Military Historians are People, Too!

We wrap up Season 5 with the gentleman historian Sebastian Cox. Seb just retired from we won't say how many years as Head of the Royal Air Force's Air Historical Branch. Long active in the UK, European, and American official history communities as well as rarely missing a Society for Military History conference over the past 30+ years, Seb came to airpower history by happenstance after doing a thesis on the Vietnam War at King's College, London. A random job application to the RAF Museum at Hendon began what would become an over forty-year career with RAF history. We've wanted to get Seb on for a while now, so we're glad to finally chat with him. Join us for our delightful chat with Seb Cox - we'll talk having a grandfather who was a concientious objector in the First World War, a father who served in Europe during the Second World War, growing up building Airfix kits and watching 633 Squadron on telly, establishing the Bomber Command Memorial in London, RAF casualty reports from WW2, PG Tips tea, seeing The Who at Wembley Stadium, and receiving an O.B.E. at Buckingham Palace. Stories abound!Thanks for the support - We'll start recording Season 6 later this summer!Rec.: 04/15/2025

We return to the CGSC well with an in-person, in-the-studio chat with Amanda Nagel, the pride of Strasburg, North Dakota, and currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Military History at the US Army Command and General Staff College at Ft.Leavenworth, Kansas. Amanda was in Statesboro to deliver the keynote address for the opening of Brian's fantastic exhibit More Than A Name in the Georgia Southern University Library, which documents the service of African American soldiers from Bulloch County, Georgia, who served in the First World War (it was a great event!). As an expert on African Americans in the US military, Amanda was perfect for the occasion. Her first book, "He thinks he is a soldier": Race, Empire, and the United States, 1898-1926, will be published by the University of Virginia Press.It was great to have Amanda with us at Georgia Southern - join us for a fab chat about Lawrence Welk, high jumping, making the move to Mississippi, African Americans in the Army in the early 20th century, teaching in professional military education, jazz oral histories, and more!Shout-out to J. Rieger and Co. in Kansas City - Amanda swears by their burnt ends!Rec.: 04/01/2025

Today's guest is Lt. Col. Patrick Naughton, author of Born from War: A Soldier's Quest to Understand Vietnam, Iraq, and the Generational Impact of Conflict (Casemate). Born and raised in Hawaii, Patrick is a 28-year veteran of the US Army and US Army Reserves, serving first an NCO, then earning his commission through ROTC at UNLV. Among his many duties, Patrick has served as unit historian for just about every unit he's been with. He has been a Fellow at the Simons Center for Ethical Leadership and Interagency Cooperation and was awarded the Army's General Douglas MacArthur Leadership Award in 2012. He has written for Military Review, Journal of America's Military Past, the Army History Magazine, and Naval History Magazine, among others. Patrick plans to retire to the Boston area and pursue a PhD in history - if you have suggestions for programs, let Patrick know!Join us for a very interesting chat with Patrick Naughton. We'll talk "going mainland," fathers and sons, the Old Vegas Strip, Sublime, and writing history of the recent past. Shout-out to Tin Kitchen Southern Smokehouse in Weston, Kansas!Rec.: 03/14/2025

Our guest today is the Irish Texan - Jonathan Carroll of the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst! Born and raised in County Kildare, Jonathan joined the Irish Army at 17, serving in the Reserve for over twelve years. Along the way, he earned his BA in Civil Law and an MA in Military History and Strategic Studies at Maynooth University, then made the bold move to work with Friend-of-the-Pod Brian Linn at Texas A&M (where his dissertation won the Society for Military History's Edward M. Coffman Award). Jonathan has published in The Journal of Military History, Defence Forces Review, and War in History, and is author of Beyond Black Hawk Down: Intervention, Nationbuilding, and Insurgency in Somalia, 1992-1995 (forthcoming soon from Kansas). Jonathan does staff rides with Sandhurst and also guides with Stephen Ambrose Historical Tours in Normandy. Join us for a St. Patrick's Day chat with Jonathan Carroll - we'll talk celebrating the Snake-Ridding Saint, teaching at Sandhurst, life's twists and turns, finding a good topic, Buc-ee's, Pink Floyd, and more! So pour yourself a Guinness and enjoy!Shout-out to Johney Gurkha's in Aldershot and Cilantro in Bryan, Texas!Rec.: 03/17/2025

