MCA Scuttlebutt

Hello, Scuttlebutt listeners. This week on MCA Scuttlebutt we had the distinct pleasure of welcoming Terry Salman. Terry is the author of the book, What We Give, and the Chairman of New Pacific Metals Corp, and President & CEO of Salman Capital Inc. As President, CEO and Co-Director of Research he helped raise over $20 billion for more than 400 exploration and mining companies. He was the recipient of the 2016 Murray Pezim Award in recognition of his remarkable career in Canadian mining finance and he was inducted to the Cambridge House Resource Hall of Fame in 2018. Mr. Salman is the Chair Emeritus of the Vancouver Public Library Foundation, Honorary Consul-General of the Republic of Singapore, and was recently appointed to the Order of Canada for his contributions to mining exploration and for his generous philanthropy and community activism. But before all these wonderful accomplishments in development and charity, he was a US Marine. Terry served in Vietnam with 1st Battalion, 4th Marines as a 81mm mortar section leader and forward observer. Terry shares with us his experiences being a Canadian coming to the US to step on the yellow footprints, his time in Hawaii, his philanthropic experiences, and what it was like for a Vietnam veteran to return to exact same place where he experienced horrific combat four decades earlier. Terry explains that the ethos the Marine Corps has taught him has been foundational throughout his life. Hope you take away as much wisdom from this conversation as we did. Enjoy! https://www.whatwegivebook.com/ Leatherneck magazine will be featuring an article with Terry Salman in the August addition. Please check it out when it hits the shelves, or at https://www.mca-marines.org/magazines/leatherneck/ Produced by Vic Ruble, William Treuting, Tai Frazier, and Nancy Lichtman. Music is “I Am The Hammer” by Soularflair. <p>The post Scuttlebutt Ep 78: From Marine to Philanthropist with Terry Salman first appeared on Marine Corps Association.</p>

Hello, Scuttlebutt listeners. This week on MCA Scuttlebutt, the World of Wargaming Series continues with author, Marine, and prolific wargamer Major Ian T. Brown. Ian is the operations officer at the Brute Krulak Center for Innovation and Future Warfare, Marine Corps University. He is also the author of the book, “A New Conception of War: John Boyd, the U.S. Marines, and Maneuver Warfare”, which is on the Commandant of the Marine Corps’ Professional Reading List, and wargames so much, he decided to create his own so he would finally have some competition. Ian joins Vic and William to discuss how wargaming has influenced his career as a Marine as well as some of the Marine Corps’ current wargaming initiatives. This is actually take 2 of this interview. Unfortunately, the audio took a total dump on us the first time, and we were really bummed because it was a great interview. But, Ian goes next level and even provides updates from our first conversation, so it was a very nice benefit of going at this twice. Enjoy! Produced by Vic Ruble, William Treuting, Tai Frazier, and Nancy Lichtman. Music is “I Am The Hammer” by Soularflair. <p>The post Scuttlebutt Ep 77: World of Wargaming with Major Ian Brown first appeared on Marine Corps Association.</p>

Hello, Scuttlebutt listeners. There’s a common  misconception that there are only two types of people that work at NASA: astronauts and scientists. If Hollywood has it right, the only buildings are the control center and the launching pad. And everyone in the control center is sweating profusely and chain smoking. But in reality, it takes a lot more than astronauts and scientists to contribute to mission success at NASA. This week, Vic and Nancy sit down in the studio with veteran Marines Katie Maynard, NASA’s chief of protocol, and Randolph Harris, the deputy chief of enterprise management, to talk about how their Marine Corps training prepared them for their current roles at NASA. Come and join us for a look behind the curtain as we learn that there are a lot more opportunities for veterans at NASA other than just going into space. Enjoy! Produced by Vic Ruble, William Treuting, Tai Frazier, and Nancy Lichtman. <p>The post Scuttlebutt Ep 76: From the Yellow Footprints to NASA first appeared on Marine Corps Association.</p>

