“Bobbie the Weather Girl” may have been the most popular celebrity of the Vietnam War, eclipsing even Adrian Cronauer of “Good Morning Vietnam” fame. Her real name is Barbara Keith. Barbara grew up a military “brat”. Her father served in WWII, Korea & Vietnam and her mother was a Navy Nurse during WWII. She believes that “If you don’t do something for your country, don’t call yourself an American.” As an adventurous 19 year old, she was looking for her opportunity to serve. However, military structure did not appeal to her so she joined US AID serving in Vietnam. She says that US AID’s mis ..read more

Al “Hollywood” Billings developed a reputation as a Maverick while flying for the Sea Wolves.  The Sea Wolves (Helicopter Attack Squadron Light 3) were formed specifically to support Navy Special Warfare and Mobile Riverine Forces during the Vietnam War. They would become the most decorated Navy squadron of the war. We talk to Billings as part of our educational partnership with the Distinguished Flying Cross Society. He enlisted in the Naval Aviation Cadet program. “If you made it through you got your wings and commission on the same day. If you didn’t you were on a ship in the Pacific s ..read more

Sam Mackey admits he isn’t always the smartest or strongest guy in the room but he puts in the work.  His philosophy is “To find something that I can do better than everybody else and take enough responsibility where I can’t be replaced and do it the best that I can.” Mackey served 20 years in the military including time with the elite Navy SEALs. He never thought he would be an entrepreneur but is now the CEO of Outsider, an outdoor lifestyle brand. Mackey’s entry into the military was rather un-auspicious. He had gotten mixed up with the wrong crowd.  His parole officer suggested j ..read more

“Homefront Stories” is a collection of fictional short stories written by Victoria Kelly inspired by her life as a military spouse.  Her 2015 work, “When Men Go Off to War” is a collection of poems written while her husband was deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan and captures the hopes, anxieties and intimacies of the military spouse during times of war. “Prayers of an American Wife” is a collection of poems that highlights the displacement women experience when their husbands deploy and the battles fought by those left at home Victoria graduated Summa Cum Laude from Harvard University and i ..read more

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) has the principle responsibility to provide the fullest possible accounting for our missing personnel to their families and our nation. It was created in January of 2015 by merging the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office and the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command along with several functions of the Air Force Life Sciences Equipment Laboratory. DPAA Media Relation Chief for Outreach and Communications Sean Everette joins us to describe the agency’s functions. We are also joined by Clark Baldwin, the nephew of World War II soldier Clifford Strickland ..read more

Stephen Paul Campos surmised it would be better to volunteer and choose his military specialty rather than be drafted during the Vietnam War. The recruiter asked what he wanted to do and Campos replied “I don’t know what I WANT to do but I know I DON’T want to be infantry.” Based upon his intake evaluations the recruiter told him he could be sent to Germany or Hawaii. Immediately upon graduation he was assigned to the infantry and soon after sent to Vietnam. Campos shares that the environment was just as much a threat as the enemy. As if the torrential rains weren’t bad enough, there were thi ..read more

“Service to CEO” podcast creator Kristen Costlow left a promising military career to pursue her dream.  She served as an air traffic controller in the Navy and was rising fast in rank.  She soon found herself supervising sailors 10 years her senior. The day after she notified her supervisor of her plans to leave the military, she was promoted to Chief Petty Officer – quite the accomplishment for someone of her age. Kristen joined the Navy right out of high school and says there were no specific issues that caused her to leave mid-way to a full military retirement. She was just experi ..read more

Blackwater Security Company developed quite a reputation. Morgan Lerette was a contractor with Blackwater in Iraq for 18 months from 2004-2005. His sometimes funny, sometimes tragic experience is documented in his book “Guns, Girls & Greed: I was a Blackwater Mercenary in Iraq” Morgan joined the Air National Guard right out of high school in order to escape his small town. He became an Air Force Security Forces member and had been serving for two years when 9/11 happened. Despite having deployed to Iraq, Morgan says he felt much like other military members at the time – he never really got ..read more

Our first check in of 2024 with Havok Journal owner Charles Faint. Charles is a retired Army Intelligence officer with seven tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. We begin by discussing the latest on the Israel/Gaza conflict.  Charles expects Iran to continue supporting terrorist proxies but will avoid a direct confrontation with the US. His rationale is twofold; Iran knows they cannot win a direct fight with the US and are not going to risk doing so over an issue like Gaza. They also don’t feel an existential threat to their key interests. Clearly Israel will be occupying Gaza for some ..read more

“Damn the Valley” was written by Will Yeske and describes his deployment to the Arghandab River Valley in Afghanistan. The valley has seen its share of conflict. From Alexander the Great up to the Russians – and now Americans. To US troops it became known as “the meat grinder”.  Will was posted there with Bravo Company of the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne.  During their time there, his unit suffered a 52% casualty rate. Damn the Valley has an interesting “origin” story.  Will was inspired to write it in response to another book by Ben Kesling titled “Bra ..read more