A Better Peace: The War Room Podcast

Coup d'etats are sadly a fact of life on the African continent. Since 1950, of the 486 attempted coups in the world, 214 occurred in Africa with 106 of them being successful. Unfortunately countries on the African continent tend to have many of the conditions typically associated with coups. Whether it is poverty, terrorism and insurgencies, or a failure to understand basic human rights there are many factors working against peace. A BETTER PEACE welcomes Daniel Kuwali to the studio to discuss his research to understand and try to prevent coup d'etats in the future. Daniel is a Brigadier General in the Malawi Defense Force where he serves as Chief of Legal Services and Judge Advocate General. He joins podcast editor Ron Granieri to examine the organizations and changes that have to thrive in order to staunch the instability in the region and promote stable democracies.

Our military community is incredibly dependent on volunteerism. Without spouses and service members actively volunteering on and off installation, life for military families would be far more difficult and far less fulfilling. Join co-hosts Faith Bomar and Lynda Lind as they have a conversation with award winning USA Today and Amazon best selling author Eric Gardner and retired Navy Human Resources Officer and current Army spouse Heather Kline. Eric and Heather share a wealth of information about finding volunteer opportunities that can give you a sense of purpose, translate to work experience and support our service members, families and communities. Just bring YOU, we all have value to add.

Feedback is a bit of an art form. And there are as many different types of mentorship and coaching as there are soldiers in the Army. So how do you effectively train leaders as they come up through the ranks to provide effective, honest feedback and evaluations that are in the macro sense uniform and evenly applied across the force. Michael Shaw has looked at the problem and is the first to admit that he doesn't have all the answers, but he's got some great suggestions about resources that are already out there. There's no doubt the Army has mastered the bureaucratic process of evaluations but in this day and age can the service tolerate a system that isn't optimized to find, develop and advance talent wherever it's found - and not just in the top block.

Take an already stressful event like moving, add in a possible foreign country, throw in some training enroute or the only vacation time you'll see all year, sprinkle with some kids, maybe a few pets and do it all on the military's shifting timeline. And don't forget the end of a job for your spouse and maybe you as well and a host of new responsibilities, maybe a change of command waiting on the other end. Mix it all together and you and about 1/3 of the U.S. military are smack dab in the middle of Permanent Change of Station or PCS season. Listen in as Faith and Lynda discuss how to prepare yourself and your children for the big and little moments of a PCS. Joining the conversation from Pisa, Italy where her family is currently stationed, Wendy Way suggests that you “Book that move, don’t mess around.” Wendy is a military spouse, former Army Logistics Officer, and the CEO and co-founder of LOGSA Mil Moves. And adding her moving tips is military spouse Christine Carol “C.C.” Gallagher, a highly sought-after expert and developer of the Stressless PCS Kit. No matter how many moves you have made, you will learn something in this episode!

It's time again for the Eisenhower Series College Program (ESCP). Established over 50 years ago, the ESCP engages colleges, voluntary organizations, think tanks and other public forums across the nation to introduce War College students to audiences that might be less familiar with the military. Their goal is to have reasoned and thoughtful discussions with the society they serve and protect. In past years A BETTER PEACE has augmented the limited travel plans of the ESCP and though travel has increased again we're pleased to bring you the first of several discussions for the Academic Year '22 forum. Joining podcast editor Ron Granieri in the studio for this episode are Leila Green, Jason Groat, Mike Rossman and Amit Talwar. Interestingly enough not a one of them is in the U.S. Army and only one of them is a U.S. citizen, they represent but of course don't speak for, the British Army, the Australian Army, USAID and the Indian Army, respectively. The four guests share their expertise and insights regarding the U.S. shift away from a focus on terrorism and violent extremism toward a renewed interest in great power competition. Much of their conversation with Ron centers on allies and friends and the balance of soft power versus hard.

Last episode the team dove into the daunting process of changing schools (again) and setting your children up for success. But what if you need just a little bit extra. Join Faith and Lynda as Danielle Foote helps them update their magical PCS binders (you know you have one) with tips and tools for our special needs and special education kids. Danielle is a former military brat and current Army spouse. She has over ten years of special education teaching experience across numerous grade levels in five different states. In this episode you’ll hear that knowledge is power and that it’s good to speak up, advocate for your child, and to teach your child how to advocate for themselves.

In the modern age the United States rarely ever enters a conflict alone. Fighting alongside an ally or as part of a coalition magnifies capabilities and lethality and often more importantly brings legitimacy and access. But the coordination and communication necessary for successful multi-domain operations is intense. Add multiple different languages, disparate communication and networking systems and simple deconfliction can become a herculean task or result in a simple but drastic reduction of interaction and interoperability. A BETTER PEACE welcomes Aaron Dixon to the studio to explain how many of the network issues of coalition operations in the MDO can be resolved, without breaking the bank. Aaron joins podcast editor Ron Granieri to discuss why the solution to the problem doesn't involve newer, better, faster technology, at least not in the immediate future. He argues for more disciplined, targeted training and refusing to ignore issues in the exercise environment. EDITOR'S CORRECTION: When introducing our guest Ron states that he commanded the 3rd Security Force Assistance BRIGADE. He actually commanded 3rd Squadron, 3rd Security Force Assistance Brigade (SFAB).

As if PCS season isn't stressful enough it can be overwhelming when you begin to navigate the requirements to register your children in their new schools. Join Faith and Lynda as they jump right into all things school related for your child as well as continuing education for yourself. They are joined by Michele Sumter. Michele is a military spouse who has served in military-connected schools as a principal at all levels. She enjoys sharing her knowledge of school systems and transitioning students with her military friends. The key to it all is it's never too early to start contacting schools to ensure your military child is set up for success.

