Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. Today we welcome SgtMaj Lynn Kimble, USMC (Ret) to the show to talk about USAA’s Face the Fight Campaign. Mental health and suicide are issues that our country faces everyday and the impact is felt by veterans well above that of the rest of the American public. Face the Fight is a…

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. This week we’re giving movie reviews a try and we begin with the documentary, The United States Marine Corps: 1775 – 1916: A History of Heroes. As fun as this was, there is more to this project than just having an excuse to watch movies while on the clock. The Marine Corps…

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. On this episode of MCA Scuttlebutt, we continue our World of Wargaming series with Jeremy Sepinsky, the lead wargame designer for the Center for Naval Analyses. Enjoy!

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. After interviewing dozens of people the past two years, we turn the mic toward our very own Vic Ruble for our 100th episode of MCA Scuttlebutt. For this episode, guest interviewer Kyle Watts chats with Vic over his career in the Marine Corps and how he became the illustrious host of this…

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. If you want to write about veterans you need to earn their trust, listen to their experiences, and get it right. On this episode, William and Nancy have a conversation with award-winning writer, Leatherneck’s own Kyle Watts. Kyle is the recipient of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation’s 2019 Colonel Robert Debs Heinl,…

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. On this episode of Scuttlebutt, World of Wargaming returns as William interviews Mr. Joseph Miranda, a former Army officer and prolific board wargame designer, and Dr. Christopher Cummins, the publisher of Strategy & Tactics Press and CEO of Decision Games. Check out their series of Strategy and Tactics articles available in the…

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. This week we welcome veteran Marine machine gunner, Marine Corps Heritage award winner, recent law school graduate, and current Bar exam hostage Kacy Tellessen back to the show. This week starts a little different than our previous episodes because the pre-show recording with Kacy was so fun we decided we needed to…

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. “Science is expanding” and thank goodness we have a friend of the show like Dr. Adam Hunzeker to help us understand it better. This week we welcome Adam back to talk more about the science behind trauma and what it means that our bodies are a system of systems. Many of us…

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. Balloons, office hours with Kevin McCarthy, and the problem with simple solutions to complex problems. We seem to run the gamut with Dr. Michael Hunzeker in this latest installment of Strait Talk, but we got Mike in studio this time (William disguised himself as his Uber driver) so we had to take…

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. This week we are recording from the floor of Modern Day Marine so that we can bring you the events and personnel of this outstanding convention as it’s going on. We’re wrapping things up on Day 3, but no good operation goes without a hot wash, so we got the boss on…

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. This week we are recording from the floor of Modern Day Marine so that we can bring you the events and personnel of this outstanding convention as it’s going on. Vic and William had the chance to chat with leadership from the newly formed, Marine Innovation Unit, or MIU. In the world…

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. This week we are recording from the floor of Modern Day Marine so that we can bring you the events and personnel of this outstanding convention as it’s going on. Day 3 was amazing and we were just so blessed to start the day off with Kyle Carpenter. Author, speaker, podcaster, Marine,…

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. This week we are recording from the floor of Modern Day Marine so that we can bring you the events and personnel of this outstanding convention as it’s going on. Veteran Marine and veteran of our World of Wargaming segment, Col Tim Barrick, spends some time talking to us about this unique…

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. This week we are recording from the floor of Modern Day Marine so that we can bring you the events and personnel of this outstanding convention as it’s going on. It’s not too often that you get to meet someone who truly excels. This is not to say that we don’t know…

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. This week we are recording from the floor of Modern Day Marine so that we can bring you the events and personnel of this outstanding convention as it’s going on. Yesterday we had such a fun time with stand-up comedian, advocate and 2023 Air Force Spouse of the Year, Ashley Gutermuth. Ashley…

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. This week we are recording from the floor of Modern Day Marine so that we can bring you the events and personnel of this outstanding convention as it’s going on. One of the things to love about MDM is that you get to run into some really amazing people you haven’t seen…

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. This week we are recording from the floor of Modern Day Marine so that we can bring you the events and personnel of this outstanding convention as it’s going on. We started day 2 strong with an unexpected appearance of return guest, friend of the show, and international man of mystery, Miles…

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. This week we are recording from the floor of Modern Day Marine so that we can bring you the events and personnel of this outstanding convention as it’s going on. One of the people we met was Brad Halsey, the CEO and founder of Building Momentum, a company designed around teaching people…