Hello Scuttlebutt listeners! This week we are truly honored to have the President and CEO of the MCA, LtGen Charles Chiarotti, USMC (Ret), back on the show. March was the logistics-themed edition of the Marine Corps Gazette, so we thought there couldn’t be any logistician better (or closer to our sound studio) than the former Deputy Commandant of Installations and Logistics to talk to us about what it means when the Commandant says that logistics is the “pacing function” for operations. As we look to our pacing threat in the Indo-Pacific and first island chain, what does it mean for the Marine Corps’ vision of stand-in forces and expeditionary advanced base operations that logistics, more than any of the other warfighting functions, will dictate our operational reach. LtGen Chiarotti shares with us his views on how we can support distributed operations in a contested environment, what utility emerging tech (read: AI/ML) will have to facilitate distributed operations, and how we need to lean into the current and future generations of Marines, give them the tools, and sit back and be impressed. Ok, enough buzz words and phrases. I’m probably using old ones anyway. This is a great conversation (just because I’m supposed to say that doesn’t mean it’s not true) and I hope you all get as much out of it as William and I did. Enjoy! Produced by Vic Ruble, William Treuting, Tai Frazier, and Nancy Lichtman. <p>The post Scuttlebutt Ep 75: Logistics in a Contested Environment with LtGen Charles Chiarotti first appeared on Marine Corps Association.</p>

Hello Scuttlebutt listeners! This week Vic and Nancy have a conversation with New York Times bestselling author Adam Makos about his book, “Devotion,” about naval aviators LT Tom Hudner and ENS Jesse Brown. Now a major motion picture, starring Jonathan Majors and Glen Powell, Devotion is a powerful story of Hudner’s unsuccessful attempt to save his squadron mate Jesse Brown, the first Black naval aviator, after Brown’s Corsair crashed during a mission to provide air support to Marines fighting on the ground during the Korean War. Hudner received the Medal of Honor for his actions that day. Adam tells us about earning Hudner’s trust so he could write this story of courage, perseverance and friendship. We also talk about some of his other books, namely Voices of the Pacific, an unflinching, brutal, and relentless firsthand chronicle of United States Marine Corps’ actions in the Pacific during World War II. We definitely want to have him back on the show to talk about this one! Enjoy! https://adammakos.com/ https://amzn.to/3lSkDlM https://www.valorstudios.com/ https://www.paramountmovies.com/movies/devotion https://www.instagram.com/adammakos Tweets by DevotionMovie Tweets by AdamMakos Produced by Vic Ruble, William Treuting, Tai Frazier, and Nancy Lichtman. <p>The post Scuttlebutt Ep 74: Devotion with Adam Makos first appeared on Marine Corps Association.</p>

Hello again Scuttlebutt listeners. Thank you for joining. On this World of Wargaming episode of MCA Scuttlebutt, William speaks with the CEO and Founder of Nemertes, Johna Till Johnson, on the application of wargaming in the cyber realm. Nemertes is a research-based advisory and consulting firm that analyzes the business value of emerging technologies—which involves developing new means of preventing cyber-attacks. Using lessons gleaned from Nemertes employee Col Don Vandergriff’s experiences in military and as a wargamer, Johna developed “cyberwargaming” to help companies learn how to both deter and defeat potential cyber-attacks. In doing so, her clients must embrace the tenets of the OODA Loop to overcome new threats in a world where threats in the cyber domain are increasingly present. Produced by Vic Ruble, William Treuting, Tai Frazier, and Nancy Lichtman. <p>The post Scuttlebutt Ep 73: OODA Loop and Cyber-wargaming with Nemertes CEO Johna Till Johnson first appeared on Marine Corps Association.</p>

