Air Force Base, and my daughter was born in California. So it was a great time, mainly because the kids were younger and and and and we were in great climate areas. Michael Hingson  18:48 When people ask me what my favorite place in the United States is, I say everywhere. I I just enjoy meeting people wherever I go in the U.S. It's so many different cultures and customs and ways of doing things. It is so fun to to see all the different places and see how they are. People ask what I like, where I like outside the U.S. And so far, it's been New Zealand. I would say is probably the best, but Japan has to be up there too. I've really enjoyed being in Japan. I've been there a couple times, and I thoroughly enjoyed Bob Ellis  19:23 it. I, I had, I think the most the the greatest thing about the assignments was some of the people I I got to to meet in in my in my tours. One of them would be the Crown Prince of of Thailand, who who is now the king of Thailand, King Rama, got to meet him when he was a pilot, and supported him when when I was at Yokota Air Base, and multiple other celebrities. I I had the opportunity as a kid to attend the funeral. For Douglas MacArthur, and and his his memorial was right across the street in North Virginia from where my mother worked. And 20 years later, I had the opportunity to to meet mrs. Mcarthur, Jean MacArthur, at Gracie Mansion in New York, and I I I wrote protocol. I when it came time for her to to meet me and meet meet her, I got down on one knee and I held her hand and I said, "I want to tell you a little story, ma'am. And she said, "Well, certainly, absolutely. And I told her the story how when the general had died in in 1964, I was required by my my mother to go to the funeral, and the most fascinating person I'd ever seen in my life was herself, and she just got she just turned red. Well, long story short, I was at an army command at Fort Hamilton. The next day, the the group the the installation commander called me over to his office, very angry, but he wanted me to know that I was going to be the first civilian aide for the old lady, which was mrs. Mcarthur, and he had to take one of his lieutenants off. And I got to know the family and and the Mcarthurs as a result of that. So lots of opportunities, just absolutely amazing. 911, and we'll get to it. I got to meet President Bush momentarily, but I I got to meet him and have a short conversation. Michael Hingson  21:32 I got to meet him in 2005. We went to the Oval Office, and we were supposed to have a two minute photo op, but he kept wanting to interact. We ended up talking for about 15 minutes. He kept the Italian ambassador or prime minister waiting, but it was a was a great conversation. I very much enjoyed having the opportunity to meet with him. Bob Ellis  21:53 Yeah, he was remarkable. Michael Hingson  21:54 Yeah, in in so many ways. If Speaker 1  22:00 you enjoy Unstoppable Mindset and would like to help us continue bringing these conversations to you each week, we've created a way for you to support the show. Your contribution helps us cover production costs and continue sharing stories, insights, and ideas that inspire people to live with purpose and possibility. If supporting the podcast feels right for you, you'll find the link in the show notes. Thank you for being part of the Unstoppable Mindset Community. Michael Hingson  22:33 So that's that's pretty cool. So as you were going around to all these different places, what would you say you were learning. Bob Ellis  22:41 I was learning business. I was learning relationships. I was learning marketing. Pretty much anything that you wanted to do as a general manager or a vice president, the exchanges let you do it. You know, until you got too far gone, and they they reel you back in. But I love being able to run multiple businesses on the installation, and and be accountable for them, and run them at a profit, and and at the end of the day, do great things for military families. Michael Hingson  23:16 Wow! So you um, you you've you've had a lot of challenges and and had to learn a lot of different things. Needless to say, but I would would think that you've you've been able to to keep a lot of that and use it. And you know we've referred to September 11 th, and so let's let's get to around that time. The first thing I would ask, and people have asked me, but you're in a better position in theory than I. Did you have any inkling that something like September 11th was going to happen? Bob Ellis  23:53 Well, actually, September 11th was was happening. I left for work about 4:30 in the morning. I lived out in the suburbs in Centerville, Virginia, and it was one of those days that you just wished you didn't have to go to work. It was the as the sun was coming up, it had a little cold breeze to it. The skies were blue. It was just one of those days that you just wanted to sit out in the yard and and relax or go bicycling, whatever. But I did my duty and I drove in to the Washington D.C. area and reported to my office on time, which was right around 5o'clock. My staff showed up around six and some at seven, and my secretary came in, and I don't know exactly what time it was, but it was shortly after, right around 9o'clock in Eastern Time, when the first airplane had hit the the trade center. Michael Hingson  24:49 Yeah, Bob Ellis  24:49 846-940-6846, Yes, right, 846. Yeah, and and so I I went in to look at the. The the television monitor standing there it was just her and I at the time and and and I said that's not an accident and she says how do you know that I said look at the skies that was an airliner they were talking about it was a little small private aviation well I'm a pilot I've been a pilot for 40 years 41 years I knew exactly, you know, that that where it was, what it was doing, and that wasn't a it wasn't an accident. And and my inkling was is that I was in a in rented space in Arlington, Virginia, because we had been moved out because the wedge that got attacked was the one that was still under construction. My office had not been completed there, and and I had a meeting in that wedge at 9o'clock that morning. And my secretary said to me, "You know, Bob, the Pentagon is next. And I paused for a minute and I looked at her and I said, "How in the world could you even imagine that, you know that that that's a fortress? Who would be crazy enough to attack the Pentagon? And she says, I I just I don't want you to go over, you know, just just just do it by phone, which I I probably could have done. And I said, No, I'm I'm going to go over there. If they're going if they're going to attack the Pentagon, I'm going to go down with it, and that was kind of my philosophy. So, in the back of my mind, seeing that airplane hit the Trade Center and her telling me that certainly made me wonder if it wasn't a possibility. Michael Hingson  26:33 So, you didn't. You don't think that anyone, and I've never heard of any such, but that anyone had any advance notice? There wasn't chatter. There wasn't anything that made people suspect what might be getting ready to happen. Bob Ellis  26:47 No, I I I think that is the the worst our country has ever been off guard. It reminds me of you know the the attack on Hawaii and that you know in in Pearl Harbor. We were completely unprepared, and I thought we were completely unprepared on 911. And in fact, after the attack, I knew we were unprepared when I saw the two jets fly over with no armament on the wings. So no, I don't think anybody had any idea. Michael Hingson  27:18 Well, the other side of it, and I've talked about this in in some talks I've given. I talk a lot about trust and teamwork, and like it or not, one of the things that I observe is you had 19 terrorists who functioned well enough as a team that they didn't talk about it. They didn't let anything come out. So no matter how much armament or whatever we might have had, I'm not sure whether we could have predicted that on September 11th, what occurred was going to happen. Bob Ellis  27:49 You know, all the indicators were there. You know, those those 19 trained at private airports, and they and during their training, it was it was reported multiple times that all they were interested in was taking off, not landing. I mean, first clue, you know. Okay. Why would you just be interested? He's taking off an airplane, and and I always found that very curious, and I'd heard it several times. That should have set alarm bells off. Should have. It didn't. Apparently, it did. Michael Hingson  28:20 Good point, and you know the the thing is though that, as as you pointed out, who would have thought that anybody would attack the Pentagon, the fortress that it was? Who Bob Ellis  28:33 yeah, Michael Hingson  28:33 who would have thought? So again, you can only go by what you got, and so nobody, I think, would have ever imagined that. Well, of course, the first plane hit the World Trade Center, and at first, people didn't really know what happened because there were really not very many people who who saw it. In fact, we only have the few photos that were taken by the French photographers who were there for something else, but then a little after nine, the second plane hit, and that changed the dynamic and changed the perspective a lot. Although a bunch of people who started seeing it on TV thought it was just a movie, and it wasn't true, but the second plane hitting changed the attitudes. I think for most people, and that's when people knew something was going on. Bob Ellis  29:24 Yeah, I didn't know anything about the second trade center. I had left my office in Crystal City, and I had headed to the Pentagon. And the meeting, the meeting that I had was with the Army Personnel Chief and several other folks. And as it turned out, that is exactly the window that the airplane flew into. That was ground zero for the for the for the target for the airplane going in just above the first floor for the Pentagon. So I didn't know anything. I was I was trapped at that point. I was trapped. Couldn't go um. Wouldn't go um. Didn't want to go um. And I had lived in New York City for five years, and I was my biggest. I was always impressed by the New York City Fire Department. I mean, they're they're just walking heroes if you've ever seen them. I mean, they were like they were like giants when you got next to them, and that they would they were just superhumans. And I always wondered upon the top floors how in the world you would get a fire put out at the top of the World Trade Center, and and I did not know until two days later when I made it home. That was my first question to my family: How did they get the the fire out at the top of the World Trade Center? And I and and it was repeated to me centers, and I said, What are you talking about? Centers in my family, and they said, "Bob, the World Trade Centers are gone. I said, "I don't understand. How could they be gone? And that was that. That was you know two days later that I found out about that. It was quite a shock to me to learn what it actually while I was on on the Pentagon mission. Michael Hingson  30:58 Well, when the first plane hit. Well, in the second plane, the firefighters were going up the stairs carrying all their equipment, and I had had had known about that and asked people, "Well, why are you or would you be carrying equipment? Because I met I I didn't meet the FDNY people ahead of the World Trade Center attacks, but I did meet with other people to learn about emergency preparedness and so on because I felt as the leader of an office, it was my job to know because I wasn't going to be able to read signs, and I love information, so I was trying to learn all I could, and they told me that where would if you if you had equipment stored in the in the towers, then people would go to it. Firefighters would go to it and get the the equipment. What floor do you put it on? Because no matter what floor you put it on, what if the fire broke out one floor below? You know, you can't get to the equipment. So the only way they could get up the stairs to fight the fires was to carry all of the equipment with them, yep, yep. Not enough is said about those guys in history. No, and I met a number of them coming up the stairs as we were going down, and they wanted to escort me down, and I didn't want them to do that because I knew they were a team, and I I pushed back pretty hard and said, no, you guys go up and we'll go down unless we can help you fight the fires, and they said no. The reason they eventually let me go down without any assistance was I had a friend with me who could see, and I said, "Look, David can see. Don't worry about us. And David and they turned to David and they said, "You're with him. And David said, "Yeah, leave him alone. He's fine. So we went on down, and they went up. I don't know whether the people we interacted with made it down or perished up above. It was about 10 after 10 after nine or so when we got to the 30th floor where we met them. So it was another hour and almost 20 minutes before the tower collapsed, but I don't know where the firefighters were, or how many people from the groups that we interacted with perished, or if they all made it out. I don't know, but Bob Ellis  33:12 yep, I I memorized all those numbers. You know, 189 between the airplane and the Pentagon, 200 injured, but 189. 189 total were 64 on the airplane, 125 in the Pentagon, and I'll never forget those numbers. Yeah, I'll never forget the time. I looked at my watch at 9:17, and and I have to tell you that on 9/11, I always sit very quietly until I get past 917, not 937. I'm sorry, 937. Michael Hingson  33:48 So Bob Ellis  33:48 in the morning. Michael Hingson  33:49 So, how close were you to where the plane came into the Pentagon? Bob Ellis  33:56 About 300 yards. When when it was clear that the meeting wasn't going to happen because the air traffic control system had been shut down. They released us to go back to our our offices, and I was going out the front door. I left about 930. It was supposed to start at nine 930. The generals said we'll just reconvene, and and I agreed. And from his office on on the south portico, I was walking out the front door. Literally, I heard the engines spool up. I had been in the AOR in rail combat munitions, and and I've heard cruise missiles, and and I could hear this one spinning up, and I thought it was a cruise missile, and so when it hit when it hit the building, it was just it was just a horrendous sound. But my first impression was to run to it to see what happened, what what what caused that, and there was nothing there. It was just four or five cars burning and smoke billowing out of the building. And and the the rest turned into a you know a rescue and a a recovery. Michael Hingson  35:08 AOR is what Bob Ellis  35:10 the area of responsibility. Michael Hingson  35:13 Okay, area of responsibility. Okay, Bob Ellis  35:16 yeah, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, wherever we are, it's it's N A O R, and that's your A O R. That's state. That's where you are. So that that's where I encountered first first and only live person coming out of the building, and which was a which was a really big surprise. But I knew that there was something that I I had to do, and and one of the things was to, if he needed assistance, getting him assistance. And there were several people. He was he was he was burned third degree burns over his whole body. He lived. I said one prayer was for him. And as it turned out, he became a a great ambassador. Turned out to be a great friend, and is actually back in the Pentagon to this day, just steps away from his old office as a civilian, went went back on a presidential appointment. Michael Hingson  36:09 So, you mentioned the general a while ago. Was did he survive? Bob Ellis  36:15 No, he was the he was the highest ranking person that we lost in in the entire encounter, and it was the entire office was just instantly vaporized. So he did not survive. Michael Hingson  36:33 Well, so you heard the engines revving up, and you went after you heard the explosion and so on. You went over to see what was going on, and then what did you do? Because it certainly had to be a major surprise and a shock by any standard. Bob Ellis  36:49 Yeah, I went that side of the building, saw the hole in the building, kind of convinced myself it was a cruise missile, but I never heard such a loud engine noise. As it turned out, it was it was two big engines off of a 757 200, and so I immediately tried to figure out you know what can I do? What should I do? Should I even be here? And that's when I saw the colonel coming out of the building, and I was able to walk with him and four others over to the the road, the Washington Boulevard that goes around the Pentagon, and and I sat down on the telephone pole, a light pole that the airplane hit going in. Now I'm a pilot, and and I have to tell you to take an airplane going at Mach point eight seven, and hit a target, hit the building, and not hitting the ground was just absolutely amazing to me. So as they got the colonel into an SUV and and and got him out of the the scene, I sat there. Just it was almost like a movie I was watching. The triage was being set up. The Pentagon was burning. The emergency services units were starting to show up, and we had very intermittent phone capability. And I had I had a a friend, my my the commander that I worked for in Dallas at the time. This secretary's husband was a bodyguard for Secretary Rumsfeld, and and Secretary Rumsfeld was actually carrying litter patients, carrying people out of the debris area and out of the offices. He was actually helping people, and he he realized that something needed to be done. So he gave Jerry a note, a piece of paper. We called them snowflakes, but it was a tablet, and he had listed what needed to be done and what needed to be done now. And Jerry found me sitting over there and gave me that that piece of paper, and it had everything listed on it. He wanted a a tactical field operation in place. He wanted it now, not yesterday. He wanted something in the interim, and it was to provide emergency relief supplies. So I I sat down on that telephone pole and I called our our local dist not local our largest distribution center in the world was down in Newport News, and I got the director on the phone and I said, I have an official order from you coming from the Secretary of Defense, and and don't override, don't just just follow my instructions until we can get to the commander at AFIS headquarters, and so I gave him the list. I just gave him the full list of things that we needed to get rolling, and I called another gentleman that was just across the river, the American Logistics Association, which owned all of the brokers and manufacturers, and I gave him a list of stuff that we needed now, like Gatorade boots. the The surface was over 2000 degrees, and the emergency service boots were melting almost upon contact. So I had I had 1000s, hundreds of 1000s of dollars of equipment. And supplies coming in, and we set up the USO tent, put everything in the USO tent. We raided all the stores in the in the Washington D.C. area. I was able to contact the region manager, and I told him, you know, what we needed to take it off the shelf, put it in the back seat of the cars, don't account for it, and get it to me. And that's what we did the entire first night was setting up the USO trailer, and the next morning I had two tactical field tractor trailers coming up the ramp just as the sun was coming up, and they were loaded with supplies, and that's what stayed in place for the next two months. Over $2 million worth of merchandise, emergency recovery type merchandise, everything from linens to the towels to eye wash, and and and we had to actually have some special boots made out of leather for the dogs because the dogs' feet were so it was it was quite an operation. We ended up well running within within 24 hours of the attack, Michael Hingson  41:04 why is it that you are able to stay pretty focused through all of this? Bob Ellis  41:08 I you know I you know I I've often asked that question. I wanted to go home. Alls I could think of is my kids, my wife. What what are they doing? What are they thinking? They're watching this on the news, and I had I had drifted over to which my car was very close, and it was taped off. The parking lot was taped off. It was a crime scene. There was no going anywhere. There was no transportation. If I wanted to walk 40 miles, I guess I could have, but because I couldn't go anywhere, I had to do something there on the scene, so that's that's that's what I did, and and it wasn't until the next day when the phone started working again, our two star in Dallas was able to get through to me on on my BlackBerry, and he wanted to know what the situation was, and and and I told him, and and he said, what what are we going to do? And I explained to him what we had done already, and he says, "How did you do all of that? I said, "I picked up the phone and I told him I was working for Secretary Rumsfeld, and this is the order. And and he says, "How are we going to pay for all of this? I said, "Sir, this is our finest hour. We're not. We're going to donate. These