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. This week we are recording from the floor of Modern Day Marine so that we can bring you the events and personnel of this outstanding convention as it’s going on. When he’s not jet-setting around the world bringing his amphibiousness to the planet’s littorals, the Program Manager for Advanced Amphibious Assault, Col…

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. This week we are recording from the floor of Modern Day Marine so that we can bring you the events and personnel of this outstanding convention as it’s going on. One of the guests who came by our booth was Col Robert Bailey. Col Bailey is the Program Executive Officer for Manpower,…

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. This week we are recording from the floor of Modern Day Marine so that we can bring you the events and personnel of this outstanding convention as it’s going on. And we come out the gate firing! Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps, SgtMaj Troy Black was kind enough to take some…

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. We had the recent pleasure of sitting down with director, producer, writer Joshua Caldwell to talk about his newest movie, Mending the Line. The film follows his protagonist, John Colter, a Marine wounded in Afghanistan who meets Ike Fletcher, fly-fisherman and Vietnam veteran, as they both work toward finding something to live…

Hey Scuttlebutt listeners. Modern Day Marine is next week (June 27-29 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in D.C.) and we are excited that the MCA’s Director of Engagement and Outreach, Marta Sullivan, took some time out of her busy schedule to talk to us. Modern Day Marine is going to be a tremendous…

Hey Scuttlebutt listeners. SgtMaj Justin LeHew returns to the show to talk about his epic journey. It’s very commonplace these days to use hyperbolic language as part of our everyday vernacular. I’m the worst with that (see what I did there?). And where we may use terms like “awesome” and “amazing” fairly regularly, I’m not…

Hello, Scuttlebutt listeners. This week we welcome Amy Forsythe, the author of the book, Heroes Live Here: A Tribute to Camp Pendleton Marines Since 9/11, to the show. Amy is a veteran Marine and award-winning military journalist who served five combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and has been on assignment for several other overseas…

Hello, Scuttlebutt listeners. This week on MCA Scuttlebutt we had the distinct pleasure of welcoming Terry Salman. Terry is the author of the book, What We Give, and the Chairman of New Pacific Metals Corp, and President & CEO of Salman Capital Inc. As President, CEO and Co-Director of Research he helped raise over $20…

Hello, Scuttlebutt listeners. This week on MCA Scuttlebutt, the World of Wargaming Series continues with author, Marine, and prolific wargamer Major Ian T. Brown. Ian is the operations officer at the Brute Krulak Center for Innovation and Future Warfare, Marine Corps University. He is also the author of the book, “A New Conception of War:…

Hello, Scuttlebutt listeners. There’s a common  misconception that there are only two types of people that work at NASA: astronauts and scientists. If Hollywood has it right, the only buildings are the control center and the launching pad. And everyone in the control center is sweating profusely and chain smoking. But in reality, it takes…

Hello Scuttlebutt listeners! This week we are truly honored to have the President and CEO of the MCA, LtGen Charles Chiarotti, USMC (Ret), back on the show. March was the logistics-themed edition of the Marine Corps Gazette, so we thought there couldn’t be any logistician better (or closer to our sound studio) than the former…

Hello Scuttlebutt listeners! This week Vic and Nancy have a conversation with New York Times bestselling author Adam Makos about his book, “Devotion,” about naval aviators LT Tom Hudner and ENS Jesse Brown. Now a major motion picture, starring Jonathan Majors and Glen Powell, Devotion is a powerful story of Hudner’s unsuccessful attempt to save…

Hello again Scuttlebutt listeners. Thank you for joining. On this World of Wargaming episode of MCA Scuttlebutt, William speaks with the CEO and Founder of Nemertes, Johna Till Johnson, on the application of wargaming in the cyber realm. Nemertes is a research-based advisory and consulting firm that analyzes the business value of emerging technologies—which involves…

Hello again Scuttlebutt listeners. Hope Daylight Savings Time is treating you all well and that the one-hour change isn’t messing with your sleep patterns too much. If it is, go take a nap because you definitely don’t want to fall asleep on this week’s episode as we welcome Col Greg Jones and CWO5 John Costa…

Hello Scuttlebutt listeners! Today William and Nancy sit down with Marine veteran Andrew Biggio, author of the book “The Rifle: Combat Stories from America’s Last World War II Veterans, Told Through an M1 Garand.” We had a great conversation with Andrew about the real cost of war and the lessons he has learned from talking…