Hello again Scuttlebutt listeners. Hope Daylight Savings Time is treating you all well and that the one-hour change isn’t messing with your sleep patterns too much. If it is, go take a nap because you definitely don’t want to fall asleep on this week’s episode as we welcome Col Greg Jones and CWO5 John Costa to the studio. Col Jones and Gunner Costa hail from Weapons Training Battalion, and made the journey all the way from the west side of the I-95 here in Quantico to be part of the show, and we are so glad they did. As busy as they are, they took the time to talk to us about the new Advanced Marksmanship Training Program, how weapon proficiency and accuracy are foundational to sustaining operations as part of the Marine Corps’ new concepts of employment, and how for the first time in a long time, the Marine Corps is instituting marksmanship training our grandfathers’ grandfathers’ generation won’t be able to recognize. Hope you all take away as much from this discussion as we did. Enjoy! Produced by Vic Ruble, William Treuting, and Nancy Lichtman. <p>The post Scuttlebutt Ep 72: Advance Marksmanship Training Program with Col Jones and Gunner Costa first appeared on Marine Corps Association.</p>

Hello Scuttlebutt listeners! Today William and Nancy sit down with Marine veteran Andrew Biggio, author of the book “The Rifle: Combat Stories from America’s Last World War II Veterans, Told Through an M1 Garand.” We had a great conversation with Andrew about the real cost of war and the lessons he has learned from talking to World War II veterans, and telling their stories. Andrew’s book can be purchased at www.TheWWIIRifle.com  or on Amazon https://amzn.to/3F8XSQK. Produced by Vic Ruble, William Treuting, and Nancy Lichtman. <p>The post Scuttlebutt Ep 71: The Rifle with Andrew Biggio first appeared on Marine Corps Association.</p>

Hey Scuttlebutt listeners. Thank you for tuning in. We at the MCA really appreciate all your continued support. This week, we welcome Col Chris Woodbridge, USMC (Ret) and Editor of the Marine Corps Gazette to the studio to talk the one-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine. It’s funny to say “welcome” because his office is only about thirty feet from the studio, but he was kind enough to take some time out of his busy schedule to sit down with us. We join the feeding frenzy of media outlets, podcasts, expert pontificators and retired military officers who seem to be coming out of the woodwork discussing the state of the war. One thing we try to offer in our discussion is the so what. What does what a prolonged war in Europe mean for the Marine Corps, that is fully entrenched in the Pacific and first island chain? For China’s expansionist ambitions? Concepts such as expeditionary advanced basing and Stand-in Forces? Does this war support shifting toward the integration of advanced tech or is this a case study of how all wars end up being a conventional maneuver warfare fight? Col Woodbridge has some great insight and for anyone wanting to go beyond the surface analysis of Russia’s continued invasion, please give this episode a listen. Enjoy! Produced by Vic Ruble, William Treuting, and Nancy Lichtman. <p>The post Scuttlebutt Ep 70: One-Year Anniversary of the War in Ukraine with Col Chris Woodbridge, USMC (Ret) first appeared on Marine Corps Association.</p>

Hello again Scuttlebutt listeners. This week we welcome Chris Pavlak, Marine ground intelligence officer and author of the book, From Lawyer to Warrior, to the show. Chris’ journey to the yellow footprints is best captured by the term, persistence, which is a theme I think resonates for all of us. We joke that failure is just an opportunity to succeed and Chris epitomizes that. He is very forthcoming about his failures in his book, as he chronicles for us the times where expectations and reality don’t seem to gel in the way that we want. But pushing through adversity not only reveals to us our true path but reveals a lot about who we truly are.  Chris talks to us about his book, the cultural shifts he had to embrace as he went from aspiring lawyer to Marine officer, the value of esprit de corps, and the enriching experiences he found in the comradery of being a leader of Marines. Enjoy! https://amzn.to/3mAvTmY https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-r-pavlak-0a523730/ https://lawyertowarrior.com/ https://www.facebook.com/LawyerToWarrior/ Produced by Vic Ruble, William Treuting, and Nancy Lichtman. <p>The post Scuttlebutt Ep 69: Chris Pavlak – From Lawyer to Warrior first appeared on Marine Corps Association.</p>