Episodes

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. Thank you for joining us. This week we’re starting a new segment we’re calling, Catching Up With Old Friends. To kick this thing off, I called on my amtrack brother Aeron Sullivan and he was kind enough to spend some time catching up. Aeron was a guest of ours back in the summer 2022 (Episode #39) so there was plenty to catch up on. Please go back and give it a listen if you missed it. Aeron is a super fascinating person. Former assault amphibian officer turned busine...

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. Thank you for joining us. This week, Nancy and Vic are excited to welcome Capt Riley Tejcek back to the show. Riley has recently returned from the US Bobsled Team trials, where she placed fourth…on a broken foot! This Marine will not be denied! By placing fourth, she is officially on the US Team and is currently in Germany preparing for World Championships in Mar. And there is no rest for the weary. Almost as soon as she gets back, she’s slated to deploy. Oh, and she ...

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. Thank you for joining us. This week, Nancy and Vic are honored to welcome Maj Olaolu Ogunyemi to the show. Olaolu is one of the most dynamic people you could hope to meet. A communications officer by trade, Olaolu is also an author of children’s books, a philanthropist, YouVersion contributor, and public speaker. He also recently had an article published in the Marine Corps Gazette discussing talent management which is up on the website now (now). With everything he h...

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. Thank you for joining us. This week, Nancy and Vic have the pleasure of spending some time with famed, and recently retired, television journalist and author of the book, Battle Scars, Chip Reid. Chip was embedded with 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines in 2003 as they made their push to Baghdad during the invasion. Battle Scars not only chronicles his time with this storied battalion, but follows up with the Marines – and their families – twenty years later to tell their sto...

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. Thank you for joining us. Our last movie review was so much fun, we decided to create a new segment called, “Semper Cinema.” This week, we review the Academy Award winning short documentary, With the Marines at Tarawa. If you haven’t seen it, you need to check it out. Released in 1944, this gritty film came out during the height of the island-hopping campaign and it’s graphic depictions of the horrors of combat, particularly in the Pacific, were so controversial that ...

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. Thank you for joining us. This week we welcome the former Virginia Secretary of Education and veteran Marine, Atif Qarni to the show. Atif was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule to be with us and we are so glad that he did. Atif is currently campaigning to be the next Virginia 10th District congressional representative so it really means a lot that he was willing to sit with us and talk about his life. And what a fascinating life it has been. He shares ...

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. Thank you for joining us. In this installment of World of Wargaming, William discusses the history of Marine Corps wargaming with returning guest Ian Brown accompanied by Sebastian Bae: a former Marine, research analyst for the Center for Naval Analyses, and adjunct assistant professor at the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University. In recounting the history of wargaming in the Marine Corps, they also addressed ways in which to ensure that wargaming remai...

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. Thank you for joining us. This week we welcome LtCol David Kelly back to the show to talk about his new book, First Fights in Fallujah: Marines During Operation Vigilant Resolve, in Iraq, April 2004. Like David’s first book, Hell in the Streets of Husaybah, First Fights in Fallujah, his book chronicles the firsthand accounts of the Marines who fought in Operation Vigilant Resolve, also known as the first battle of Fallujah. But unlike his first book, First Fights incl...

Happy 2024 everyone! We’re back! We hope that you had a fun and safe New Year’s Eve and that your 2024 is off to a great start. Speaking of great starts, we are going to kick off 2024 right! By bringing in two Amtrackers to talk about Amtracker stuff. Wait, where are you going? Seriously, stick around because we talk about a really fascinating topic: how a monument gets made. I think we all take for granted that when we see a statue, obelisk, or rendering, that all it took was a great idea, a ri...

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Scuttlebutt listeners. Thank you for listening and your continued support. I wanted to take this opportunity to let you all know that Scuttlebutt will be taking a break over the holidays but will be back in Jan. We are excited for all of the new content and offerings coming up in 2024 with some exciting new segments and guests. Maybe even some return visits from some of our friends to see what their up to. Please feel free to hit us up at scuttlebutt@mca-marine...

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. Thank you for joining us. This week Nancy and Vic welcome Adam Lazarus to the show. Adam is the author of the book, The Wingmen the story of the unlikely, unusual, unbreakable friendship between John Glenn and Ted Williams. Adam has also authored multiple books that focus on sports history such as Hail to the Redskins, Best of Rivals, Super Bowl Monday, and Chasing Greatness. Adam talks to us about his decision to write this book, being that it takes a step away from ...

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. Thank you for joining us. This week we have another edition of World of Wargaming. William and Vic were able to spend some time with the founder and CEO of Victura studios, Peter Tamte. Peter talks to us about his newest project, Six Days in Fallujah, a first-person tactical military shooter that recreates true stories of Marines, soldiers, and Iraqi civilians during Operations Vigilant Resolve and Phantom Fury. This game is so nuanced. It’s not your standard first-pe...

