What a Hell of a Way to Dad

This week, Francis did some damn journalism. He interviewed Joe Haldeman, author of the 1974 sci-fi masterpiece 'The Forever War,' about his Army service and how it informed his writing (and about blowing things up with C4). We really hope you enjoy this. Additionally, we've got an update on some of 2019's newest war crimes stories, in which gamer and vaper Duncan Hunter weighs in on whether it should be okay to murder people or not. This week's bonus continues our 'Is It Fascist?' review series, with a special war film that you likely know and hate: Kathryn Bigelow's 2008 Iraq War thriller 'The Hurt Locker.' Nate's wife Cynthia joins us to provide some film-critic civilian perspective. Get it here for $3 a month on the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/is-it-fascist-24785664 We have a YouTube channel now -- subscribe here and get sweet videos from us in which we yell in our cars like true veterans: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwlHZpNTz-h6aTeQiJrEDKw Francis has a sweet new t-shirt design involving a refreshing glass of Soviet assault rifle. Get it here: https://teespring.com/kalashnikov-classic#pid=373&cid=100039&sid=front You can follow the show on Twitter here: @HellOfAWay Follow Nate here: @inthesedesertsFollow Francis here: @ArmyStrang

This week, Nate speaks with Army veteran and author Matt Gallagher (@MattGallagher0 ) about being a veteran writer in the age of online, about his recent NYT op-ed discussing Trump's trip to Iraq, about how he got his start as an Army blogger writing from Iraq, and how Claire Vaye Watkins' Battleborn changed his perception of his hometown. Matt's recent NYT op-ed is available here: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/28/opinion/sunday/trump-military-troops-iraq.html You can buy Matt's memoir Kaboom here:https://www.amazon.com/Kaboom-Matt-Gallagher/dp/0306819678/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1550086313&sr=8-1&keywords=matt+gallagher … ...as well as his novel Youngblood here: https://www.amazon.com/Youngblood-Novel-Matt-Gallagher/dp/1501105752/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1550086313&sr=8-3&keywords=matt+gallagher This week's bonus is part 2 of Francis' review of Generation Kill. This one is open to all subscribers at the $3 tier and above. Get it here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/francis-reviews-24628448 We have a YouTube channel now -- subscribe here and get sweet videos from us in which we yell in our cars like true veterans: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwlHZpNTz-h6aTeQiJrEDKw Do you need a shirt to announce your Marxism? Well, we have just the ticket for you -- buy it here: https://teespring.com/sorry-if-my-marxism-offends-yo#pid=46&cid=2742&sid=front You can follow the show on Twitter here: @HellOfAWay Follow Nate here: @inthesedesertsFollow Francis here: @ArmyStrang

This week, we spoke with 82nd Airborne veteran Michael McGuinness (@beardedcynic473) about a story he knows particularly well: the saga of Clint Lorance, an Army officer convicted of murder in Afghanistan and sentenced to 18 years in prison. As you may know, every war criminal in military prison wants to get RT'ed into Trump's timeline in hopes of getting a pardon. Michael served with Clint Lorance, witnessed his war crimes, and reported him. Then the real story began. As a side note, let this story be one more piece of evidence in the case we've been trying to make: if Alan West is trying to convince you that someone was framed for murder in the Army, he's always lying. This week's bonus is a Q&A session for $3 subscribers and above. Do you want to know what we think about smoking weed on your last day in the Army? Find out here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/february-q-24440443 We have a YouTube channel now -- subscribe here and get sweet videos from us in which we yell in our cars like true veterans: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwlHZpNTz-h6aTeQiJrEDKw Do you need a shirt to announce your Marxism? Well, we have just the ticket for you -- buy it here: https://teespring.com/sorry-if-my-marxism-offends-yo#pid=46&cid=2742&sid=front You can follow the show on Twitter here: @HellOfAWay Follow Nate here: @inthesedesertsFollow Francis here: @ArmyStrang