are all donating goods, and and it really was an interesting. I I just I just don't know. I was compelled. He he he ordered me on that second day to go home, and and I said I had no way to go home. And he said go to the motor pool. I'm going to call the motor pool. He had been the commander of the Air Force One Squadron, so he had a lot of connections in Washington, and he he got me a car, and I went home long enough to change clothes and and and to come back out. So it was it was just out of adrenaline, I think. Somebody had to do something, and and everything that I've told you here today is not written anywhere in history. I own every bit of what happened in in in that story, other than some of the people that were working there. Michael Hingson  43:07 What phone did you use that first day? You said you're you're it was the second day or the next day that you're phoned. So how were you able to communicate? Bob Ellis  43:17 We had Blackberries, and and until the networks got completely overrun, we were able to use it. And and so by the second third day, we we had pretty consistent communication, because the the the commander called me back that same morning, and and he said, you know, he said, how come you haven't been home? And I explained to him, and he says, "Will you do me one favor? And I said, "I would. He said, "Will you go back into the building? Said, "Sir, the building's on fire. He says, "Well, well, you get in the front, and I'm looking at it. He was looking at it on television, and the military clothing store was in the very front, within 100 feet, probably of that door that I went out of. And he says, "Would you see if our people survive, and if the store itself survived? It was sitting near the the area. I went in the store. I went into the building, into the burning building, and was able to look in the door, and I could see that the the room was full of smoke, and the door was locked. So I told him I would assume that our people made it out, alive and okay. And they say that was a, and they did, and they absolutely did. And in fact, everybody that that that that had any kind of supervisory capability around the Beltway, they volunteered to come over and work for me and and operating that facility for 2024 hours a day, seven days a week. Wow! So and not and not to shorten the the question, I wasn't there, but because of what I was doing in the in the Pentagon, my old homestead was at Fort Hamilton. Fort Hamilton picked up the same thing and went over to the Trade Center area, and they gave them a place to put a mobile. Food truck, and they brought supplies in and pretty much supported the firefighters and the and the and the police there. So so we had quite an operation going for a long time. Michael Hingson  45:11 Yeah, and and needed to, but it was interesting and commendable that in both places people were able to focus, and were able to carry out missions. I know at the World Trade Center when the two towers collapsed. Of course, it was it was unexpected, but we know now, of course, why they collapsed. It wasn't that the planes hit; it's that they were they were full of what 36,000 pounds of jet fuel each, and that exploding jet fuel is what damaged the infrastructure of the buildings to cause them to be able to collapse. But as well as at the Pentagon, but very quickly people were able to start to move and deal with issues and put procedures in place that were able to, I'm sure, keep more people from perishing and keep kept more people being able to focus throughout the whole the whole sequence of events. It it certainly was very scary, but it is something that that people like you were able to do. I know for me, the reason I was able to focus was because I had learned what to do in an emergency at the World Trade Center. I spent time with people and I learned how the whole building was structured, so I knew when the building tipped, why it tipped, and and things like that. You Bob Ellis  46:40 felt it. You you felt it. Michael Hingson  46:43 Oh yeah. Oh my god. We moved probably at least 20 feet, and then it came back, and oh my Speaker 2  46:48 god, it Michael Hingson  46:48 got vertical again. It got vertical again, and then a few seconds later, it dropped about six feet because the expansion joints went back to their normal configuration. But Bob Ellis  46:59 we uh we we knew from 937 till about 5o'clock that evening there would be no more survivors. It was over, and and and the dogs were getting depressed because they were they were they were not cadaver dogs. They were recovery dogs, and they were used to fight. And we we actually had ceremonies for the dogs every day, where we sewed flags onto their collars, and they had special water and special food. So they played a big, big role in morale, mine especially. Michael Hingson  47:33 And at the same time, I know people had to do drills to keep the dogs focused because they weren't able to find people, as you said, so they had to do things to give them something to find to keep them happy, which was was so important. Bob Ellis  47:50 Yeah, that we had two two tractor trailers lined up. It was just just two 300 feet from where you went into the damaged area of the Pentagon, and those dogs and their handlers would get up underneath those trailers and sleep, and they would play with the dogs. We actually had some carpets brought out, tarps brought out, and that's kind of where that was kind of their headquarters during 911. We had to make it up as we went along, and and the other interesting part of this story is in 1972 at the at the refugee camp, I was sleeping in the back of a van because there was just no way to go home. It was too it was too far to drive home to turn around and come back at 8o'clock the next morning, and I heard somebody knocking at the door, and and and I and I opened up the door, and it was a military colonel in uniform, and there was a civilian standing there with him. And he says, "Are you part of this operation? And I said, "Yes, sir, I am. He said, "Who are you with? And I said, "The Army Air Force Exchange Service. And and he says, "You're not provided any other facilities. This, I said, that was my choice. And as it turned out, I was speaking to Secretary Rumsfeld during his first administration as Secretary of Defense, and it was interesting that when he found out that what I did in in that program, I won the Indo Indo China Award for service, and then of course you you move ahead to to 2001, and we we knew each other. I had briefed him several times, and we we knew each other in the Pentagon. And that day, he knew that I would know what to do for the support role, and that's why he sent the letter up. And as it turned out, when he retired and and left the Pentagon, he was on a book tour, and and the the general secretary and myself got an invite to come to the book tour with him and and have lunch with him. And he handed me a book and he said, "I want you to have this, but I don't want you to open it up until you, Bob. I don't want you to open it up till you get home. I don't want you to give it to your wife. And and it was like this. Sure, I'm not not a problem, and so I got I got home. You know, this is this is 10 years later, and handed the book to her, and I said, "Open it up. I'm not wasn't allowed, and there's a nice thank you page on the front from Secretary Rums for allowing him to use me on 9/11, and you just you just that's the best reward that I could have ever ever expected. A guy that I just idolized to do that. Michael Hingson  50:26 When you got home, so you weren't able to talk to your wife before you got home, or did you ever get communication so you could call her? Bob Ellis  50:33 No, I didn't. I when I finally got the phone back up and running and got in the car. I had lost the battery, so I said, "I'm gonna be home in in an hour. I'll just be there. But General Wax called up, and she answered the phone. She went. She went sometime during that day and pulled the kids out of the private school, brought them home. She could see my car. It was a yellow SUV, and she could see it in the South parking lot in the news choppers going around. She said that was my car where my spot was, and General Wax got her on the phone and she and and she answered the phone and he said this is C J Wax and she thought that was the call. She thought that was it, and she alls I could do was drop to my knees and and and C J said and it's it's okay. I've ordered him to come home. He's all right. He's running. He's running a a program for us for for recovery. And if he's not there, he should be there shortly. And then by the time I got there, I got to the front step. I'm asking the question about the World Trade Center, how they got the fire out, and I was ordered that I could not go in the house because I smelled like smoke. So, so two minutes before that, I was the most important person in the world, and and then all of a sudden, I was I was back to Bob, and I wasn't going to wear that that suit in the house to to smoke it. So anyway, that's that's how she found out. He he called her up. I asked him. I think I asked him if he would get in touch with her at our last conversation, and he did. Michael Hingson  52:06 Soon after both towers collapsed, like a minute or so later, I called and got through to my wife Karen. I had talked with her before we left our office, and then when we got downstairs, I couldn't get through to her because the circuits were busy, and it was obvious that everyone we learned later was saying goodbye to loved ones, and so the circuits were busy. So after both towers collapsed, I was able to get through to her, and as I tell people, there were tears on both sides of the phone at the when that conversation started, but she was the first one who told us how two aircraft had been crashed into the World Trade Center towers, one to the Pentagon, and at that time, the fourth one was apparently still missing over Pennsylvania, and of course, then it crashed at Shanksville. Bob Ellis  52:52 I love it. Michael Hingson  52:54 Yeah, but we, you know, we talked, so she knew I was okay. Then a friend of ours, Tom Painter, who had been a friend of Karen's at high school out in California, but Tom, over the years, had ended up moving to New Jersey. He came down to stay with her, not knowing until he arrived whether I was in the office that day or out with a customer or what was going on. And of course, then she told him, and so he drove her to the train station to pick me up. When, when I got back out to Westfield, we went home. And you talk about with with dogs. We got in the house, and I took Roselle's harness off because I was going to take her out, and she would have none of it. She ran off, grabbed her favorite tug bone and started playing tug of war with my retired guide dog Linny, and I talked to the veterinarians at Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael the next day, and they said, "Did anything threaten her? And I said, "No, not directly. And they said, "That's why she ran off because it was over. Nothing threatened her. Bob Ellis  53:58 Comfortable. Michael Hingson  53:59 She, they don't. Dogs don't do what if like we do, and so she was comfortable. She was happy. She wanted to play, and then then she did go out. But by the same token, the the whole point was that she was able to deal with with all of it and was able to to focus. Then we got her outside and and came back in, and she ate and and all that. But the the the thing is that she focused all day, and and she did a a wonderful job. And the reason that she focused and did so well was mainly because I worked at keeping her focus by telling her every chance I got. You're a good girl. What a good dog! Good dog. You're doing a great job. Keep going. I did that all the way down the stairs in the World Trade Center, and I was very deliberate about that because I knew she had to sense the fear and what was going on, and I wanted her to know that I was okay and I was going to be there for. Her, which is of course what teamwork and support is all about. You understand that very well. You you proved it in so many ways. I kept working with Roselle and kept her focused, and you know it all it all really went well. I still think one of the most relevant things for me in the World Trade Center. I went down the stairs with a guy named David Frank. David was from our corporate office in California, and David and I were going to be conducting sales seminars that day, teaching some resellers how to sell our products. And we got down to about the 50th floor, so David was there to talk about the the pricing and so on. I was going to do the majority of the presentation because I was going to be their technical contact, anyway, and we got to about the 50th floor, going down, and suddenly David said, "Mike, we're going to die. We're not going to make it out of here. And as I tell people, since I got a teaching credential, I had learned all about the secrets of how to yell at students. So I just said, "Stop it, David. If Roselle and I can go down these stairs, so can you. And he then immediately said that I brought him out of his spunk, and he told me that later as well. But what he told me was that he wanted to walk a floor below me on the stairs and shout up to me everything that he was seeing. He had to take his mind off of what was going on, and so he asked if I cared, and I said, "No, go ahead. That's what you need to do. That's fine. So I got like down to the 48th floor, and he yelled, "47th floor, Mike. All's clear here. Going on down. So we went down several floors that way. Eventually, I got to 45, and he was 44th floor. This is where the Port Authority cafeteria is not stopping. And the reason I mention it is because I think what David did is one of the unsung things that is so important from September 11th. He kept shouting up to me everything that he saw, but the reality is, anyone in the sound of his voice heard that there was someone who was okay going down the stairs, and he had to keep panic out of people's senses for so many individuals, because they just heard him, Mike, 43rd floor, all's good here. Going on down the stairs, all the way down the stairs. He had to have been able to keep so many people focused because he was able to keep his mind off of what was going on by shouting to me, and I think that that's so important, and so I'm. I always tell that story. I've been telling it for many years now because I want people to know what he did to keep so many people focused going down the stairs, and he had to have done that. Bob Ellis  57:31 Well, you know, I have. That's that's the first I've heard that, and and and and I read everything that I followed your story very closely, as well as the colonel who I was so close to, but there there are a couple of stories that are just never mentioned, not talked about, and one of them where we had to do every day. There was an update that the military gave the families an update as to what is happening, what was found, what was recovered, what to expect, and they would bring the kids in to listen to these brutal military briefings. I mean, just you know, these were these were soldiers, these were these were combat folks, and this is the way they briefed. And the therapy dogs were brought in, and there wasn't but about a dozen of them, and I will never forget not only the kids on the floor with the arms around those dogs, but some of the adults were as well. And I thought, what what a moment! That was the most touching moment of my entire life witnessing that. I mean, I could have done without it, but it was it was a very special moment. And then the the other thing that the world doesn't know about is on the second day, I got a I got a phone call from Secretary Rumsfeld's office that the VA was completely out of coffin flags. We had nothing in inventory to to cover the remains or the caskets for burial, and what could I do? And and right right from the Pentagon parking lot, I I called one of the buyers that bought American flags in Dallas, and then I asked her who do you get flags from, and she says it's American Flag Company. I'll give them credit for that, and and I said you need you need to get their entire inventory. We need to get it flown in, whatever expenses cover it, and get them here. The Pentagon doesn't have them, and New York doesn't have them. And those flags came in. They were they were there about that midnight that that that night. Now boxed up, thrown in the bag box, whatever tape they were bound, but everybody that came out later, you know, the recoveries as we got deeper into the debris, that had a had a flag that that came that came from us in the as well as at the Pentagon, and they put two very big special flags in there. I mean, like you see flying over a car dealer. And they hung that on the side of the Pentagon. And if you look at any of the any of the news willers of that time, it was on day two that flag was hanging that that came in with the rest of the other flags. So it was it was quite impressive. You never know what the next moment was going to bring you on you know from my side and and and can I meet the challenge? That was what I constantly worry about. How could I let any of this down? And I've got to do something. And and we were making it up as we went along. Michael Hingson  1:00:33 Yeah, that's all you could do. And so when I go back to Bob Ellis  1:00:37 to to this to this day, you know, we go back. They've got 184 markers. I don't know how many people attend it, but it's it's right in that zone, right outside the building, in that grassy area where they they they've made that memorial. And 184 people, to include I think two infants, are are memorialized there forever, which is very touching. It was a that was a hard place to go back to. Still was New York City when I went to it because I'd never I had never been 20 years 20 years yet 18 years before I ever went to to New York City to see the recovery there. I've never I've not been to the to the to the Pennsylvania field. I plan to go. I want to go. Just hadn't been convenient to get there, but but if I do that, I will have seen all all the sites. Michael Hingson  1:01:26 Yeah, I haven't been to Pennsylvania either. In 2017, I did make it to the World Trade Center Museum. In well, so we moved out of Westfield, and I moved back to California in late January, beginning of February of 2002, to work for Guide Dogs for the Blind and and speak from there. And traveled around and speak. Karen was there for a couple more months selling our home, and then she came out. But in May of 2002, Roselle was going to be honored by Hart's Mountain, the pet food and pet supply company. So, so we went back to New York, and while we were there, I met one of the police officers with with one of the service with one of the rescue dogs that that had been around the World Trade Center, and he arranged for us to get in a vehicle and drive down into the pit that was where the World Trade Center was, and they had built an artificial, well, a temporary road, and they were bringing things up, but we got to go down to what would have been the seventh sublevel, the bottom of the tower, and it was just a for me just imagining it standing in that dirt area in a hole seven stories deep and remembering what what it was like, and then in 2017 I went to the World Trade Center Museum and got to spend a little bit of time there, and of course everything had been rebuilt. The reflecting pool was there, and so on. But it was nothing like what I remembered from having been in the World Trade Center, and I walked around with someone who was able to be aware and describe what was where we were and what was above us, or what part of the building we were in as we walked through the complex. But of course, it was totally different. So it was it was such a strange feeling to experience all of that. But we did it, you know. And so now I've been to the museum, and actually there is a there's an animal exhibit in the basement, and Roselle's collar is is part of that exhibit. We donated that to oh Bob Ellis  1:03:50 really, oh really, oh God, I I was I was thinking that when I asked you that question earlier today, and I was thinking about that that has got to be remarkable, you know that that that's what touched me so much at the period. That the fact that the two of you were such a team, and I read everything that newspapers printed and watched. I guess there was some there was some CBS specials and so forth too, where you were interviewed, and it was it was just it was just absolutely amazing. Michael Hingson  1:04:21 Well, it is. you know, it is a an awe-inspiring sort of thing. And you know, people always say, you know, don't you feel guilty about surviving when so many people didn't? And and I said, no, I I didn't have any control over that. But what I do have control over is having been a survivor. What am I going to do about it? It's my responsibility to decide how I'm going to deal with moving forward after something like that. And of course, the opportunity opened to travel and speak, and so I've been doing it ever since. And I believe my job is. Is to educate people about what happened on September 11th, and let them know t