Hey Scuttlebutt listeners. Thank you for tuning in. We at the MCA really appreciate all your continued support. This week, we welcome Col Chris Woodbridge, USMC (Ret) and Editor of the Marine Corps Gazette to the studio to talk the one-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine. It’s funny to say “welcome” because his office…

Hello again Scuttlebutt listeners. This week we welcome Chris Pavlak, Marine ground intelligence officer and author of the book, From Lawyer to Warrior, to the show. Chris’ journey to the yellow footprints is best captured by the term, persistence, which is a theme I think resonates for all of us. We joke that failure is…

William sits down with one of his wargaming opponents, the author, historian, former Marine, and Army officer, Donald Vandergriff. The two discuss Donald’s wargaming experience and expertise and give an overview of their current wargame scenario: Wargame Design Studio’s Overland Campaign,  Crossing the James (an American Civil War scenario). Can Donald’s Confederate Army of Northern…

In this episode of Scuttlebutt, Vic sits down with LtCol David Kelly USMC (ret), Marine Corps historian and the author of the book, Hell in the Streets of Husaybah. In April 2004, while fighting in Iraq raged throughout Al Anbar Province, most of the attention was focused on Fallujah. However, at the same time, out…

This week on MCA Scuttlebutt, William meets with John Currie. John is a retired Marine who served as a helicopter pilot in the Balkans as well as several combat tours in the Middle East. John, who was working in Iraq at the time of the recording, also offers some insight on recent developments in the…

Happy Lunar New Year, Scuttlebutt listeners. I hope the Year of the Cat is off to a start for everyone. This week, we welcome Dr. Michael Hunzeker for first ever segment crossover – Strait Talk and World of Wargaming (Strait Wargaming? War Talk?) – discussing the recent CSIS wargame of a potential conflict in the…

Welcome to MCA Scuttlebutt’s new series: World of Wargaming. In this series, we will discuss the application of wargaming as a teaching tool. For our first episode in this series, William sits down with the Director of Wargaming at the Krulak Center for Innovation & Future Warfare, Marine Corps University, Tim Barrick. They discuss how…

Hello again, Scuttlebutt listeners. This week we are joined by Kacy Tellessen, veteran Marine infantryman and author of the book, Freaks of a Feather. He comes to us from Spokane, WA where is attending Gonzaga Law School. Kacy joined the infantry directly out of high school and deployed twice to Iraq as a machine gunner…

Miles Vining returns to recount his experiences working as a historical consultant for the 2021 Chinese film, “The Battle at Lake Changjin.”  Grossing over $900 million, “The Battle at Lake Changjin” offers a historically dubious account of the Korean War from the Chinese perspective, including depictions of the Battle of Inchon, the Chinese counteroffensive, the…

This week we welcome to the show, Navy Cross recipient and author of the book, Shadow of the Sword, Jeremiah Workman to talk to us about his amazing journey from Ohio native, to his time with 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, to writing his book, to being on the GOP ticket for deputy governor of Ohio….

Writer Geoff Roecker joined us in studio recently to talk about how the search for information about a family member’s death on Saipan in 1944 led him to become a volunteer MIA researcher. We also talked about his book, “Leaving Mac Behind,” his website, MissingMarines.com and his articles for Leatherneck. As an added bonus, there…

Ben Kesling—journalist, author, and Marine combat veteran—joined us to discuss his newly released book, “Bravo Company: An Afghanistan Deployment and Its Aftermath.” “Bravo Company” recounts the experiences of a company from the 82nd Airborne Division as they grappled with the enemy in the Arghandab Valley of Afghanistan before then returning and readjusting to civilian life….

Join us for the 39th anniversary of the devastating bombing of the Marine Corps Barracks in Beirut as we talk to Elisa Camera and Michael Ivey about their documentary project “We Came In Peace” which chronicles the stories of those who were there in 1983. Elisa, who lost her brother, Mecot, in the bombing and…

Dr. Theresa Schulz (LtCol Air Force Ret.) and Dr. Amy Boudin-George are some of the most preeminent hearing experts in the country and they have devoted their pursuits to helping combat hearing damage in our warfighters. Naturally, we really needed a science lesson to get Nick and Vic up to speed on how hearing works…

Andy Hesterman and his lifelong friend Rob Einaudi joined us on Scuttlebutt to chat it up about Andy’s broad-reaching experiences from 25 years in the Marine Corps and some of the effort it took turn those experiences into the excellent book “Radioman.” Andy served as a Radioman with ANGLICO in the Gulf War, became a…

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

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