Today's guest is our friend and colleague from Georgia Southern University - Bennett Parten. A historian of African American history and the American South in the 19th century, Ben is a leading scholar of emancipation during the Civil War. His first book, Somewhere Toward Freedom: Sherman's March and the Story of America's Largest Emancipation, was just published by Simon & Schuster. Ben has also written for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Review of Books and is Associate Editor of Agricultural History, which is housed at Georgia Southern University. From humble roots in Royston, Georgia, to a PhD from Yale, Ben's story is a good one. Join us, as we discuss working-class upbringing, having good mentors, taking on William Tecumseh Sherman, trade publishing, Ty Cobb, and more!Shout-out to Sandfly BBQ in Savannah!Rec.: 03/03/2025

Today's guest is one of the brightest historians of the Post-Vietnam US Army, and he's Irish! Please welcome to the pod David Fitzgerald, a Senior Lecture in History at University College, Cork. Born and raised in Cork, David spent some time at University College, Dublin, before returning to his home county, where he directs UCC's online MA in Strategic Studies program. His work includes Learning to Forget: US Army Counterinsurgency Doctrine and Practice from Vietnam to Iraq (Stanford) and most recently Uncertain Warriors: The United States Army between the Cold War and the War on Terror (Cambridge).Join us for a fun chat with David Fitzgerald - we'll talk about Six Nations Rugby, how armies "learn," hurling, the challenges of online graduate programs, The Frames, and more - Enjoy!Shout-out to The Mutton Lane Pub in Cork!Rec.: 03/06/2024

Today's guest has an inspiring story - Jason Higgins comes from working-class roots in Southeastern Arkansas, where he took a chance on going to college, then hit his stride through hard work, raising a family, and discovering a passion for telling people's stories. From the University of Arkansas-Montecello, where he earned a BA in English AND History, Jason headed to Stillwater, Oklahoma, to take an MA in English at Oklahoma State, studying Lewis Puller's memoir Fortunate Son. That work caught the attention of Christian Appy at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, so Jason packed up the family and headed East. Now an assistant professor with a joint appointment in the Virginia Tech History Department and Libraries, Jason is doing fantastic work on veterans and incarceration and veteran oral histories while sharing with students his enthusiasm for teaching and writing. Jason is author of Prisoners after War: Veterans in the Age of Mass Incarceration (UMass) and co-editor with John Kinder of Service Denied: Marginalized Veterans in Modern American History (UMass), and was lead for an NEH grant "Crossing Divides Connecting Veterans, Teachers, and Students through Oral History."Join us for a remarkable chat with Jason Higgins - we'll talk about being a first-generation college student, having kids in graduate school, learning the value of hard work, guitars, grant writing, AI, and, as is often the case on this podcast, the simple serendipity of life. You'll feel good after this one (as you should all our chats!).Shout-out to Rising Silo and the band Midlife Crisis in Blacksburg, Virginia!Rec.: 02/28/2025

Today's guest is our first from France, but who went to graduate school and teaches here in the US! Marjorie Galleli is an assistant professor of history at Kansas State University in Little Apple, Manhattan, Kansas. Marjorie has a fascinating story of "coming to America" that began after visiting Boston as a kid. It's a long way from Alsaac to Kansas, but she's embraced the journey. Join us for a really interesting chat with Marjorie - we'll talk counterinsurgency, teaching military history, living in new places (some with lots of snow!), McFly, and potatoes and Coke. Enjoy!Shout-out to Houlihan's in Manhattan!Rec.: 02/27/2025

Our guest today is former professional football player turned defense intellectual Mike Pavelec. Mike is the Director of the US Space Force Schriever Scholars Program at the Johns Hopkins University School for Advanced International Studies. A historian of airpower and the history of technology, Mike has come a long way from his days as an offensive lineman with the Miami Dolphins, the Hamilton Tiger Cats, and the Calgary Stampeders. Earning his PhD atThe Ohio State University, Mike has authored several books (The Jet Race and the Second World War andAirpower over Gallippoi, 1915, to name a couple) and held appointments at several PME schools, including the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies, the Air Command and Staff College, and the Naval War College. He is currently standing up Space Force's PME program at Johns Hopkins.Join us for an enjoyable chat on playing football against Howie Long, professional military education, the history of technology,Justified, motorcycles, Tool, and much more!Shout-out toHill Country Barbeque Market in Washington, DC!Rec.: 02/06/2025