Host Jadwiga Biskupska sits down with Ukrainian Army COL Oleksandr, an International Fellow in the AY26 class at the U.S. Army War College, for a real-time perspective on modern combat. He reveals how human innovation and older weapons are bypassing advanced electronic warfare on the battlefield.

    What does it take to keep wounded Soldiers alive when the next war means hours — not minutes — to the operating table? In this special collaboration between WarDocs and OP MED TV, recorded at the Defense Strategies Institute OP MED Symposium, COL Shaun Brown, MD, Commander of the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research, lays out the research agenda that will decide whether the wounded of the next conflict survive. COL Brown's path into Army medicine began with a rejection. Poor eyesight closed the door on the U.S. Naval Academy, so he pursued pre-med as a civilian undergraduate. When 9/11 happened, it solidified both his commitment to medicine and his decision to serve, and he took an Army HPSP scholarship in medical school. He trained in general surgery at William Beaumont Army Medical Center — a program with a long, quiet relationship with the special operations community — where attendings would vanish overnight for operational requirements. He chose colorectal surgery as a fellowship to add technical range he could use in civilian practice and on the battlefield, then joined Joint Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg after a year on staff in El Paso. Now commanding the Army's premier combat casualty care research enterprise, COL Brown is candid about what excites him and what worries him. He is most energized by the Organ Support and Automated Technology department, and he uses a widely shared video of a Ukrainian amputee evacuated by unmanned ground system to make his point: autonomous evacuation without autonomous medical support only moves the walking wounded. Ventilators that read changing physiology and adjust themselves, autonomous IV pumps, and en-route support are the missing half of the capability. His concern is combat wounds. In large-scale combat operations with prolonged evacuation timelines, Dr. Brown expects most damage control surgery to be done for sepsis rather than hemorrhage — the patients who cannot be evacuated become septic extremities. He also walks through the blood problem: whole blood is the standard, low-titer O supply will not be sufficient at scale, and the answer is shelf-stable components, including freeze-dried and spray-dried plasma, freeze-dried platelets, and freeze-dried red cells. The conversation closes on people. Brown details how the Army sustains surgical readiness through a diversified platform of military treatment facilities, civilian partnerships, and untapped Veterans Affairs relationships; how he coordinates with the Reserve consultant to pair complementary skill sets on deploying teams; and why, quoting the Army War College, he still serves: you train for the known and you educate for the unknown. Chapters (00:50-02:16) From Naval Academy Dreams to Army Medicine (02:16-04:33) Colorectal Surgery and the Road to Joint Special Operations Command (04:33-08:06) Commanding the ISR: Autonomous En-Route Care and the Combat Wound Gap (08:06-11:59) Blood, Plasma, and the Shelf-Stable Future of Resuscitation (11:59-18:16) Burn Care, Surgical Readiness, and Partnerships Across Components (18:16-22:22) Forward Surgical Capability Gaps and Why He Still Serves Chapter Summaries (00:50-02:16) From Naval Academy Dreams to Army Medicine Brown describes how bad eyesight ended his plan to attend the U.S. Naval Academy and sent him to a civilian undergraduate program and pre-med coursework. September 11th solidified his decision to pursue both medicine and military service, and he applied for the HPSP scholarship in medical school, choosing the Army's four-year award over the Air Force's three-year option. (02:16-04:33) Colorectal Surgery and the Road to Joint Special Operations Command He explains why he chose colorectal surgery — additional technical skill he could use in civilian practice and on the battlefield — and how residency at William Beaumont Army Medical Center exposed him early to the special operations world. He recounts getting the recruiting call while loading a moving van in New Orleans, then completing assessment and selection before moving to Fort Bragg. (04:33-08:06) Commanding the ISR: Autonomous En-Route Care and the Combat Wound Gap COL Brown identifies the Organ Support and Automated Technology department as the work he is most excited about, using a Ukrainian unmanned-ground-system evacuation video to argue that autonomous platforms without autonomous medical support can only move the walking wounded. He then names his chief concern: combat wound research funding, and his expectation that in large-scale combat operations most damage control surgery will be done for sepsis rather than hemorrhage. (08:06-11:59) Blood, Plasma, and the Shelf-Stable Future of Resuscitation The discussion turns to the evolution from component therapy to 1:1:1 ratios to whole blood, and Dr. Brown's assessment that low-titer O will not be available in sufficient quantity for large-scale combat operations. He details work on freeze-dried and spray-dried plasma, freeze-dried platelets, and freeze-dried red cells, noting that spray-drying is faster, cheaper, and uses equipment roughly the size of two ATMs — a major advantage for distributed manufacturing. (11:59-18:16) Burn Care, Surgical Readiness, and Partnerships Across Components COL Brown addresses the burn casualty problem in a future fight: forward Class VIII resuscitation supply, scaling the Advanced Burn Life Support course for deploying units, and partnerships with civilian burn centers, including placing Army burn surgeons in MILCIV sites. He then lays out the diversified surgical platform — military treatment facilities, community hospitals, and underused VA partnerships — and how he works with the Reserve consultant to pair complementary skill sets on deploying units. (18:16-22:22) Forward Surgical Capability Gaps and Why He Still Serves Asked what a forward surgical team still needs, COL Brown points to an off-the-shelf, infection-resistant biologic vascular conduit as a potential game changer over shunts — with the training investment that would require. He closes with his why, quoting the Army War College maxim that you train for the known and educate for the unknown, and asking who will be left to educate the next generation if experienced leaders walk away during the interwar period. Take Home Messages Autonomous evacuation without autonomous care only moves the walking wounded: Unmanned ground and air systems can pull a casualty off the battlefield, but a platform alone does not sustain a patient who needs a ventilator, a pump, or a transfusion en route. The medical community must be in the ground-maneuver conversation early, because a small design change can turn a logistics platform into a casualty evacuation platform. Autonomous ventilators that read changing physiology and adjust themselves are the missing half of that capability. In the next war, sepsis may drive damage control surgery more than hemorrhage: Prolonged evacuation timelines change the casualty population that reaches a surgeon. Patients in uncontrolled hemorrhage far from a surgical team frequently do not survive the wait, while patients with survivable wounds that cannot be evacuated arrive septic days later. Combat wound research and combat wound solutions deserve renewed funding priority for large-scale combat operations. Shelf-stable blood components are the answer to a cold chain that will not hold: Warm whole blood remains the standard of care, but low-titer O will not be available in the quantities a large-scale conflict demands, and cold chain storage is a logistical vulnerability. Freeze-dried and spray-dried plasma, freeze-dried platelets, and freeze-dried red cells are all in the research pipeline. Spray-drying offers a particular advantage: it is faster, cheaper, and the equipment footprint is small enough to support distributed manufacturing forward. Burn readiness is a supply problem, a training problem, and a partnership problem: Thermal weapons, lasers, fuel, and explosions could produce burn casualty volumes the system has not seen in decades. Resuscitation depends on adequate crystalloid and plasma forward, on teams trained to calculate burn surface area correctly, and on scaling the Advanced Burn Life Support course to deploying units. Long-term capacity also depends on formal relationships with civilian burn centers and on placing military burn surgeons inside those partnerships. Surgical readiness comes from a diversified platform, not from one hospital: Military treatment facility volume alone will not sustain a surgeon's skills, so readiness now depends on layering community hospital partnerships and Veterans Affairs relationships on top of the military caseload. Functional VA hospitals near large installations without strong academic affiliations are ripe for preferred referral partnerships. What surgeons need most is not trauma volume but complexity, which older patients with more complex medical conditions reliably provide. Episode Keywords military medicine, combat casualty care, US Army Institute of Surgical Research, ISR, Shaun Brown, WarDocs, OP MED TV, Army surgeon, damage control surgery, LSCO, large-scale combat operations, whole blood, freeze dried plasma, spray dried plasma, blood products, burn care, Army Burn Center, prolonged casualty care, en route care, autonomous medical systems, trauma surgery, military health system, surgical readiness, Army medicine Hashtags #MilitaryMedicine, #WarDocs, #CombatCasualtyCare, #ArmyMedicine, #TraumaSurgery, #LSCO, #MilitaryHealth, #BurnCare Honoring the Legacy and Preserving the History of Military Medicine   The WarDocs Mission: WarDocs exists to honor the legacy of Military Medicine, preserve its history, and inspire every generation — across all Services, Corps, and Ranks — to serve with excellence and pride. Through mentorship, coaching, and education, we equip those considering, entering, and serving in military medicine with the knowledge, connections, and community they need to thrive. We celebrate Who we are, What we do, and, most importantly, How we serve Our Patients, the DoW, and Our Nation.   Find out more and join Team WarDocs at https://www.wardocspodcast.com/ Check our list of previous guest episodes at https://www.wardocspodcast.com/our-guests Subscribe and Like our Videos on our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@wardocspodcast Listen to the “What We Are For” Episode 47. https://bit.ly/3r87Afm   WarDocs- The Military Medicine Podcast is a Non-Profit, Tax-exempt-501(c)(3) Veteran Run Organization run by volunteers. All donations are tax-deductible and go to honoring and preserving the history, experiences, successes, and lessons learned in Military Medicine. A tax receipt will be sent to you.   WARDOCS documents the experiences, contributions, and innovations of all military medicine Services, ranks, and Corps who are affectionately called “Docs” as a sign of respect, trust, and confidence on and off the battlefield, demonstrating dedication to the medical care of fellow comrades in arms.   Follow Us on Social Media Twitter: @wardocspodcast Facebook: WarDocs Podcast Instagram: @wardocspodcast LinkedIn: WarDocs-The Military Medicine Podcast YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@wardocspodcast

