The Old And The New: Episode 10

In Episode 10 of Ninety-Pound Rucksack, host Christian Beckwith explores how John McCown and his fellow citizen-soldiers overcame traditional military doctrine to prepare for mountain warfare—and in the process, reshaped the Old Army into one of the mightiest forces the world had ever known.

Show Notes and Resources: www.christianbeckwith.com

The episode includes interviews with Ninety-Pound Rucksack Advisory Board Members:

• Lance R. Blyth: Command Historian of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM); Adjunct Professor of History at the United States Air Force Academy.
• David Little: “living historian” for the Tenth Mountain Division Foundation.
• Sepp Scanlin: military historian and museum professional; served as the 10th Mountain Division and Fort Drum Museum’s Museum Director.

Key Points:

• The draft and the enlistment of citizen soldiers changed the US Army from a rigid, authoritarian, all-volunteer institution into one of the mightiest forces the world had ever known.
• The development of Officer Candidate School (OCS) created an industrial-style assembly line that produced junior leaders to lead the citizen army into combat.
• The innovative Junior Officers’ Plan, which was developed to train officers for the mountain troops and then return them to the unit, preserved institutional knowledge critical to the mountain troops' ability to fight in cold weather and mountainous terrain.
• A specialized division designed to fight in extreme conditions had to adapt the Army's standard flatland, warm-weather military strategies to mountain warfare.

Featured Segments:

• A vivid recreation of a conversation between John McCown and his peers at Ft. Benning, Georgia, highlighting:
  • their takeaways from Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union and the impact of winter on his army's defeat
  • their frustrations with traditional Army tactics and its inability to recognize the importance of specialized training
  • their resolve to embody the change they knew the mountain troops would need in order to fulfill its mandate
• An overview of the Army's transformation from an all-volunteer force into one led by citizen-soldiers like John McCown.
• Detailed analyses of Officer Candidate School, the Junior Officers Plan and the need for a purpose-built encampment for the mountain troops.

Patron Support:

• A special thank you to our community of patrons for making our research possible. Join us at www.patreon.com/NinetyPoundRucksack to support the show and access exclusive content.

Sponsorship Acknowledgments:

• CiloGear: Makers of the finest alpine backpacks. Visit cilogear.com and use code "rucksack" for a 5% discount and a matching donation to the American Alpine Club.