Today's guest is Army veteran and historian of the Cold War-era Army Rob Williams. At Ft. Leavenworth, Rob writes for Army University Press and in his spare time writes on Army culture, particularly airborne culture. His first book, Airborne Mafia: The Paratroopers Who Shaped America's Cold War Army, will be published by Cornell University Press in March 2025. After seventeen years in the Army, Rob did a BA in history at UNC-Chapel Hill, then a PhD at The Ohio State University. He's an active veteran and an active scholar - enjoy our chat as we discuss jumping out of airplanes, airborne influences on the Cold War Army, taking classes with Joe Glatthaar and Wayne Lee, rugby, Dropkick Murphys, Waffle House, and much more!Rec.: 01/30/2025

Today's guest is the brilliant Jadwiga Biskupska, an Associate Professor of History at Sam Houston State University. A specialist in the war experience of Central Europe, particularly during World War II, Jadzia is the author of Survivors: A Cultural History of Warsaw under Nazi Occupation (Cambridge), among other works. She is the co-director of the Second World War Research Group-North America and will be the 2025-2026 General Harold K. Johnson Visiting Chair in Military History at the US Army War College. Join us for an engaging chat about academic parents, Polish nicknames, riding a bike and learning to swim (negative on both apparently), toast, and discovering Tex-Mex - enjoy! Shout-out to Mr. Hamburger in Huntsville, Texas! Rec.: 01/23/2025

Today's guest became a free-lance battlefield tour guide after a career in the Royal Corps of Signals that included tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now a captain in the Army Reserve, Susie Cooper took a love of military history and battlefield staff rides to a post-military career taking everyone from school children to military officers on battlefield tours in the UK and Europe. She does tours for CGT Battlefield Tours, Anglia Tours, In the Gootsepts, Sopue's Great War Tours, Battle Honors, and The Cultural Experience (where she teams with Bill for an AMAZING Vietnam tour!), as well as field studies trips for the British Army. In addition to her Reserve duties and guiding, Susie is also a volunteer with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. If you've been anywhere from Normand to Ypres to Berlin recently, you may have encountered Susie in her preferred habitat. The downside to her many days of travel is missing her dog Charlie and changing to an artificial Christmas tree! We'll talk women in battlefield tourism, being a career NCO then commissioning in the Army Reserve, Queen, currywurst, the value of visiting battle sites, and many other topics. Enjoy! Rec.: 12/19/2024

Today's guest is First World War and German historian Tim Grady of Chester University. Tim has done ground-breaking work on Jewish German soldiers in the First World War and is now looking at the care and burial of POW dead. His books include A Deadly Legacy: German Jews and the Great War (Yale), and his forthcoming Burying the Enemy: The Story of Those Who Cared for the Dead from the Two World Wars (also from Yale) promises to be an important work. We'll talk growing up in Seaford on the south coast of England, German archives ( sorry - he and Brian met at a conference, not in an archive), fish curry, The Clash, and working at Safeway. Enjoy! Rec.: 12/20/2024

Today's guest is the enthusiastic and fun Heather M. Haley of the US Naval History and Heritage Command. A PhD from Auburn, Heather is a scholar of LGBTQ+ in the American military. In addition to several publications with the Naval History and Heritage Command, Heather is the author of Queer in the Cold War: The Civil-Military Battle over the Lavender Scare, which is forthcoming from Cornel University Press. If you've been to recent Society for Military History conferences, you'll have seen Heather, who is very active in the SMH. We'll talk career serendipity, imposter syndrome, cats, Badger Killers, Bob's Burgers, and much more. Enjoy! Shoutout to Rudy's BBQ! Rec.: 12/06/2024

Our guest today leads the double life of being an academic at Trinity College, Dublin, by day and doing stand-up comedy by night! Andrew Dorman is a Research and Policy Officer with TCD's Centre for Economics, Policy, and History, and recently earned his PhD in history from Dublin City University. A specialist on soldiering in 18th century Ireland, Andrew has published with the British Journal of Military History and the Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research, and his first book is coming out with Broydell and Brewer in early 2025. Andrew's night gig doing stand-up has taken him to Asia, the US, and Europe, and he's twice performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Andrew has a great story—growing up in Dublin, watching war movies as a kid, then discovering history and comedy in college and deciding to pursue both! We'll talk 3-minute thesis competitions, crafting a joke, My Chemical Romance, hecklers, Ulf the Quarrelsome, among a lot of other stuff—this one is packed! Shout-out to Friend of the Pod Zack White for putting us in touch with Andrew, and shout-out to Andrew's local in Dublin, The Stag's Head! Rec.: 11/21/2024