Trump heads to the Army War College in Pennsylvania for Senator Dave McCormick's defense summit, and somehow turns an infrastructure announcement into a masterclass on aircraft carrier catapults. Nearly $10 billion in new defense investment gets unveiled on the spot, submarines, shipyards, missile components, robotics hubs, and a passionate, extended rant about why magnets do not belong on Navy elevators. The room is stacked with heavy hitters, Jamie Dimon, Boeing's CEO, Lockheed, General Dynamics, Blackstone, all taking turns praising the new pace of business at the Pentagon. Between the economic numbers and manufacturing stats, there's a serious policy announcement on commercial truck licensing, a teaser for a "very big" Thursday announcement on election integrity, and a genuinely emotional moment honoring a fallen state trooper. It's part economic victory lap, part military pep rally, and part engineering opinion piece, with a truck cameo that gets compared to the infamous Dukakis tank moment.

U.S. Senator Dave McCormick is announcing $10 billion of investments into defense industries across Pennsylvania. The projects, mostly focused around Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, also include new factories in York and Lancaster. President Donald Trump is pushing to increase federal spending across manufacturing, artificial intelligence and robotics, all in support of a stronger military. Trump spoke at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle Wednesday to highlight investments in Pennsylvania's industries.  Leaders in the defense industry say there is a critical need for investment to strengthen national security. The $50.8 billion state budget now in effect includes more funds for public education and early-learning programs.While state lawmakers seemed to be moving fast this month to regulate data center construction, few rules made it into the budget deal which is now law.Philadelphia's Eastern State Penitentiary has a new exhibition about the religious liberties of incarcerated people.When Pennsylvania lawmakers recessed last Sunday, they did so without addressing unconstitutional murder sentences. This leaves one thousand people serving life sentences, in limbo. A Pennsylvania state report calls for new regulations on online casinos to tackle gambling addiction, which experts describe as a public health challenge. And MY Work in Perry County connects students with disabilities to meaningful, paid work opportunities in their communities. Some students are working for Marysville Borough this summer.It's been one year since public media's federal funding was revoked. Thanks to our community, we're still here for you and looking toward the future. Join the thousands of members who are building a stronger WITF. Go to  www.witf.org/givenow. And thank you.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche says at his Senate confirmation hearing to be Attorney General that mistakes were made during the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files and apologizes to survivors whose personal information was not redacted. He also says the $1.8 billion proposed anti-weaponization fund is 'dead'; Nominee for Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton refuses to answer Senate Intelligence Committee Democrats' questions about whether Joe Biden beat Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election; CDC Director nominee Dr. Erica Schwartz faces tough questions at her confirmation hearing from Republican Committee Chair Dr. Bill Cassidy, who asks if she will resist political interference in vaccine policy and other public health policy decisions; House votes on an amendment to eliminate $3.3 billion of U.S. military aid to Israel; President Donald Trump announces $10 billion in defense production investments at a defense summit at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania; Vice President JD Vance meets with House Republicans as they plan to move a $93 billion spending package, most of it for costs related to the war with Iran, through the budget reconciliation process that will allow them to pass it in the Senate with only Republican votes; former President Joe Biden has a new book coming out; British Prime Minister Keir Starmer says farewell as he holds his last Prime Minister's Question Time in the House of Commons in London before his resignation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does the research actually say about why people trust their leaders, and why do so many well-intentioned leaders still get it wrong? This week, Jon Goehring and Coach Jim Johnson welcome Dr. Ben Granger, chief workplace psychologist at Qualtrics, organizational psychology doctorate from the University of South Florida, and author of A Leader Worth Following, for one of the most research-backed and practically useful conversations the Lounge has ever had.Dr. Ben opens with a breakdown of VUCA, the framework originally developed by the Army War College to describe volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous environments, and makes the case that we are not just in a VUCA moment but a perennial VUCA reality that is only accelerating. His advice for leaders navigating it is both counterintuitive and immediately actionable: give people more grace, and communicate more, not less, especially when you do not have all the answers yet.The conversation goes deep on trust, one of the most talked about and least understood concepts in leadership. Dr. Ben shares data from 80,000 leadership assessments showing that the number one driver of trust is simply the quality of the personal relationship between a leader and their people. He also breaks down the three lenses employees use to evaluate whether they trust their leaders, competence, integrity, and benevolence, and reveals that only about half of global employees believe their leaders make decisions for the benefit of the group rather than themselves. That third lens, he argues, is where most leaders quietly lose their people without ever knowing it.Jon and Coach draw out some of the sharpest moments of the episode when Dr. Ben shares the story of an executive who got up in front of his company right after a major layoff and delivered an overly optimistic message that completely missed where his people were emotionally. Dr. Ben walks through exactly how that 15 minute misstep eroded trust on a massive scale, what it took to rebuild it, and why the Stockdale Paradox is one of the most important leadership frameworks any leader can internalize.The episode also covers the science of effective one-on-one meetings, why the agenda should belong to the employee rather than the manager, and what Dr. Ben did early in his career that quietly sent the wrong signal to his whole team every time he showed up late or cancelled. He closes with sharp advice on hiring for diversity of thought, building teams where task conflict is welcomed, and the critical distinction between interpersonal conflict that destroys performance and productive disagreement that drives better decisions.Whether you are just stepping into leadership or looking to understand why your team is not as all in as you need them to be, this episode will give you both the research and the practical tools to close that gap.Grab A Leader Worth Following wherever books are sold or on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Leader-Worth-Following-Benjamin-Granger/dp/1394402562Connect With Dr. Ben: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-granger-7147991b/

Governor Josh Shapiro and President Donald Trump are both scheduled to speak at the Army War College in Carlisle today. They're attending the Pennsylvania defense and infrastructure summit put together by Senator Dave McCormick. Trump is expected to highlight his investments in military spending. McCormick is using his summit to announce billions in investments in Pennsylvania industries. On the American debate over how much to spend on defense, U.S. Representative Scott Perry says he supports a one-time investment to jumpstart military production, but he warns about a ballooning federal budget.Governor Josh Shapiro is praising advocates from Pittsburgh who he said helped secure the first state budget increase for Pennsylvania's rape crisis centers in five years. Thirty-one percent of Pennsylvanian woman are unaware of the preventive services available at no cost under the Affordable Care Act. The Governor's Advisory Commission on Women is launching a statewide informational tour to tell them about accessible services.Pennsylvania lawmakers want to make it easier for homeowners to build backyard cottages, garage apartments, and other accessory dwelling units, or ADUs.Rabbittransit is getting ready to implement a new fare collection system later this month.  Changes are coming to the Capital Region, Gettysburg, Shippensburg and York routes.U.S. Senator Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania is bringing power brokers to the Keystone State by hosting a two-day summit on national defense industries. It's taking place at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle.Governor Josh Shapiro has secured a $20.3 million investment from Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials to expand operations and create 42 new jobs in Berks County.The number of measles cases in Pennsylvania has grown to 105 this year. The latest outbreak, over the past few months, is within a 7-county area surrounding Lancaster County where there have been 55 confirmed cases.It's been one year since public media's federal funding was revoked. Thanks to our community, we're still here for you and looking toward the future. Join the thousands of members who are building a stronger WITF. Go to  www.witf.org/givenow. And thank you. 