Wargames can be incredible teaching and learning tools when they are built and utilized properly. They come in all shapes, sizes and colors and require a skilled hand in their creation. A BETTER PEACE welcomes two such skilled developers, Chris Steinitz and Erin Sullivan to the studio to share their experiences as game developers and discuss how they started in the wargaming world. Chris and Erin join podcast editor Ron Granieri to talk about what makes a great wargame, what crucial information is necessary before even starting construction of a game and when you truly need a wargame versus tailored analysis.

It's time for another installment of MIL SPOUSE EDITION and we thought before we get too deep into content perhaps you should meet the co-hosts of the series. Faith Bomar and Lynda Lind join podcast editor Ron Granieri in the virtual studio to lay out the roadmap for the series and how they ended up as the hosts of the program. With the goal of sharing information and expertise to the broadest possible audience the two hosts will be talking to experts about topics that are important to military spouses and families. Future episodes will cover education (your children and your own), PCS-ing, volunteering, employment, military culture, customs and courtesies, and maybe most important - self-care. So come meet your guides through this endeavor as Faith and Lynda share conversations and promise a few laughs along the way talking about "Their Mission, Our Story."

We do our best at WAR ROOM to publish a wide variety of articles and podcast episodes that we hope contribute to the national security discussion. Sometimes we publish something that might not seem dead center of the military or policy realm or it might appear, at best, adjacent to the strategic level of conversation we aim for. For example, last year our best read article was THE PCS PENALTY AND THE ARMY FAMILY. That's why when the Army War College AY22 Spouses Group came to us with an idea for a podcast we jumped at it. This limited run series will feature spouses who share their expertise and experiences in issues that effect every military family regardless of which branch of service they're in. This episode introduces the production team of Kim Miller, Melanie Wilhite and Joanie Zipperer. All three women are spouses of students in the AY22 Resident Course and they were just a few of the powerhouses behind the scenes making this effort happen. They discuss the thinking behind the project and why the WAR ROOM: MIL SPOUSE EDITION is something you or someone in your life should definitely listen to. Watch for episodes to be released as additional content each Friday for the next several months.

This week we are celebrating WAR ROOM's fifth birthday! We published our first article on 1 May 2017 and our first podcast episode a couple of weeks later on 17 May. Today we celebrate where we've been and where we're going with our 300th podcast episode! It's estimated that nearly 75% of all the podcasts started podfade, or slowly stop producing new episodes, often after only about 7 episodes. So you can understand why we're pretty proud to to publish our 300th episode and thrilled that you are still out there listening along. Jacqueline Whitt, our first podcast editor, now Editor-in-Chief, and Ron Granieri, our current podcast editor sit down in the virtual studio to discuss the start of it all. They talk about what it takes to produce an episode, what WAR ROOM hopes to contribute to the NATSEC conversation and where we're hoping to take the conversation. Thanks to all of our loyal listeners and here's to the next 300 episodes. What do you want to hear us talk about? EDITOR'S CORRECTION: Ron mistakenly credits Buck as the voice of the opening credits. That voice is actually Professor Douglas "Muddy" Waters (CAPT, USN, Ret) from the Department of Command, Leadership and Management, and friend of WAR ROOM. Buck just reads all of the legal disclaimers.

Four years ago the United States Pacific Command (USPACOM) underwent a name change in hopes of signifying a change in thinking in the region. The new name, United States Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM), was in recognition of "the increasing connectivity between the Indian and Pacific oceans as America focuses West." In studying the region it quickly becomes clear that India, and particularly Indian naval strategy must be examined to understand the dynamics of the situation. A BETTER PEACE welcomes back Patrick Bratton to share his studies of Kavalam Madhava Panikkar, an Indian scholar statesman and the author of among dozens of other works, India and the Indian Ocean: An Essay on the Influence of Sea Power on Indian History. Patrick joins podcast editor Ron Granieri in the studio to look at the life and works of Panikkar and how India's first ambassador to China has lessons to offer to anyone interested in understanding INDOPACOM.

Conditional statements or as they're more commonly known, IF-THEN statements, are the foundation of almost all programming languages. They allow an automation that looks for a certain circumstance, and if that circumstance exists then an action happens. The action may be the end result or it may send the automation down a path searching for more circumstances, but it is the building block for decision making processes, cyber or otherwise. That's why it's so odd that when it comes to defining cyber warfare there doesn't seem to be a clear set of rules or IF-THEN statements for decision making. A BETTER PEACE welcomes Patrick Walsh to look at defining the red line in cyberspace. What defines an act of warfare, versus crime, versus terrorism in cyberspace. Patrick joins podcast editor Ron Granieri in the studio to share his years of experience prosecuting cybercrimes and how he feels laws can better inform decision making and responses to actions in the cyber realm.

Casualties are a fact of military life. Whether the result of a training accident, peacekeeping operations or full scale combat, the military has made the commitment to guide families through the very difficult circumstances of a service member's death with the aid of Casualty Assistance Officers (CAO). Sadly through repetition the U.S. Army has created training and programs and processes that are world class. Unfortunately, when the odd circumstances surrounding the captivity of Bowe Bergdahl by the Haqqani network in Afghanistan and Pakistan occurred, it highlighted the deficiencies of the CAO program when addressing prisoners of non-state actors and violent extremist organizations (VEOs). This isn't the story of Bergdahl's ordeal. It's the experiences of Kevin Hickey the CAO for the Bergdahl family and he joins Ron Granieri in the studio to discuss his observations over five long years supporting them. He's researching and proposing improvements and changes to the traditional CAO program to make sure that the U.S. Army is prepared for situations like the Bergdahl's when it happens again one day.