Recent stirrings in the defense establishment seem to indicate that Trump's cadre of goons want to invade Venezuela, or at least destabilize the region in hopes that Colombia and Brazil will invade. To that end, he's deployed a walrus and his death squad gang to rustle up some trouble. In this episode, Nate and Francis discuss why you should absolutely oppose U.S. intervention in Venezuela even if you don't know a thing about Venezuela (it's okay -- neither does anyone in Trump's cabinet!) Also covered: a story from the Intercept's Danny Dayan about the CFBP's "Mulvaney Discount," in which a guy defrauded veterans for 8 years and got fined exactly $1 for this crime. https://theintercept.com/2019/01/26/cfpb-mulvaney-discount/ This week's bonus episode features an interview with Nate and Sam Knight, on the topic of DC's recent ballot initiative getting overturned by its extremely Democrat City Council. You can access that interview here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/where-are-true-24286110 We have a YouTube channel now -- subscribe here and get sweet videos from us in which we yell in our cars like true veterans: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwlHZpNTz-h6aTeQiJrEDKw Do you need a shirt to announce your Marxism? Well, we have just the ticket for you -- buy it here: https://teespring.com/sorry-if-my-marxism-offends-yo#pid=46&cid=2742&sid=front You can follow the show on Twitter here: @HellOfAWay Follow Nate here: @inthesedesertsFollow Francis here: @ArmyStrang

This Week, Francis drills a hole in his head with the book Trigger Warning by William and J. A. Johnstone. Trigger Warning is the book that happens when you melt multiple boomer Facebook meme pages together and pour it into a mold of an old white man calling the cops because some teens are listening to hip hop music too loud at seven in the evening. It is highly recommended you skip reading the book and instead just go through this thread from Francis - https://twitter.com/ArmyStrang/status/1082346813485649920 Then, Francis keeps his media consumption up by reviewing the first episode of Generation Kill from HBO. All the rest of the episodes will be reviewed once a month and available for $1 on the Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/Hellofawaytodie

We rung in the new year and immediately launched into the Democratic presidential primary, in which all sorts of bad AI-generated takes on "affordable access" proliferate. In this week's episode, Nate and Francis discuss whether or not you're being a purity pony (or worse, a Bernard Brother) when you criticize any of the ostensible Democratic candidates. A number of news articles get discussed this week as well. Here they are for your own inspection. First, a piece from In These Times about women being the CEOs and directors of the military-industrial complex: http://inthesetimes.com/article/21682/women-military-industrial-complex-gina-haspel-trump-feminism-lockheed-marti?fbclid=IwAR1Wfvt5CXbvrwQhJjhhRq0tqo-PG7rFaKpoiueZD5U_uhyPy7auAc7BUgo And a story from Military Times indicating that Trump's DOD is, like his golf-club buddies at the VA, trying to stealth-cut any form of socialized medicine in America: https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/01/10/more-17000-uniformed-medical-jobs-eyed-elimination.html Nate also mentions an essay by Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom (@tressiemcphd) about the way the US medical system treats black people. Read it here: http://time.com/5494404/tressie-mcmillan-cottom-thick-pregnancy-competent/ This week's bonus episode is a one-on-one interview between Nate and veteran author Drew Pham. In this interview, Drew talks about his family's history in Vietnam and their relationship to the war, Trump's targeting of Vietnamese asylees and refugees, why he loves Tim O'Brien's work but couldn't see himself in any characters, MDMA-assisted psychotherapy and its promise for people with PTSD, and quite a bit more. You can access it on the Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/complexity-of-23977372 *Veterans t-shirt notice* We have a new shirt available on our store. Did you know that VA disability is UBI for warriors? Well, you do now: https://teespring.com/deeply-conflicted-tee_copy_1#pid=387&cid=101810&sid=front You can follow the show on Twitter here: @HellOfAWay Follow Nate here: @inthesedesertsFollow Francis here: @ArmyStrang