Danny Sheehan is one of the most consequential public interest attorneys of the last century. His cases include the Pentagon Papers, Watergate, the Karen Silkwood case, the Iran-Contra investigation, and decades of work at the intersection of government secrecy and the public's right to know. He is co-founder of the Romero Institute and the New Paradigm Institute, and a leading voice in the push for congressional UAP disclosure. Today, he stands at the center of what may be the most consequential question humanity has ever faced: the implications of a potential extraterrestrial or extradimensional non-human presence here on Earth. Having spent over 50 years litigating against government secrecy and winning, in this discussion, Danny connects the JFK assassination, the Vatican's role in the 1933 Italy UFO crash, the founding of the CIA, and the architecture of Brown Brothers Harriman to the UFO cover-up we're living through today, and lays out the concrete constitutional path to disclosure. Big thanks to Jamie Billings for helping make this interview happen, and to Danny and his wife for their time and generosity. The New Paradigm Institute, founded by acclaimed civil rights and Constitutional attorney Danny Sheehan, is dedicated to advocating for the public release of information held by the government surrounding the issue of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP), or what was commonly known as Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs). For more information, visit http://newparadigminstitute.org. Stream on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/14ioP0zfFczK8hKPsDUmko?si=cff351ada3944a9a Want more? Join the Frightday Society, at http://thefrightdaysociety.org As a Society Member, you'll have access to all Screamium content (Behind the Screams, It's Been a Weird Week, A Conversation With..., Toast to Toast PM with Wine Kelly, Cinema Autopsy, the Writers' Room, bonus episodes of Captain Kelly's Cryptids & Conspiracies, Byron's Serial Corner, and so much more! 00:00 Intro 00:30 Welcome and guest introduction 02:33 Reaction to WAR.gov/UFO and Pete Hegseth's framing 04:43 Danny's faith in the American people 07:06 JFK and Khrushchev's secret disarmament letters after the Cuban Missile Crisis 09:23 Why the assassination happened and its fallout 11:44 The Gulf of Tonkin lie and the collapse of trust in government 14:07 Coming to grips with UAP reality and the national security state 16:23 1968 vs. today: has Trump set disclosure back? 18:47 Why the world's religious communities may lead reform, not governments 21:05 Jesus, telepathy, and the evolution of human consciousness 23:23 Why the Vatican has withheld information, and why the Jesuit order was founded to reform the Church 25:48 Pope Pius XII and the 1933 UFO crash in Italy 28:11 The "Magenta" case and what Italy/Germany did with the craft in WWII 30:37 1945: Roswell, Aztec, White Sands, and the UAP Disclosure Act of 2023 32:57 Roots of the national security state: the U.S. invasion of Russia in 1917 35:10 Brown Brothers Harriman, the Dulles brothers, and the Treaty of Versailles 37:28 George Herbert Walker, Union Banking Corp, and financing the Third Reich 39:28 Trump's $1.5 trillion nuclear modernization plan and why UFOs are watching 41:42 Who are "they"? On multiple species and the unknown galactic order 43:50 Congress's constitutional authority over classification (Youngstown Sheet & Tube v. Sawyer) 46:12 A message to young people and why participation matters 48:34 How lawmakers respond to pressure, and the strategy for the 2026 midterms 53:10 Recapping the Contact in the Desert panel: Jacques Vallée, Tim Gallaudet, Eric Davis, and the question nobody would answer 57:42 What first convinced Danny this was real 59:49 Deathbed testimonies and how a trial lawyer evaluates truth 1:02:11 Danny's real concern: not fear of ET, but fear of losing ourselves to them 1:04:38 Archival fieldwork: the Army War College, Wild Bill Donovan, and the McGregor Project 1:09:24 Who to trust in the UFO community: Eric Burlison, Tim Burchett, and others 1:11:46 Hope for 2026 and beyond: decent people in Congress and a path forward 1:14:07 Closing thoughts and how to get involved You'll also be part of our interactive community dedicated to the advancement of horror, hauntings, cryptids, conspiracies, aliens, and true crime. All things frightening. Keep our mini-fridges full of blood...I mean...not blood...normal things that people drink...by going to http://shop.frightday.com  Theme music by Yawns Produced by Byron McKoy Follow us in the shadows at the following places: @VISITORSshow  @byronmckoy @kellyfrightday @frightday  This is an Audio Wool Original. #UAP #UFO #Disclosure #DannySheehan #ContactInTheDesert #VISITORS #PentagonPapers #NationalSecurity

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Dave Acosta and Austin Branch discuss IPA's APEX conference which will be September 8–9, 2026 at the CARASOFT facility in Reston VA. As governments, militaries, industries, and societies confront increasingly sophisticated influence operations, disinformation campaigns, and cognitive warfare activities, the need for cognitive security education, research, and professional development has never been greater. APEX 2026 is a two-day educational forum dedicated to advancing the emerging field of cognitive security. Bringing together educators, researchers, students, practitioners, government representatives, and industry leaders, APEX seeks to foster collaboration, strengthen professional expertise, and contribute to the development of future approaches to Operations in the Information Environment (OIE). Recording Date: 19 June 2026 Resources: APEX Conference Link to full show notes and resources Guest Bio:  Austin Branch is a nationally recognized leader in cognitive security, strategic influence, and information operations. A retired Army Officer and senior U.S. government executive, he pioneered the Army's Information Operations career field and served as the first Senior Director for IO in the Office of Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict. He is the co-founder of the Information Professionals Association and Managing Partner of Crescent Bridge Corporation, advancing cross-sector solutions to achieve cognitive advantage. He also serves as Professor of Practice at the University of Maryland's Applied Research Lab for Intelligence and Security and as an Adjunct Professor at The Citadel, where he teaches Cognitive Security. A contributor to The Cipher Brief, Austin also designs college-level curricula on intelligence and gray zone competition, blending operational insight with academic rigor to mentor the next generation of strategic thinkers. David Acosta is a Board Member of the Information Professionals Association and focuses on the Association's education portfolio. Additionally, Dave serves as a Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, currently commanding the 2nd Brigade, 91st Training Division, headquartered in Denver, Colorado. He served at various levels throughout his career from the company/battery level to the Headquarters, Department of the Army G-3/5/7. He commanded the 303d Information Operations (IO) Battalion, 151st Theater IO Group at Camp Parks CA and served as the G3 Information Operations (IO) Chief for the US Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command (Airborne). He also served as the Assistant Deputy Director for Joint Warfighting Development, Joint Staff J-7 in Suffolk, Virginia. His operational tours include deployments to Kosovo in 1999, Bosnia-Herzegovina in 2002, and Iraq in 2007 and 2009. Additionally, Dave is a Professor of Practice of Technical Operations in the Information Environment at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. Dave holds a Bachelors of Science in History (Russian Area) from the US Air Force Academy, a Master of Science in Joint Information Operations from the Naval Postgraduate School, and a Master of Strategic Studies from the Army War College. He is a PhD student of International Studies at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. About: The Information Professionals Association (IPA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain. For more information, please contact us at communications@information-professionals.org. Or, connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell, on LinkedIn. Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, 1) IPA earns from qualifying purchases, 2) IPA gets commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

What happens when you unleash senior military students to fix bureaucracy? Guests Jared Britz and Josh Eggar join host Bob Bradford to discuss how Army War College students used tabletop exercises & AI tools to stress-test Army reforms and spot friction points. https://warroom.armywarcollege.edu/podcasts/unleashing-expertise

Can AI pass military exams? Kevin Boyce & John Nagl join host Tom Spahr to discuss testing ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude & Grok on Army War College comps. All passed, but limits caused AI to degrade under pressure, proving human judgment remains indispensable. You can read the article Can AI Pass the U.S. Army War College? by Kevin Boyce, John Nagl and Kris Wheaton here https://publications.armywarcollege.edu/News/Display/Article/4472536/can-ai-pass-the-us-army-war-college/ You can find the manuscript Responsibly Pursuing Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) for the War Fighter by Blair Wilcox and Anthony Pfaff here https://press.armywarcollege.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3365&context=parameters https://warroom.armywarcollege.edu/podcasts/ai-comps

What happens when a nuclear threat becomes real—and who responds first?In this episode of NucleCast, host Adam Lowther speaks with retired Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) officer Steve Andros about nuclear incident response, interagency coordination, and the growing risks of proliferation and terrorism. From the role of local responders to specialized capabilities like the Nuclear Emergency Support Team (NEST), the discussion highlights how the U.S. prepares for and deters nuclear threats.The conversation also explores how deterrence extends beyond traditional strategy to include denial, disruption, and threat-based approaches, while separating Hollywood myths from the realities of nuclear security operations.Steve Andros serves as Policy Advisor and Exercise Planner for the Office of Nuclear Incident Response, supporting the integrated use of U.S. capabilities and the development of national and interagency nuclear response policy. He previously served nearly 30 years as a U.S. Navy EOD officer, including assignments supporting DOE nuclear incident response policy and counter–WMD efforts.He holds advanced degrees from Johns Hopkins SAIS and the U.S. Army War College, with a background spanning operational, strategic, and interagency nuclear security missions.Follow us on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@nuclecast3665?si=h1kCO6NqUtL87w6qFollow on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/nuclecastpodcastSubscribe RSS Feed: https://rss.com/podcasts/nuclecast-podcast/Rate: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nuclecast/id1644921278Email comments and topic/guest suggestions to Kimberly@anwadeter.org

In this episode, retired Army Infantry Officer Chris Hossfeld joins the show to discuss his 27-year military career and his transition into becoming the CEO of Barrel Strength Leadership. He shares the inspiration behind his company, which sparked during an Army War College "staff ride" at Gettysburg where he realized the immense power of intersecting history with real-world leadership development. Today, Chris takes clients to legendary battlefields like Normandy and Gettysburg for highly interactive, immersive experiences, tailoring each tour to help organizations tackle universal business and leadership hurdles. Chris shares insight in translating veteran soft skills into civilian leadership and mastering the ultimate success metric: building a business that can seamlessly operate without you. Episode Resources: Barrel Strength Leadership   About Our Guest Chris Hossfeld is not just another leadership coach. He is someone who believes that leadership should not just be read about, it should be lived. He is a U.S. Army combat veteran with over 25 years of leadership experience. Chris takes leaders to some of the most legendary battlefields, like Normandy or Gettysburg, and there immerses his clients in the thinking and decisions in some of history's greatest battles.   About Our Sponsors Navy Federal Credit Union   Navy Federal Credit Union is here to help you dominate your debt with the Platinum Card. Transfer your credit card balance to the Platinum card within your first 60 days and get a zero percent intro APR for 12 months. Visit here to start dominating debt. Join now at Navy Federal Credit Union. At Navy Federal, our members are the mission.    Join the conversation on Facebook! Check out Veteran on the Move on Facebook to connect with our guests and other listeners. A place where you can network with other like-minded veterans who are transitioning to entrepreneurship and get updates on people, programs and resources to help you in YOUR transition to entrepreneurship.   Want to be our next guest? Send us an email at interview@veteranonthemove.com.  Did you love this episode? Leave us a 5-star rating and review!  Download Joe Crane's Top 7 Paths to Freedom or get it on your mobile device. Text VETERAN to 38470. Veteran On the Move podcast has published 600 episodes. Our listeners have the opportunity to hear in-depth interviews conducted by host Joe Crane. The podcast features people, programs, and resources to assist veterans in their transition to entrepreneurship.  As a result, Veteran On the Move has over 7,000,000 verified downloads through Stitcher Radio, SoundCloud, iTunes and RSS Feed Syndication making it one of the most popular Military Entrepreneur Shows on the Internet Today.

CannCon and Alpha Warrior welcome retired Air Force Lt. Col. R. Davis Younts, a former JAG officer who almost got separated at nineteen and a half years for refusing the COVID shot, saved only by the Doster injunction. Younts now represents the service members fighting to get their careers, records, and back pay restored. The conversation opens with the trailer for the new documentary "Duty to Disobey," then moves into Pete Hegseth's announcement establishing the COVID-19 Reinstatement and Reconciliation Task Force. Younts breaks down what is actually good about the directive, where the Pentagon bureaucracy is still slow walking it, and why he estimates only about 5% of forced-out troops will return after what they and their families went through. The guys dig into the Army War College integrity study, the risk-averse mindset that makes officers manage their careers instead of leading, and why Stuart Scheller is the modern Billy Mitchell. Younts ends with a simple prescription: fire the general officers, hold real war games, and rebuild from there. Plus: US has 750 overseas bases. China has one. Russia has under 30. So what is $1.5 trillion buying?

