Wargaming and National Security Decision Making with Elizabeth Bartels

Jeremy Black returns to the Strategy Bridge Podcast to talk about geographical concepts, mapmaking, strategy, geopolitics and his book “The Geographies of War.” Black is Emeritus Professor of History at Exeter University.

In this episode of the Strategy Bridge Podcast, we talk with Wayne Lee about his book “The Cutting-Off Way: Indigenous Warfare in Eastern North America, 1500-1800.” Lee is Bruce W. Carney Professor of History and the University of North Carolina.

Eileen Bjorkman joins the Strategy Bridge Podcast to talk about her book “Fly Girls Revolt: The Story of the Women Who Kicked Open the Door to Fly in Combat.” The book tells the story of how women fought for equality in the armed services and for the right to serve on flight crews in combat. Bjorkman is a retired Air Force colonel and flight test engineer.

In this episode of the Strategy Bridge Podcast, we are joined by Anders Engberg-Pedersen to talk about his book “Martial Aesthetics: How War Became an Art Form.” He is Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Southern Denmark and the University of Copenhagen.

Dr. John McManus returns to the Strategy Bridge Podcast to talk about the final book in his trilogy on the U.S. Army in the Pacific War, “To the End of the Earth: The US Army and the Downfall of Japan, 1945.” McManus is the Curator's Distinguished Professor of US military history at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. 

Sebastian Bae joins the Strategy Bridge Podcast to talk about wargaming education and design and his new game “Littoral Commander: Indo-Pacific.” Bae is the editor of the book “Forging Wargamers: A Framework for Professional Military Education.” He works as a research analyst and game designer in the defense industry and serves as an adjunct assistant professor at the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University, where he teaches a graduate course on designing educational wargames.

During the Vietnam War, a joint Army and Navy unit known as the Mobile Riverine Force (MRF) was established to operate in the maritime environment of the Mekong Delta. In the episode we talk about the Mobile Riverine Force with Erik Villard, the digital military historian at the U.S. Army Center of Military History and a historian of the Vietnam War. Villard is the author of “Combat Operations: Staying the Course, October 1967 to September 1968.”

National Park Service Ranger Troy Harman joins the Strategy Bridge Podcast to talk about the role of the location of water, roads, and rail in the decision making during the Gettysburg campaign. We also talk about how symbolism built into the design of the park shapes views of the battle. Harman has served as a ranger at Gettysburg National Military Park since 1989 and he is the author of “All Roads Led to Gettysburg: A New Look at the Civil War’s Pivotal Campaign.”

Elizabeth Samet joins the Strategy Bridge Podcast to talk about the mythology surrounding World War II, the literature and film that emerged following the war, and the mythology’s effect on our beliefs about the use of American military force. Samet is the author of “Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness” and a professor of English at West Point.

Trent Hone returns to the Strategy Bridge Podcast to talk about his new book “Mastering the Art of Command: Admiral Chester Nimitz and Victory in the Pacific.” We talk about how Nimitz organized and reorganized his staff as the war unfolded, his relationship with the Army, the effort to integrate the British Pacific Fleet into American operations and more. Trent Hone is a Vice President with ICF and an award-winning naval historian.