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