Lawerence Freedman, Emeritus Professor of War Studies at King’s College London and author of ‘The Age of Forever Wars’ in Foreign Affairs Magazine, joins the show to discuss why protracted warfare seems to be a mark of the era.
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Times
• 01:32 Introduction
• 02:01 Aligning strategy
• 04:37 Mass
• 07:14 Iraq and Afghanistan
• 11:14 Al Qaeda
• 14:25 Survive
• 17:50 Results matter
• 22:04 Trade-offs
• 27:23 Avoiding mistakes
• 32:13 Why does Putin continue?
• 38:29 Concessions
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Find a transcript of today’s episode on our School of War Substack
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41:23
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41:23
Ep 217: Steven Rabalais on Ike’s Mentor
Steven Rabalais, litigator and author of General Fox Conner: Pershing's Chief of Operations and Eisenhower's Mentor, joins the show to discuss the extraordinary influence of now-forgotten General Fox Connor on the outcome of WWI and Eisenhower’s career.
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Times
• 01:51 Introduction
• 03:10 Growing up with history
• 05:47 A southern story
• 07:44 West Point struggles
• 12:07 A reader
• 14:50 Coastal artillery
• 20:46 Rocks and airplanes
• 23:51 Mechanism of victory
• 27:54 WWI logistics
• 32:47 Summer 1918
• 46:03 Eisenhower
• 51:24 Panama
• 01:01:58 Foreshadowing
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Find a transcript of today’s episode on our School of War Substack
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1:06:20
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1:06:20
Ep 216: Will Somerindyke on Making Munitions in America
Will Somerindyke, Chairman of Regulus Global and CEO of UNION, joins the show to discuss rebuilding the U.S. defense industrial base.
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Times
• 01:36 Introduction
• 02:35 A navy family
• 05:51 Regulus
• 08:05 American made
• 10:45 155
• 14:44 Integration
• 16:53 Supply chains
• 23:20 Demand
• 28:27 Flexibility
• 31:40 Forging vs casting
• 33:45 UNION
• 37:27 Customers
• 40:07 Mindset
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Find a transcript of today’s episode on our School of War Substack
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41:40
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41:40
Ep 215: Ryan McDermott on Invading Iraq in 2003
Ryan McDermott, Army veteran of the 2003 invasion of Iraq and author of Downriver: Memoir of a Warrior Poet, joins the show to talk about his combat experiences.
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Times
• 01:13 Introduction
• 01:55 Seeking purpose
• 04:11 West Point
• 06:48 9/11
• 08:41 3rd Infantry Division
• 10:12 Platoon tactics
• 14:51 “Crossing tonight”
• 18:08 Preparing for combat
• 23:40 Tired
• 29:37 Baghdad
• 35:51 Thunder Runs
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Find a transcript of today’s episode on our School of War Substack
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38:26
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38:26
Ep 214: Bryan Clark on the Coming Sensor War with China
Bryan Clark, senior fellow and director of the Center for Defense Concepts and Technology at Hudson Institute, joins the show to talk about how a war with China could play out.
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Times
• 01:51 Introduction
• 02:00 Submariner
• 10:10 Environmental conditions
• 12:40 State of play
• 20:04 Complacency
• 23:36 Hellscape
• 32:14 Cultural differences
• 37:20 Party control
• 43:40 Degraded environment
• 48:02 Practice now
• 51:45 Deterrence
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Find a transcript of today’s episode on our School of War Substack
This podcast seeks to learn what war teaches. There has been a steady decline in the study of military history and its associated theoretical discipline, strategy.This podcast seeks to fill that gap through in-depth interviews on military and diplomatic history. Our guests have included former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the Cold War historian John Lewis Gaddis, and former China Select Committee chairman Mike Gallagher. We discuss the battlefield commanders, diplomats, strategists, policymakers, and statesmen who have had to make wartime decisions in the ancient and modern eras. The subject of an episode may be an historical battle, campaign, or conflict; the conduct of policy in the course of a major international incident; the work of a famous strategist; the nature of a famous weapon; or the legacy of an important military commander or political leader.
Aaron MacLean is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute. He has worked as a foreign policy advisor and legislative director to Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and spent seven years in the U.S. Marine Corps.
Visit our Substack for episode transcripts
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