For 50 years, the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday has helped shape Greater Columbus into a world-class sports destination. In this episode of Yes, Columbus, Boxer and Sarah sit down with Jack Nicklaus II, president of Nicklaus Design, and veteran golf journalist Dave Shedloski to reflect on the tournament's legacy, evolution and impact. In this episode, hear stories about the tournament's earliest days to and unforgettable moments at Muirfield Village Golf Club. This conversation celebrates the traditions, people and experiences that continue to make the Memorial one of the most iconic events on the PGA TOUR.Jack William Nicklaus, II -Jack Nicklaus II followed in his father's footsteps in more than just his name. Following a successful collegiate career at the University of North Carolina, Jack II enjoyed competitive success first on the amateur circuit and then the professional circuits. Jack II not only has a passion for the game of golf, but as a former University of North Carolina team alum and professional golfer, Jack has a deep understanding of the commitment both collegiate and progressional athletes take on both physically and mentally.In the late 1980's Jack II decided on a career in golf course design, designing his first golf course in 1991. A leading force in Nicklaus Family Design, he serves as President of the firm and works as both a solo designer and in collaboration with his father.In 2000, Jack II was named in Golfweek's “40 Under 40,” a list of 40 individuals under the age of 40 from the golf industry that the magazine felt would “most likely shape the game – and the business of the game, for the next 10,20 or 30 years.” The same year, Jack 11 was accepted into the prestigious American Society of Golf Course Architects, of which his father is also a member.Jack II has designed and directed nearly 55 golf courses and communities, both nationally and internationally. He has received numerous accolades for his design work and many of his designs or co-designs have hosted touring professional events or high-profile amateur championships, including the Club at Twin Eagles and Heritage Course at Ibis Golf and Country Club. He is Chairman of Muirfield Village Golf Club and The Memorial Tournament. Recently he was elected a member of The Captains Club. As an active leader in the community, he has served on several Boards of Directors, including Meeder Financial, U.S. Army War College, WorldServe, The Benjamin School and Nicklaus Children's Healthcare Foundation.Located in South Florida, Jack II is the first of five children born to Jack and Barbara Nicklaus. He is married to Allison Nicklaus, and is a father of five: Jack III, Christie, Charlie, Casey and Will. He is most proud of his 5 children and 2 grandchildren.David Shedloski has been a sports journalist for more than 40 years and holds the distinction as the only writer in golf history to have co-written books with Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer.A Cleveland native and 1984 graduate of Miami (Ohio) University, Shedloski worked in daily newspapers, covering golf, Ohio State football and Cincinnati Reds baseball among other subjects. In 1995 he turned his attention solely to golf, contributing to a number of outlets. Today he serves as a contributing editor to Golf Digest and as editorial director of The Memorial, the official magazine of the Memorial Tournament. He has covered more than 500 golf tournaments worldwide and is the recipient of 17 writing awards in golf.Shedloski's author credits begin with “Golden Twilight,” published in 2001, a critically acclaimed chronicle of Nicklaus' final championship season in 2000. He also co-wrote “Memories and Mementos” with Nicklaus in 2005, and in 2015 he helped Arnold Palmer write his final memoir, “A Life Well Played,” which debuted in October 2016 on The New York Times bestseller list. His ninth book will be published in time for the 50th anniversary of the Memorial Tournament, titled: "Memorial Memories: The History of the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide and Muirfield Village Golf Club."Shedloski lives in New Albany, Ohio, and is the father of two children, Alexander and Elizabeth.

To meet the demands of modern, high-intensity warfare, the U.S. Army Reserve must remake itself --"Army Reserve 4.0"-- is the finding of an Army War College integrated research project. Steve Trynosky discussed this study with authors Kiona Pritchard, Brandon Collins, and Colleen Vermeulen. They found the Army Reserve is in a "readiness trap" caused by spreading insufficient infrastructure and budget across too many formations. To address this, the team proposes a tiered readiness model: "Ready Now" for immediate response, "Expand Tomorrow" for operational depth, and "Endure Always" for a long-term strategic reserve. Beyond structural changes, the authors advocate for a "unified culture" through increased cross-pollination, such as embedding Reserve officers in active-duty units and vice versa. By offering flexible service options tailored to diverse civilian lifestyles, the Army Reserve can better retain top talent and remain an indispensable partner to the joint force in future peer conflicts. One of the things that we see here at the Army War College and out across the broader force—it's considered okay as an active duty officer to not be familiar with the reserve component. And that's a problem because the reserve components, plural, make up roughly 50% of the force. Brandon Collins is an Army lieutenant colonel and was commissioned as a Military Intelligence Officer in 2006 from Officer Candidate School and has held an array of assignments in both the Regular Army and Army Reserve, to include, most recently, CJ2X Director for Combined Joint Task Force-OIR in Baghdad, Iraq. LTC Collins holds a Juris Doctor from South Texas College of Law – Houston; a Master's Degree in Global and International Studies from the University of Kansas, and a Bachelor's Degree in Communications from Stephen F. Austin State University. He is a member of the AY26 Resident Course at the U.S. Army War College. Kiona Pritchard is a colonel and an Army Nurse Corps Officer commissioned in 2005 through the Army ROTC Green to Gold Program following several years of active duty enlisted service. She began her career in the Regular Army and later transferred to the Army Reserve becoming a Nurse Practitioner. COL Pritchard has held a variety of command, clinical, and staff assignments, most recently as Commander of the 10th Battalion, 108th Regiment, an Army Reserve instructor unit for medical non-commissioned officer professional military education and enlisted medical MOS qualification courses. Kiona holds a Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Cincinnati and Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Portland. She is a member of the AY26 Resident Course at the U.S. Army War College. Colleen Vermeulen is a colonel who earned her commission as an Army Engineer Officer from ROTC in 2004. She has held a diverse range of command and staff assignments in both the Regular Army and Army Reserve, to include, Reserve Command Engineer for Special Operations Command South and Commander, 3rd Battalion, 330th Infantry Regiment, a unique Army Reserve unit missioned to deliver Infantry One Station Unit Training. COL Vermeulen holds both a Master of Divinity and Master of Nonprofit Administration from the University of Notre Dame as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Government from Cornell University. She is a member of the AY26 Resident Course at the U.S. Army War College. Stephen Trynosky is the John Parker Chair of Reserve Component Studies at the U.S. Army War College and earned his commission as a Medical Service Corps Officer from ROTC in 1998.  He has held a diverse range of command and staff assignments in both the Regular Army and Army Reserve, to include, most recently, Senior Advisor, Professional Military Education, Office of the Secretary of War; and Commander, 993rd Medical Detachment (Veterinary Service Support). COL Trynosky holds both Juris Doctor and Master of Public Health degrees from the State University of New York at Buffalo, as well as a Master of Military Art and Science from the U.S. Army School of Advanced Military Studies and a BA in history from Saint Peter's College. He is a graduate of the AY23 Resident Course at the U.S. Army War College. Photo Credit: Created by Gemini

In this episode of The Operational Arch, hosts Spencer Bates and DJ Taylor sit down with Lieutenant General Chun In-bum (Ret.), former commander of the Republic of Korea Special Warfare Forces and U.S. Army War College graduate, for a wide-ranging conversation on the enduring U.S.-ROK alliance. General Chun explores the deep historical, cultural, and security ties that bind the two nations — from Korea's democratic founding under American mentorship to the shared sacrifices of the Vietnam War. The discussion shifts to the operational challenges of the Korean Peninsula, including terrain, deterrence, the importance of adaptive planning, and the combined Second Infantry Division as a model for allied partnership. The episode closes with a sobering look at North Korea's battlefield performance in Ukraine, the growing Russia-DPRK relationship, and General Chun's call for greater focus on civil-military relations and cognitive warfare as the defining challenges of the modern era. 0:00     Guest Introduction & Overview— Introduction of Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Chun In-bum, ROK Armed Forces1:50     The U.S.-ROK "Blood Alliance"7:05     Cultural Ties: Religion, Education & K-Culture10:36    Security Challenges: China, Japan & the North Korean Threat14:13    "Never Underestimate the North Koreans"16:21    Campaigning on the Korean Peninsula19:34    Simple Ops, Detailed Logistics: the key to effective combined operations21:52    The ROK as Partner, Not Competitor31:09    The KPA in Ukraine: Motivation, Indoctrination & Vulnerability41:04    Civil-Military Relations & Cognitive Warfare: the defining challenges of the modern era

78 MinutesPG-13John Fieldhouse joins Pete once more to read and comment on Charles J. Dunlop's 1992 Army War College paper, "The Origins of the American Military Coup of 2012."The Origins of the American Military Coup of 2012Pete and Thomas777 'At the Movies'Support Pete on His WebsitePete's PatreonPete's Substack Pete's SubscribestarPete's GUMROADPete's VenmoPete's Buy Me a CoffeePete on FacebookPete on Twitter Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-pete-quinones-show--6071361/support.

In this episode of NucleCast, retired Lieutenant General Dan Karbler joins the podcast to examine the evolving landscape of air and missile defense amid ongoing regional conflicts and accelerating technological change. Drawing on decades of operational and strategic leadership, LTG Karbler discusses how layered missile defense—from strategic homeland defense to tactical systems—is adapting to increasingly complex threats.The conversation explores Iranian drone and missile activity in the Middle East, the role of systems such as THAAD, Patriot, and counter‑UAS, and the challenges of sustaining and reconstituting missile defense capabilities at scale. Lt Gen Karbler also offers insights into the Golden Dome concept for homeland missile defense, emerging future threats, and what deterrence requires in an era of precision missiles, massed drones, and rapid technological diffusion.For nearly 37 years, Dan served our nation in a variety of positions in the United States and around the world. An expert in Air and Missile Defense and Space Operations, he has extensive experience in effectively leading large and complex military commands, conducting operations, requirements and capability development, test and evaluation, and budget formulation. Prior to retiring from the Army as a Lieutenant General, he led the U.S. Army's Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC), a globally dispersed organization across 23 locations and 11 time zones responsible for providing homeland and regional air and missile defense and space operations. During that time, Space and Missile Defense Command was named “The Army's Best Place to Work” in 2022 and 2023. Since retiring, Dan has joined the Center for Security and International Studies (CSIS) as a senior advisor to the Missile Defense Project and has been a frequent contributor on national security matters to Merit Street News. He sits on the advisory board for TCOM and was recently appointed to the board for the Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC). During the past year, Dan served as a technical advisor and actor in the upcoming movie, “A House of Dynamite.” Dan has a Master's degree in Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College, a Master's degree in Business Administration from Benedictine College, and a Bachelor's Degree from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.Socials:Follow on Twitter at @NucleCastFollow on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/nuclecastpodcastSubscribe RSS Feed: https://rss.com/podcasts/nuclecast-podcast/Rate: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nuclecast/id1644921278Email comments and topic/guest suggestions to NucleCast@anwadeter.org

SHOW SCHEDULE THURSDAY 3-12-20261917 COTSWOLDS ENGLAND1. Mary Anastasia O'Grady (Wall Street Journal) discusses Iranian presence in Venezuela, focusing on war drones and agents with Venezuelan passports. She notes the U.S. recognition of Delcy Rodriguez as acting president while pursuing a democratic transition. (1)2. Natalie Ecanow (Foundation for Defense of Democracies) examines Qatar's "Special Watch List" designation for religious freedom abuses, specifically involving a Baha'i leader. She highlights the contradiction of Qatar hosting groups like Hamas while maintaining strategic U.S. partnerships. (2)3. Jeff McCausland (CBS News) analyzes modern warfare's reliance on drones and missiles, noting the lack of a clear U.S. strategy for the Iran conflict. He criticizes the administration's poor messaging regarding tragic civilian casualties. (3)4. Jeff McCausland (CBS News) discusses technology favoring defense in Ukraine and Iran through drones and GPS. He examines Iran's asymmetric strategy targeting global supply chains and their willingness to fight a long attrition war. (4)5. Evan Ellis (U.S. Army War College) details Panama's port contract disputes with China and the transition to APM Terminals. He also discusses ongoing lawfare in Guatemala and the U.S. intention to return Haitian migrants despite local violence. (5)6. Evan Ellis (U.S. Army War College) reports on rumored secret diplomacy between the U.S. and Cuba's Castro family. He explains Cuba's severe economic collapse and electricity crisis following the loss of subsidized oil from Venezuela. (6)7. Evan Ellis (U.S. Army War College) discusses U.S. direct engagement with Venezuela's leadership regarding oil and mining investments. He also analyzes shifting political trends in Colombia and Peru, where right-of-center candidates are gaining significant momentum. (7)8. Evan Ellis (U.S. Army War College) notes cooled relations between Brazil's Lula and the U.S. due to Brazil's foreign policy shifts toward the BRICS. He also analyzes the rise of conservative leader Jose Antonio Kast in Chile. (8)9. Paul Thomas Chamberlain (Columbia University) recounts U.S. strategic calculations before Pearl Harbor, highlighting uncertainty about carrier technology. He describes the U.S. as a reluctant, "anti-colonial" empire facing imminent threats to its Philippine possessions and interests. (9)10. Paul Thomas Chamberlain (Columbia University) identifies late 1942 as World War II's turning point, citing Stalingrad, Guadalcanal, and North Africa. These battles signaled the rise of continent-spanning superpowers over traditional colonial empires in a new world order. (10)11. Paul Thomas Chamberlain (Columbia University) analyzes the Casablanca and Cairo conferences, highlighting Roosevelt's strategies to keep Stalin as an ally. The U.S. promoted anti-colonialism and self-determination to establish a post-war liberal capitalist order dominated by American economy. (11)12. Paul Thomas Chamberlain (Columbia University) examines Allied plans like Operation Ranke to contain Soviet influence as Germany neared collapse. Despite focusing on Europe, the U.S. successfully launched simultaneous offensive thrusts across the Pacific against the Japanese Empire. (12)13. Anatol Lieven (Quincy Institute) discusses the Iran war's impact, noting Russia's benefits through increased energy profits and diverted Western air defenses. He criticizes the U.S. administration for failing to predict predictable Iranian retaliation against global energy supplies. (13)14. Anatol Lieven (Quincy Institute) explores the resurgence of the "Great Game," detailing Israel's goal to dismantle the Iranian state. He argues that bombing will not break Iranian resistance and notes European reluctance to impose sanctions. (14)15. Richard Epstein (Civitas Institute) criticizes President Trump's trade policies and tariff investigations, arguing they cause severe domestic economic dislocation. He highlights the legal uncertainty businesses face regarding tariff refunds and the potential for prolonged litigation. (15)16. Richard Epstein (Civitas Institute) discusses the Middle East war's threat to niche commodities essential for high-end microchips. He critiques recent energy policies and emphasizes the difficulty of assessing military progress due to limited public information. (16)