Our guest today is the guy who led the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection team that created the ubiquitous yellow Energy Guide labels on your appliances. Oh yeah, he's also an award-winning historian of the American Civil War. Hampton Newsome recently retired from a long career as an attorney with the Federal Trade Commission and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Hampton did his undergraduate degree at Duke University and earned his JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. He is the author of several books, including Richmond Must Fall: The Richmond-Petersburg Campaign (Kent State University Press), The Fight for the Old North State: The Civil War in North Carolina January-May, 1864 (University Press of Kansas), and most recently Gettysburg's Southern Front: Opportunity and Failure at Richmond (University Press of Kansas), which won the Emerging Civil War Book Award ad the Edwin C. Bearss Book Award for Oustanding Scholarship in Civil War History. We'll talk being a non-academic historian, doing archival research, Civil War Roundtables, Danny Ferry, Uncle Tupelo/Wilco, among other pressing issues. We really enjoyed this one! Shout-out to The BBQ Exchange in Gordonsville, Virginia! Rec.: 11/14/2024

Today's guest is a Canadian! Jason Ridler is a Course Developer and Lecturer with Advanced Academic Programs at Johns Hopkins University, where he designs and teaches remote courses for the Johns Hopkins Globa Secutires and Master of Liberal Arts programs. Jay earned his PhD in War Studies from the Royal Military College of Canada and has published in Diplomacy and Statecraft, Small Wars and Insurgencies, and Defense and Security Analysis, among others. His books include the well-received Mavericks of War: The Unconventional, Unorthodox Innovators and Thinkers, Scholars, and Outsiders Who Mastered the Art of War (how's that for a subtitle!), published with Stackpole in 2019. An avid writer, Jay is also a novelist - his The Brimstone Files series is available from Nightshade Books. If you are hitting the writing wall, take a look at his Undefeated: Stay a Writer Against the Odds. We'll talk Canadian military history, what makes one a "maverick" in history, luchadors, the Von Erics, being in a punk band, and, oddly, the best BBQ in Decatur, Georgia! Shout-out to Pho City in Sacramento! Rec.: 11/05/2024

Today's guest is the thoroughly amazing Mary Elizabeth Walters of the USAF Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell AFB in Alabama. A native of Cheraw, South Carolina, Mary Elizabeth fell in love with history doing oral histories with D-Day Pathfinders for National History Day, but she had no idea that would lead to living in Albania, studying refugee crises from Kosovo and Afghanistan, and now teaching theory of war and strategy to Air Force majors. We'll talk cows, hippie parents, National History Day, host mothers in Albania, the Wayne Lee Experience at UNC, moving from the university world to professional military education, and more. Enjoy our entertaining chat with Mary Elizabeth Walters! Rec. 10/08/2024

We've been wanting to do this for a while now, as we're always pushing our BBQ chops on you, dear loyal listeners, so we talked with a legit pitmaster - Mary Beth Brown of Dolan's BBQ down the street from Georgia Southern University here in Statesboro, Georgia. Along with her sister Lazar Brown Oglesby, Mary Beth is the owner and pitmaster of one of the best BBQ places in Southeast Georgia. A Georgia Southern University graduate experienced in the restaurant and hospitality industry, Mary Beth has proved that "Girls Can 'Que, Too!" She was kind enough to sit down with us while we had lunch outside on the Dolan's porch (complete with Statesboro Pick-Up Truck Traffic on Main Street!). We'll talk things BBQ - business, life choices, being a woman pitmaster and BBQ restaurant owner, and sauce - as well as Dwight Yokum, paying your dues early on, cooking through a hurricane, and further confirmation that the best ideas can come from a cooler of cold beer enjoyed on a riverbank (a lot of parallels with military historians). We know you'll enjoy this episode as much as we did doing it. And, we got to see the pit smoker! Rec.: 10/08/2024

Today's guest is one of the nicest and brightest new scholars in the military history community - Cameron Zinsou of the US Army Command and General Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. A native of Ft. Worth, Texas, Cameron thrived at North Texas as an undergraduate and earned his PhD at Mississippi State University. He's a World War II guy, focusing on French meanings of citizenship during the conflict. There's a lot in this one, so get ready - we'll talk growing up in Ft. Worth, early interest in Civil War history (a la Lesley Gordon), grief and loss of a sibling, the influence of Rob Citino, getting hooked on F1 after a lifetime of misguided NASCAR fandom, among many other topics. Enjoy. Shoutout to Arthur Bryant's BBQ in Kansas City! Rec.: 09/19/2024