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. Thank you for joining us. This week we welcome Andrew Biggio back to the show to discuss his most recent book: The Rifle 2. When Andrew returned home from tours in Iraq and Afghanistan he had huge questions about the price of war. He decided to ask those who he knew would understand – veterans of War War II. William and Nancy talk to Andrew about his book and how it delves into the suffering and complexity of war that World War II veterans experienced. Andrew reveals ...

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. Thank you for joining us. This week Vic sits down with Col Eric “Ferris” Buer, former Cobra pilot and author of the book, Ghosts of Baghdad: Marine Corps Gunships on the Opening Days of the Iraq War. As the title suggests, his book looks at the war in Iraq from 2003-2004 from the perspective of a Cobra pilot supporting troops on the ground. His perspectives were really interesting because most of the narratives coming out of the Long War have either been from the grou...

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. Thank you for joining us. This week we have another episode of our series Strait Talk with Dr. Mike Hunzeker. We recorded this episode on 10 November, so what kind of Marines would we be if we didn’t celebrate the Marine Corps birthday properly. And what better way to celebrate than to get into the weeds on the current state of one of our primary operating environments, the Taiwan Strait. Mike gives us his valuable insight on the upcoming elections in Taiwan and what ...

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. Happy 248th Birthday Marines and welcome to episode 110 everyone. Thank you for joining us. To help celebrate our birthday we are trying a new segment we’re calling Tun Tavern Talks. For all of us who have spent time around service members, especially Marines, we know that sea stories abound. I’ve heard it said that the only difference between a fairy tale and a sea story is that one starts with once upon a time and the other starts with, this no kidding happened. So,...

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. Thank you for joining us. This week we have another edition of World of Wargaming. William has a chat with Tom Knowles and Keith Martin-Smith from HexWar to discuss their series of games available on Mac, PC, iPhone, and iPad. Given the previous Commandant’s desire to increase wargaming usage throughout the Corps, HexWar’s mobile wargaming allows Marines to get their reps and sets in at their own convenience. Check out the full library of HexWar games at: www.hexwar....

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. Thank you for joining us. This week we are very excited to be welcoming Michael Armistead not only to the show, but to the Marine Corps Association staff. Michael is our new Director of Communications and comes to us from HQMC Communications Directorate where he served as the Branch head of Occupational Field support. He retired as a LtCol in September of this year. Michael was kind enough to take some time out of his busy schedule and sit down with us to talk a littl...

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners and welcome to a special episode of Scuttlebutt. William and I sit down with the Editor-in-Chief & Publisher of The Marine Corps Gazette & Leatherneck and Vice President of Professional Development, Col Chris Woodbridge to talk about current events in the Ukraine-Russia War and the current state of the things in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. Like with our other warzone update segments, there is no shortage of media outlets, news organizations and social media influenc...

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. This week we are super excited to welcome Captain Riley Tejcek to the show. Riley is the Support Officer for the Expeditionary Warfare School at the Marine Corps University here at MCB Quantico. On top of that, Riley is in contingency for the US National Bobsledding Team. She is currently on the National Team, out at team trials right now to make the final cut for the Winter Games in 2024. We talk to Riley about her path to the yellow footprints, what drives her to co...

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. This week we are happy to welcome Col Patty “Bacon” Klop to the show. Patty is the Assistant Chief of Staff, Reserve G-1 for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. October 10th was the World Mental Health Day as recognized by the World Health Organization. The overall objective of World Mental Health Day is to raise awareness of mental health issues around the world and to mobilize efforts in support of mental health. Patty was kind enough to come on and share her story ...

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. On this installment of World of Wargaming, William enjoys a conversation with Rich Hamilton, the Chief Operations Officer of Wargame Design Studio. The two discuss the evolution of John Tiller’s gaming software to the now-titled Wargame Design Studio, which focuses primarily on in-depth historical wargaming. As a special gift to our dedicated listeners, Wargame Design Studio is partnering with the Marine Corps Association to offer a 25% discount on all products with t...

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. Today we welcome SgtMaj Lynn Kimble, USMC (Ret) to the show to talk about USAA’s Face the Fight Campaign. Mental health and suicide are issues that our country faces everyday and the impact is felt by veterans well above that of the rest of the American public. Face the Fight is a coalition of philanthropic foundations, veteran-oriented nonprofit organizations and corporations that are pooling resources ($41 million to start) and sharing a nationwide concerted effort,...

Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. This week we’re giving movie reviews a try and we begin with the documentary, The United States Marine Corps: 1775 – 1916: A History of Heroes. As fun as this was, there is more to this project than just having an excuse to watch movies while on the clock. The Marine Corps Association website offers battle study packages that provide a litany of resources to aid in our Marines’ professional military education. Among these resources are curated YouTube videos. But how ...