Today on Too Opinionated, we're joined by actor Gary Hilborn, who appears as Trent Patterson, the Head of the Secret Service, in the hit Netflix political thriller The Night Agent. Gary discusses stepping into the high-stakes world of the White House and filming his very first scene—a challenging walk-and-talk sequence directed by Emmy-winning actor/director Adam Arkin. Despite first-day nerves, the moment became one of the most rewarding experiences of the shoot. An especially meaningful moment came when Gary stepped onto Trent's office set and noticed a National War College degree on the wall, a touching coincidence given that his late father was a U.S. Army colonel who studied at the sister institution, the Army War College. Beyond The Night Agent, Gary has appeared in several major television series including:

In this episode, Colonel John Oliver discusses the U.S. Army Strategic Capital Initiatives, exploring innovative partnerships with private capital and tech companies to modernize the industrial base and enhance military readiness. He discusses the recent U.S. Army Enterprise Strategic Capital Partnership RFI linked here: https://sam.gov/workspace/contract/opp/f825eabd94884cc3b534bfde1927ccd9/view Col. John Oliver Bio: Colonel John Oliver currently serves as the Imitative Groups Chief, for the Deputy Under Secretary of the Army. He was commissioned as an Infantry Officer from the United States Military Academy in 2006 and has graduated from the Infantry Officer Basic Course, the Maneuver Captain's Career Course, Airborne School, Air Assault School, Ranger School, Jumpmaster School, the Command and General Staff College, and Army War College.  Prior to rejoining the DUSA's office, Colonel Oliver was assigned to the Headquarters, Department of the Army in the G-8, where he was the Program Priorities and Planning Division chief.  Before that, John served in the G-3, where he served as the Total Army Analysis lead for Force Structure among other roles. His previous Force Management assignments include Lead Budget Analyst for the Equipping PEG POM Build, Aide-de-Camp to the Commanding General of Army Futures Command, Chief of Force Management for the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), HQDA G-8 Stryker Staff Synchronization Officer, and Executive Officer for the Director, Joint and Integration. His prior Infantry assignments include serving as Rifle Company Commander and HHC Commander in the 1-25 SBCT, and Rifle Platoon Leader in the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment. COL Oliver's overseas service includes deployments in support of OIF (x1) and OEF (x2).   Colonel Oliver holds a Master of Business Administration from Duke University and a Master of Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College. His awards and decorations include the Bronze Star Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Purple Heart, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters, the Army Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom Campaign Medals, the Parachutist Badge, the Air Assault Badge, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Expert Infantryman Badge, the Army Staff Badge, and the Ranger Tab. Key topics: The purpose and goals of the Strategic Capital Initiative Engagement with non-traditional industry partners and tech companies Innovative models for public-private partnerships in defense Addressing risks and misconceptions in military modernization LEARN MORE: Thank you for tuning into this episode of the GovDiscovery AI Podcast with Mike Shanley. You can learn more about our BD solutions at www.govdiscoveryai.com. To connect with our team directly, message the host Mike Shanley on LinkedIn. He'll reply! https://www.govdiscoveryai.com

SHOW SCHEDULE1-29-20261942 LANCASTER PA, ARMISTICE DAY IN WARTIME Guest: Anatol Lieven. Lieven of the Quincy Institute discusses breaking news that Vladimir Putin has agreed to a one-week ceasefire on Ukrainian cities following a request from Donald Trump. Lieven views this as a significant positive signal of Putin's desire to maintain good standing with the incoming administration, though he notes that major territorial disagreements remain unresolved. Guest: Anatol Lieven. The conversation turns to the $300 billion in suspended Russian assets. Lieven outlines Russia's proposal to use these funds for reconstruction or a joint investment fund to avoid confiscation, suggesting that suspending rather than lifting sanctions could be a political compromise to secure U.S. Senate approval. Guest: Chris Riegel. Riegel, CEO of Stratology, analyzes Elon Musk's pivot to manufacturing "Optimus" androids, arguing that California's restrictive tax and labor costs are driving the need for automation. He suggests that major retailers like Walmart are poised to replace significant portions of their workforce with robotics to maintain profitability amid rising economic pressures. Guest: Mariam Wahba. Wahba from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies reports on the persecution of Christians in Nigeria by jihadists and Fulani militants. She details a newly established White House working group designed to help the Nigerian government fix security gaps and enforce laws against the perpetrators of this religiously motivated violence. Guest: Mary Anastasia O'Grady. O'Grady of the Wall Street Journal critiques the Trump administration's engagement with Venezuela's acting president, Delcy Rodriguez. O'Grady warns that while Rodriguez is cooperating on oil exports, she remains a "vice dictator" managing rival factions to ensure the regime's survival while stalling on the release of political prisoners. Guest: Veronique de Rugy. De Rugy of the Mercatus Center examines the failure of Georgia's film tax credits, noting that productions eventually moved to cheaper locations despite billions in subsidies. She compares this to federal industrial policies like tariffs and Intel subsidies, arguing that government attempts to "pick winners" rarely produce sustainable economic results. Guest: Michael Toth. Toth of the Civitas Institute warns against new "climate superfund" legislation in states like New York, which seeks to retroactively tax fossil fuel companies for global warming. He characterizes these funds as unconstitutional attempts to regulate global emissions at the state level, arguing they will function as slush funds that drive up energy costs. Guest: Michael Toth. The segment focuses on California's strategy to empower the Attorney General to sue fossil fuel companies for rising insurance premiums. Toth argues these lawsuits are politically motivated and legally weak, noting that even insurance companies refuse to sue because attributing specific damages or deaths to corporate emissions is factually difficult. Guest: Professor Evan Ellis. Ellis of the U.S. Army War College reports that Cuba is facing a catastrophic energy collapse, with only days of oil remaining after Mexico and Venezuela cut supplies. He predicts this crisis will likely trigger a massive wave of migration as the island's power grid and economy face a near-total shutdown. Guest: Professor Evan Ellis. Ellis discusses the Costa Rican election, where center-right candidate Laura Fernandez holds a commanding lead. He describes her as a technocrat focused on combating drug-fueled crime and continuing pro-business policies, noting she is on track to potentially win the presidency in the first round. Guest: Professor Evan Ellis. Ellis evaluates Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, praising her pragmatic management of relations with the U.S. despite her leftist ideology. He notes she has navigated threats of tariffs and military intervention by cooperating on border security and extradition, while maintaining political dominance through her predecessor's powerful movement. Guest: Professor Evan Ellis. Ellis describes the unstable power dynamics in Venezuela, where the Rodriguezfaction cooperates with the U.S. on oil to prevent economic collapse. He warns that rival criminal factions, including the ELN and military figures, may sabotage this arrangement if they fear being betrayed or marginalized by the current leadership. Guest: Padraic Scanlan. Scanlan, author of Rot, introduces the history of the Irish Famine by recounting a folk story about Queen Victoria visiting the devastated village of Skibbereen. He sets the context by explaining how the pre-famine Irish economy relied entirely on the high-yield potato, which allowed landlords to pay incredibly low wages to a capital-poor population. Guest: Padraic Scanlan. Scanlan discusses the structure of Irish land ownership, using Shirley Castle as an example of the disconnect between landlords and tenants. He explains that while the landscape looked ancient, landlords were actually modern, sophisticated merchants who extracted rent from a tenant class living on small, unimproved plots known as "conacres." Guest: Padraic Scanlan. Scanlan explains the Victorian view of the famine through the lens of economist Thomas Malthus, who believed the "generous" potato encouraged overpopulation. He notes that Britishpolicymakers viewed the famine as a natural, inevitable correction and feared that providing aid would discourage the Irish poor from developing a "civilized" work ethic. Guest: Padraic Scanlan. Scanlan details the biological cause of the famine: Phytophthora infestans, a water mold that originated in Mexico. He explains that because Irish potatoes were genetically identical clones grown from cuttings, they had zero resistance to the pathogen, which destroyed both growing crops and stored food, leaving the population with no buffer against starvation.

Guest: Professor Evan Ellis. Ellis of the U.S. Army War College reports that Cuba is facing a catastrophic energy collapse, with only days of oil remaining after Mexico and Venezuela cut supplies. He predicts this crisis will likely trigger a massive wave of migration as the island's power grid and economy face a near-total shutdown.1900 GARCIA'S TOMB, HAVANA

Regional Tensions: U.S. Pressure on Mexico and South American Shifts. Guest: PROFESSOR EVAN ELLIS, U.S. Army War College. The U.S. is pushing Mexico for joint military operations against cartels, forcing President Sheinbaum into a "delicate dance" to protect sovereignty. Meanwhile, Brazil's Lula balances leftist ties against a conservative military, and Colombia shows a potential shift to the right as Petro's policies face significant discredit.1647

Cuba's Collapse Amidst U.S. Oil Blockade and Economic Ruin. Guest: PROFESSOR EVAN ELLIS, U.S. Army War College. The Trump administration has halted oil shipments to Cuba, exacerbating a crisis where the electrical grid is failing and life is becoming "impossible." Despite minimal aid from Mexico, the repressive communist apparatus remains ingrained, and the regime is expected to muddle through despite massive out-migration.1899 CUBA

Rival Factions Contending for Power in Post-Maduro Venezuela. Guest: PROFESSOR EVAN ELLIS, U.S. Army War College. Following Maduro's detention, four major crime families are competing for authority in Caracas, including the Rodriguez siblings and military leadership. While Delcy Rodriguez shows cautious cooperation with the U.S. regarding oil and prisoners, the country remains unstable as criminal interests and political repression continue to stifle progress.1902 VZ

