Researching War w/ Guest Dr. Ron Milam

Intro - 0:00

Tune called Planxty Sir Festus Burke | Randal Bays/fiddle, Chris Smith/tenor banjo, Roger Landes/bouzouki | composition by Turlough O’Carolan, from the album “Coyote Banjo” by Chris Smith

Part I, Meet Dr. Ron Milam  - 01:13

Part II, Vernacular Perspective of the Vietnam War - 05:18

Part III,  Researching Both Sides of the War - 13:06

Part IV, Academic Conferences - 21:32

Part V, Institute for Peace & Conflict (IPAC) - 26:10

Part VI, Music and the War - 28:20

'How many kids did you kill today?'

Part VII, Social Identities within the War - 51:44

Outro - 58:36

Planxty Sir Festus Burke

 

Ron Milam is an Associate Professor of History, a Fulbright Scholar to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, and the founding Faculty advisor to the Veterans' Association at Texas Tech. He teaches both halves of the U.S. Survey, the Vietnam War, and graduate and undergraduate courses in Military History. His latest teaching interest is terrorism and insurgency, an interest that developed from his having been named an Academic Fellow for the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. He also serves as the Academic Advisor for the semi-annual Vietnam Center sponsored student trips to Vietnam and Cambodia. He has also taught at the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam under a Ford Foundation grant.

Dr. Milam is the author of Not a Gentleman's War: an Inside View of Junior Officers in the Vietnam War, published by the University of North Carolina Press, and the editor of The Vietnam War in Popular Culture: The Influence of America's Most Controversial War on Everyday Life (2 volumes), published by ABC-CLIO/Praeger. He is currently working on “The Siege of Phu Nhon: Montagnards and Americans as Allies in Battle,” which deals with one of the most significant battles in the late days of the Vietnam War.

Dr. Milam is a member of the Texas Tech Teaching Academy, recipient of the President's Excellence in Teaching Award, the Chancellor's Council Excellence in Teaching Award, the President's Excellence in Teaching Professorship and is an Integrated Scholar. Dr. Milam is the Executive Director of the Institute for Peace & Conflict (IPAC), which includes the world renowned Vietnam Center and Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the David Westphall Veterans Foundation, which operates the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Angel Fire, New Mexico. He was recently named by Secretary of Veteran's Affairs Robert Wilke to the Veteran's Advisory Committee on Rehabilitation (VACOR).

Dr. Milam is a combat veteran of the Vietnam War, and in 2015 was inducted into the Officer Candidate School (OCS) Hall of Fame at the National Infantry Museum at Fort Benning, Georgia. He rides and collects motorcycles.

For more information, please see his Texas Tech University Bio.

 

Full Playlist for EP 22

VVMC Book Club

VVMC: Friends & Voices, a Collaborative Playlist

Voices from the Vernacular Music Center