Military Historians are People, Too!

Our guest today is naval historian John Beeler of the University of Alabama. John has been at Bama since 1993 and seen it all, we'd dare to say. John has written extensively on British naval policy during the Victorian era, while at the same time amassing a literal garage full of vinyl - his record collection numbers in the thousands! He is also a hyper-keen BBQ aficionado/snob, claiming that the only authentic BBQ is somewhere...

Today's guest is the director of the University of Virginia's Nau Center for Civil War History - Caroline E. Janney. Recognized for excellence in teaching, Caroline is also an award-winning scholar. Her many publications include Burying the Dead But Not the Past: Ladies' Memorial Associations and the Lost Cause, Remembering the Civil War: Reunion and the Limits of Reconciliation, and Ends of War: The Fight of Lee's ...

Today's guest is the USAF Air Command and Staff College's Paul "PJ" Springer. PJ has a great story - from the farm fields of Iowa to Aggieland to Maxwell AFB, Paul had dreams of being a physicist, but the end of the Cold War and a couple of good experiences in history courses at Texas A&M put him on the righteous path. Paul has written widely on Civil War POWs, military technology, among many other subjects. V...

We're back! Our summer hiatus is over, and it's good to get back to recording. And Season 6, no less! Our opening episode is a fun chat with Jack Bowsher, a historian of the Burma Campaign in the Second World War. Jack is Head of History at the Katherine Warington School in Hertfordshire, UK. Jack's books include Forgotten Armour: Tank Warfare in Burma, and Thunder Run Meiktila 1945: The Greatest Combined Arms Manoeuvre...

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 K...

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, ...

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...

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 dis...

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 Atl...

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 Coun...

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 Oklah...

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 Marjo...

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 Stampeder...

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 UN...

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 Genera...

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 Tour...

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...

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 recen...

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...