SHOW SCHEDULE1-15-25`1923 GREENLAND Rival Factions Contending for Power in Post-Maduro Venezuela. Guest: PROFESSOR EVAN ELLIS, U.S. Army War College. Following Maduro's detention, four major crime families are competing for authority in Caracas, including the Rodriguez siblings and military leadership. While Delcy Rodriguez shows cautious cooperation with the U.S. regarding oil and prisoners, the country remains unstable as criminal interests and political repression continue to stifle progress. Cuba's Collapse Amidst U.S. Oil Blockade and Economic Ruin. Guest: PROFESSOR EVAN ELLIS, U.S. Army War College. The Trump administration has halted oil shipments to Cuba, exacerbating a crisis where the electrical grid is failing and life is becoming "impossible." Despite minimal aid from Mexico, the repressive communist apparatus remains ingrained, and the regime is expected to muddle through despite massive out-migration. Regional Tensions: U.S. Pressure on Mexico and South American Shifts. Guest: PROFESSOR EVAN ELLIS, U.S. Army War College. The U.S. is pushing Mexico for joint military operations against cartels, forcing President Sheinbaum into a "delicate dance" to protect sovereignty. Meanwhile, Brazil's Lula balances leftist ties against a conservative military, and Colombia shows a potential shift to the right as Petro's policies face significant discredit. Trade Integration and Security Concerns in Mercosur and Costa Rica. Guest: PROFESSOR EVAN ELLIS, U.S. Army War College. Mercosur has achieved a historic trade deal with the European Union, potentially offsetting U.S. economic pressure and deepening ties with China. In Costa Rica, rising public insecurity has led the government to consider El Salvador's "mega-prison" model as they head into elections dominated by concerns over organized crime. The Risks of Seizing Russia's Shadow Fleet at Sea. Guest: ANATOL LIEVEN, Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. The U.S. seizure of Russian-owned "shadow fleet" tankers raises the risk of a direct military clash if European nations follow suit. Russia views a maritime blockade as an act of war. Hardliners in the Kremlin may seek to escalate to terrify the West into withdrawing support from Ukraine. Russia's Role as a Stabilizing Factor in Middle East Tensions. Guest: ANATOL LIEVEN, Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Russia has reportedly arbitrated between Jerusalem and Tehran to prevent preemptive strikes and maintain stability in Eurasia. While Russia lacks the power to defend Iran from a U.S. attack, it seeks to avoid regional instability. Russia's diplomatic approach contrasts with perceived universal aggression from other global actors. Economic Realities: Chinese Struggles and U.S. Consumer Strength. Guest: CHRIS RIEGEL, CEO of Stratacache. China's economy is struggling, evidenced by declining imports of raw materials and factory workers facing destitution. In contrast, the U.S. economy remains strong, with banner retail sales during the Christmasseason. However, the "K-shaped" economy shows consumer fatigue in the quick-service restaurant sector. Strategies for a Democratic Transition in Venezuela and Cuba. Guest: CLIFF MAY, Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Marco Rubio is reportedly developing a plan for a gradual transition in Venezuela by making specific demands on the remaining "gangster regime." By cutting off subsidized oil to Cuba, the U.S. hopes to cause the collapse of the Castroite regime, encouraging people to seek liberation from tyranny. Canada's Strategic Pivot to China. Guest: CONRAD BLACK. Prime Minister Mark Carney is visiting Chinato establish a "new strategic partnership" and a "new world order." This mission serves as a "Plan B" to offset potential trade losses with the United States under President Trump, specifically regarding strategic minerals and the renewal of the USMCA agreement. The Upwardly Mobile but Anxious Middle Class. Guest: VERONIQUE DE RUGY. Despite reports of a shrinking middle class, data shows many individuals are actually moving into the upper middle class. However, significant anxiety remains due to rising costs in government-regulated sectors like healthcare, housing, and education. This discontent leads to a search for scapegoats among the elite. Cosmological Mysteries: The Little Red Dots. Guest: DINESH NANDAL. The James Webb Space Telescopediscovered "little red dots"—compact, bright objects in the early universe that are not easily explained as galaxies or accreting black holes. These findings challenge the standard model of cosmology, suggesting the universe matured much earlier than previously thought by 21st-century scientists. Mapping the Future of Space Observation. Guest: DINESH NANDAL. Advancing cosmology requires a "James Webb 2.0" with larger mirrors and a successor to the Chandra X-ray telescope. Funding is also needed for researchers to develop new mathematical models. While AI can assist with pattern recognition, human physicists remain essential for creating the necessary new theoretical frameworks. Sovereignty and the Russian Identity Crisis. Guest: GREGORY COPLEY. Sovereignty is fundamentally tied to geography and identity. In the current period of "cratomorphosis," Russia exhibits defensive nationalism rather than expansionism. To the Kremlin, Ukraine remains the "cradle of Russia," making its loss a profound threat to Russian ethos, historical religious origins, and its personal identity. China's Quest for Legitimacy and Defense. Guest: GREGORY COPLEY. The Chinese Communist Partyyearns for ancient China's legitimacy while defending its modern borders. Rather than traditional imperial expansion, China employs "total war" non-military means. However, the state currently faces a crisis of sovereignty as it implodes internally under disproven totalitarian models and intensifying defensive pressures. The Reassertion of American Empire. Guest: GREGORY COPLEY. During Donald Trump's second term, the United States moved into an offensive mode to reassert dominance and energy security. Simultaneously, the European Union faces a crisis of legitimacy, with nation-states rebelling against its supra-state model. The EUlacks a cohesive vision, leading to internal distress. Lessons from the Superpower's Economic Resurgence. Guest: GREGORY COPLEY. The 21st century reveals that nations prioritizing energy security and enforced borders tend to succeed. President Trump's focus on manufacturing and cheap energy has bolstered the U.S. economy, positioning it as an unchallenged superpower. However, his dynamic approach often alienates allies while redefining grand strategy.

Trade Integration and Security Concerns in Mercosur and Costa Rica. Guest: PROFESSOR EVAN ELLIS, U.S. Army War College. Mercosur has achieved a historic trade deal with the European Union, potentially offsetting U.S.economic pressure and deepening ties with China. In Costa Rica, rising public insecurity has led the government to consider El Salvador's "mega-prison" model as they head into elections dominated by concerns over organized crime.1910

[Editor's Note:  Regular readers of the Mad Scientist Laboratory blog site know that wargaming is a vital cognitive tool for understanding the complexities of the evolving Operational Environment (OE). Wargaming helps facilitate “cognitive warfighting proficiencies” among its practitioners.  Unlike passive classroom lectures, wargames provide an immersive environment where Soldiers and Leaders can follow their ideas to their logical conclusions, test new concepts, and—crucially—experience failure in a safe, consequence-free setting. This “safe failure” is seen as essential for developing the creativity and agility required to avoid operational surprise on the actual battlefield. Today's episode of The Convergence podcast features COL Mike Barnett and returning proclaimed Mad Scientist Joe Chretien, both from the Sustainment Exercise and Simulation Directorate, Combined Arms Support Command (CASCOM), Fort Lee, Virginia.  We discussed how they incorporated their Sinews of War: Theater Sustainment Operations wargame into Practical Exercises in the Sustainment Center of Excellence's Programs of Instruction (POIs).  Read on to learn how wargaming is providing our Sustainment Soldiers and Leaders with fail-safe experiences to learn critical warfighting skills — enabling them to reflect on experiential, shared events with their peers during Professional Military Education (PME)]. [If the podcast dashboard is not rendering correctly for you, please click here to listen to the podcast.] Following 15 years in various Armor enlisted and officer assignments, COL Mike Barnett became a Functional Area 57, Models and Simulations (M&S) Officer in 2011.  He served as the Chief of Knowledge Management at the First Infantry Division and 8th Army, in both deployed and garrison operating environments.  COL Barnett is a graduate of the Command and General Staff College and the U. S. Army War College at Carlisle, Pennsylvania.  In his current assignment, COL Barnett leads the Sustainment Exercise and Simulation Directorate at Ft. Lee, Virginia, where he and his team support Army-wide sustainment simulations for Division, Corps, and Army Service Component Command collective command post training events.   Joe Chretien is a retired M&S Army Lieutenant Colonel who has served in multiple roles — including wargame developer and facilitator for the U.S. Army War College, where he incorporated experiential educational methodologies into the curriculum.  Of note, Mr. Chretien is the co-author of several Matrix Wargames such as Kaliningrad, One-Belt-One-Road, Crisis in the South China Sea, First Contact, and  Sinews of War: Theater Sustainment Operations.  He currently serves as a Department of the Army Civilian assigned as the Deputy Director, Logistics Exercise and Simulation Directorate (LESD) for the National Simulation Center.  He is responsible for managing, planning, organizing, and directing an authorized workforce of military and Department of the Army Civilians.  He additionally oversees contractor deliverables in support of the LESD mission. In our latest episode of The Convergence podcast, we sat down with COL Barnett and Mr. Chretien to talk about Sinews of War — a new game they designed to help teach and train Army Sustainers, their experience play testing it, and what they see as the future of wargaming in the Army.  The followi...

My conversation with Dr Colin Clarke starts at about 34 minutes after headlines and clips Subscribe and Watch Interviews LIVE : On YOUTUBE.com/StandUpWithPete ON SubstackStandUpWithPete Stand Up is a daily podcast. I book,host,edit, post and promote new episodes with brilliant guests every day. This show is Ad free and fully supported by listeners like you! Please subscribe now for as little as 5$ and gain access to a community of over 750 awesome, curious, kind, funny, brilliant, generous soul Colin P. Clarke, Ph.D., is the Executive Director of The Soufan Center. His research focuses on domestic and transnational terrorism, international security, and geopolitics. Dr. Clarke previously served as the Director of Research at The Soufan Group and as a Senior Research Fellow with The Soufan Center. Prior to those roles, Clarke was a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, and a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation, where he spent a decade researching terrorism, insurgency, and criminal networks. At RAND, Clarke led studies on ISIS financing, the future of terrorism and transnational crime, and lessons learned from all insurgencies since the end of World War II. Clarke is also an Associate Fellow at the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT) – The Hague, a non-resident Senior Fellow in the Program on National Security at the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI), an Associate Fellow at the Global Network on Extremism and Technology (GNET), and a member of the "Network of Experts" at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime. He serves on the editorial board of three of the leading scholarly journals in the field of terrorism studies, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Terrorism and Political Violence, and Perspectives on Terrorism. Clarke has testified before Congress on numerous occasions as an expert witness on a range of terrorism-related issues, appears frequently in the media to discuss national security-related matters, and has published several books on terrorism and armed conflict, including his forthcoming Moscow's Mercenaries: The Rise and Fall of the Wagner Group (Columbia University Press, 2026). Clarke has briefed his research at a range of national and international security forums, including the U.S. Army War College, U.S. Air Force Special Operations School, Society for Terrorism Research International Conference, the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF), and the Counter ISIS Financing Group (CIFG), which is part of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. In 2011, he spent several months as an analyst with Combined Joint Interagency Task Force-Shafafiyat at ISAF headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan, working for General H.R. McMaster, the former U.S. National Security Advisor, where he was responsible for analyzing criminal patronage networks in Afghanistan and how these networks fueled the insurgency. Clarke has a Ph.D. in international security policy from the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA). Join us Thursday's at 8EST for our Weekly Happy Hour Hangout! Subscribe and Watch Interviews LIVE On YOUTUBE.com/StandUpWithPete ON SubstackStandUpWithPete Pete on Blue Sky Pete on Threads Pete on Tik Tok Pete on YouTube Pete on Twitter Pete On Instagram Pete Personal FB page Stand Up with Pete FB page Gift a Subscription https://www.patreon.com/PeteDominick/gift Send Pete $ Directly on Venmo All things Jon Carroll Hire DJ Monzyk to build your website or help you with Marketing

#NewWorldReport: Milei stoned. Flotilla off Venezuela. Latin American Research Professor Evan Ellis, U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute. @RevAnEllis #NewWorldReportEllis 1909 CARACAS

#NewWorldReport: Lawfare successful. Latin American Research Professor Evan Ellis, U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute. @RevAnEllis #NewWorldReportEllis 1920

#NewWorldReport: The narco terror states. Latin American Research Professor Evan Ellis, U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute. @RevAnEllis #NewWorldReportEllis 1850 COLOMBIA

#NewWorldReport: Zambada apologizes for $15 billion. Latin American Research Professor Evan Ellis, U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute. @RevAnEllis #NewWorldReportEllis

#NewWorldReport: Bolivia votes surprise. Latin American Research Professor Evan Ellis, U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute. @RevAnEllis #NewWorldReportEllis

#NewWorldReport: Brazil lawfare and defiance. Latin American Research Professor Evan Ellis, U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute. @RevAnEllis #NewWorldReportEllis

#NewWorldReport: USN flotilla off Venezuela. Latin American Research Professor Evan Ellis, U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute. @RevAnEllis #NewWorldReportEllis 1900 VENEZUELA

#NewWorldReport: Good news Paraguay. Latin American Research Professor Evan Ellis, U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute. @RevAnEllis #NewWorldReportEllis 1932 PARAGUAY

Preview: VENEZUELA. Professor Evan Ellis of the Army War College comments on the possible intention of the USN flotilla off Venezuela to follow the Noriega operation in 1989 off Panama. More later. 1930 CARACAS

#NewWorldReport: Bolivia votes. Latin American Research Professor Evan Ellis, U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute. @RevAnEllis #NewWorldReportEllis 1900 BOLIVIA

#NewWorldReport: Bogotá crisis. Latin American Research Professor Evan Ellis, U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute. @RevAnEllis #NewWorldReportEllis 1911 BOGOTA

#NewWorldReport: Brazil lawfare and consequences. Latin American Research Professor Evan Ellis, U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute. @RevAnEllis #NewWorldReportEllis 1863 AMAZON RIVER

#NewWorldReport: Paraguay report. Latin American Research Professor Evan Ellis, U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute. @RevAnEllis #NewWorldReportEllis 1870 ASUNCION

#NewWorldReport: Colombia lawfare. Latin American Research Professor Evan Ellis, U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute. @revanellis #NewWorldReportEllis 1900 BOGOTA

#NewWorldReport: Mexico Sheinbaum. Latin American Research Professor Evan Ellis, U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute. @revanellis #NewWorldReportEllis 1900 BOLIVAR IN CARACAS

#NewWorldReport: Brazil lawfare. Latin American Research Professor Evan Ellis, U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute. @revanellis #NewWorldReportEllis 1920 RIO

#NewWorldReport: Argentina congress election. Latin American Research Professor Evan Ellis, U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute. @revanellis #NewWorldReportEllis 1936