It will probably come as no surprise to you that the military is having hard time meeting its recruiting goals. In fact, for the first time since 2005 (a year when nothing bad happened), the Army failed to meet its fiscal year target. So, in response to this, Training and Doctrine Command have discussed a variety of new options: recruiting crossfitters (with special fitness assignments at Fort Knox), recruiting gamers (fielding an all-Army Fortnite team), and, unthinkably, recruiting the libs. "You want to do a gap year?" said General Muth, whose name sounds like a planet from Star Wars. "Come do your gap year in the Army." Yes, folks, the military wants to attract Generation Z with some sweet floss dances and badass gaming when you're not buffing the barracks floors: https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2019/01/04/new-in-2019-the-army-is-pulling-out-all-the-stops-to-attract-generation-z/ And Fox News seems to think we haven't had recruiting stations in big cities up until now ("We fucking shouldn't!" your Facebook uncle who did 4 years in the Navy between 1979-1983 just said. "That's a damn Bergdahl Army right there!") https://www.foxnews.com/us/army-stepping-up-recruitment-in-22-left-leaning-cities For this week's bonus episode, Nate and Francis review the 1994 classic Pauly Shore film 'In the Army Now' and ask the most important question: is it fascist? Patreon subscribers at the $3 tier and above can access that episode here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/is-it-fascist-in-23825090 *Veterans t-shirt notice* We have a new shirt available on our store. Did you know that VA disability is UBI for warriors? Well, you do now: https://teespring.com/deeply-conflicted-tee_copy_1#pid=387&cid=101810&sid=front You can follow the show on Twitter here: @HellOfAWay Follow Nate here: @inthesedesertsFollow Francis here: @ArmyStrang

We were so busy ringing in the holidays with movie reviews that we didn't have time to comment on Jim Mattis' resignation, Trump's extremely thought-out Syria zonk, the DC defense establishment backlash to these two developments, and so much more in defense-related news. So, this week Nate and Francis discuss whether or not liberals should induct Mattis into the hashtag resistance hall of fame just yet. For this week's bonus episode, Nate interviews veteran writer and journalist Jasper Lo about his experience transitioning back into civilian life from the military, when transitioning also includes returning to the extremely conservative and not particularly pro-military Chinese-American community in New York. You can access the episode at the $5 Patreon tier here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/perfect-dim-sum-23660984 Also: Jasper is working on a story about the death of Danny Chen in 2011. If you were deployed with 3-21 Infantry or with 1st SBCT, 25th ID in 2011-12, he'd love to hear from you. Send us an email at sergeantjoker@hellofawaytodie.com to get in touch, or send us a DM on Twitter / Facebook. *Veterans t-shirt notice* We have a new shirt available on our store. Did you know that VA disability is UBI for warriors? Well, you do now: https://teespring.com/deeply-conflicted-tee_copy_1#pid=387&cid=101810&sid=front You can follow the show on Twitter here: @HellOfAWay Follow Nate here: @inthesedesertsFollow Francis here: @ArmyStrang

We heard that some of you were watching movies at Christmas, and so we watched a war movie (with some strong Christmas movie overtones) — Sam Mendes' 2005 film Jarhead. Is it fascist? Well, it's definitely muscly and macho. But, as Nate, Francis, and Joe Kassabian (@jkass99) of the Lions Led by Donkeys podcast determine, there's a lot more going on beneath the surface. Sort of. For our Patreon subscribers, this week's bonus features Francis' book review of Peter Van Buren's 'We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People.' Francis compares it to his own deployment experience and discusses the critical lack of follow-through that he observed on his own deployments. This is available to all Patreon subscribers at any tier: https://www.patreon.com/posts/book-review-we-23528252 *Veterans t-shirt notice* We have a new shirt available on our store. Did you know that VA disability is UBI for warriors? Well, you do now: https://teespring.com/deeply-conflicted-tee_copy_1#pid=387&cid=101810&sid=front You can follow the show on Twitter here: @HellOfAWay Follow Nate here: @inthesedesertsFollow Francis here: @ArmyStrang

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, which means Francis has disappeared on vacation and left Nate at the helm of the show. This week, he speaks with investigative journalist and fan of the podcast Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) about the recent happenings at the US-Mexico border: a child dying in US custody, overt white nationalist talking points spread through DHS social media, and a culture of demonization. Despite all this, Ken says there's reason to be optimistic. Ken also discusses his own connection to Central America, and how America's involvement in El Salvador's civil war forced his own mother to move north. For our Patreon subscribers, this week's bonus episode features Nate and Francis reviewing 'The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension' as part of our Is It Fascist? movie review series. You can access that episode by subscribing here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/is-it-fascist-of-23369757 *Veterans t-shirt notice* We have a new shirt available on our store. Did you know that VA disability is UBI for warriors? Well, you do now: https://teespring.com/deeply-conflicted-tee_copy_1#pid=387&cid=101810&sid=front You can follow the show on Twitter here: @HellOfAWay Follow Nate here: @inthesedesertsFollow Francis here: @ArmyStrang