MCA Scuttlebutt

MCA Scuttlebutt

The Marine Corps Association is dedicated in its mission to support Today’s Marines. Our podcast, Scuttlebutt, seeks to create a forum to encourage and inspire Marines, former Marines, Marine families, and supporters of the Marine Corps to engage with issues that impact Marines and the Corps. Storytelling not only helps us unpack who we are, but brings us into conversation with the world and people around us. We will hear stories from Marines and civilians working to honor, uncover, and restore Marine Corps history, as well as from those working every day to make the world a better place.

  1. 6 days ago

    #256: Semper Cinema – The Wind and the Lion with Josh Bates

    Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. Thank you for joining us and your continued support. This week, we bring you another installment of Semper Cinema with our review of the Marine Corps classic, The Wind and the Lion. I reference it as a Marine Corps classic because, as every Gen X Marine can attest, clips from the movie have been used as an attention-grabber in just about every class, period of instruction, and formal school. The Wind and the Lion stars Sean Connery, Candice Bergen, and Brian Keith. It was released in 1975 and is loosely based on the Perdicaris Affair of 1904. To help us break down the film is returning guest, author, podcaster, history nerd, and movie aficionado, LtCol Josh Bates (Ret.). We talk about the conflict between the film’s narrative arc and the historical accuracy of the event it attempts to portray, the cast performances, the film’s relevance to modern-day audiences, and what Marines can take away from it. Josh has great insights, and it was a lot of fun to dive into this movie with him.   Enjoy!  The post #256: Semper Cinema – The Wind and the Lion with Josh Bates first appeared on Marine Corps Association.

  2. 14 Aug

    #255: Semper Read with 2ndLt Steven Ramirez

    Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. Thank you for joining us and for your continued support. This week, we welcome 2ndLt Steven Ramirez to the scuttlebutt. Steven is a prior-enlisted officer currently a student at The Basic School. But more than anything, he’s a reader. Steven started the Semper Read Instagram page to share his love of books beyond just his fellow Marines at his unit. What started as just a small social media page ended up being followed by the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps. His origin story begins with him watching the attacks of 9/11 from across the Hudson River as a kid, to then stepping on the yellow footprints of the PI, to now having coming over to the dark side to become an officer. Steven talks to us about Semper Read, the joy he gets from sharing his passion for reading, and what he hopes his efforts will have on his fellow Marines, both personally and professionally.  Enjoy!  The post #255: Semper Read with 2ndLt Steven Ramirez first appeared on Marine Corps Association.

  3. 6 Aug

    #254: Characters, Storytelling, and Col John Ripley with Stephen Camelio

    Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. Thank you for joining us and for your continued support. This week, we welcome Stephen Camelio to the scuttlebutt. Stephen is a screenwriter, storyteller, and content creator whose most recent project, Mending the Line – a story about a Marine embracing fly fishing to help him through post-traumatic growth – was the #1 movie on Netflix back in 2024. We interviewed the director of that film, Joshua Caldwell, back in Episode 82. Please go back and check it out. Stephen comes to us on the cusp of another project, a story about Col John Ripley and his actions at the Dong Ha Bridge, based on the book, The Easter Offensive. With Col Ripley being posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in back in June and The Easter Offensive having been on the Commandant’s Professional Reading List, it was great to get a perspective on this legendary Marine from a storyteller who hasn’t been drinking the Marine Corps Kool-Aid his whole life. It was also interesting to hear about his background and how he became attracted to featuring Marine characters in his stories.   Enjoy!  The post #254: Characters, Storytelling, and Col John Ripley with Stephen Camelio first appeared on Marine Corps Association.

  4. 30 Jul

    #253: Guerillas in the Mist with Robert Newman

    Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. Thank you for joining us and for your continued support. This week, we welcome Robert Newman to the scuttlebutt. Robert is a retired Marine and author of the book, Guerillas in the Mist. As you will hear, he definitely gives the Dos Equis guy a run for his money on being the most interesting man alive. Joining the Marine Corps in the 70s, he started as a mortarman but quickly moved over to Recon. From there, he ended up in Germany in 1983, working for the Beirut Casualty Assistance Office. He then developed the curriculum for the small boat over-the-horizon amphibious raid package, eventually moving on to become one of the first Marine SERE instructors at the Navy SERE School in Maine. As you can surmise from the title of his book, he now works and advises in the world of counterinsurgency, appearing on multiple news outlets and publications. Robert talks to us about his path to the yellow footprints, shares some anecdotes from his amazing career, and gives us an analysis on the Iran conflict. This was recorded back in early June, so the landscape in the Middle East is much different than it was back then, so where we got it right…ish and where we got it wrong. It’ll be a fun little game of To Quagmire or Not to Quagmire.      Enjoy!  The post #253: Guerillas in the Mist with Robert Newman first appeared on Marine Corps Association.

  5. 23 Jul

    #252: World of Wargaming with Maj Alex Buck, Canadian Armed Forces

    Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. Thank you for joining us and for your continued support. This week, we bring you another installment of World of Wargaming with Alex Buck. Alex is a major in the Canadian Armed Forces and an advocate for the benefits of wargaming. Alex talks to us about how he came to be in the armed forces, what it was like to be a Canadian in America during September 11th, his deployment experiences and some of the similarities and differences between Canadian and US militaries, and how he was introduced to wargaming, and what it is about wargaming that is so important for militaries to be doing. He’s also a self-professed professional fun seeker, so it was…fun…to hear what that entails. It was really cool to talk to a member of a key allied nation’s military and to get perspectives from outside the American lens. As advertised, talking with Alex was a lot of fun, and it was great to learn more about one of our most trusted and committed allies.   Enjoy!  linkedin.com/in/alexjbuck  instagram.com/rcrbuck  linktr.ee/rcrbuck  The post #252: World of Wargaming with Maj Alex Buck, Canadian Armed Forces first appeared on Marine Corps Association.

  6. 16 Jul

    #251: Timothy Gick is Not A Very Good Teacher

    Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. Thank you for joining us and for your continued support. This week, we welcome Timothy Gick to the scuttlebutt. Tim is the founder of the company Not A Very Good Teacher and the creator of the memory adaptation game, Mission Match. Tim is also a lieutenant colonel in the Marine Reserve, so the concept of developing military-friendly educational games for kids is something that hits close to home. Also, back in Episode 247, our gaming experts did a review of Mission Match, so please go back and give that a listen. Today, Tim talks to us about his path to the yellow footprints, some of the projects he worked on in his civilian life and how they influenced  the foundation of Not a Very Good Teacher, what Mission Match is and what he’s trying to do with the game, and what he has planned for the future. We just fed off his passion, and as a father, it was great to spend time with someone who is so immersed in the development of children and our future generations. Enjoy! www.notaverygoodteacher.com The post #251: Timothy Gick is Not A Very Good Teacher first appeared on Marine Corps Association.

  7. 9 Jul

    #250: A Trip on the Way Back Machine – Some Highlights of 250 episodes of Scuttlebutt

    Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. Thank you for joining us and your continued support. As you probably have deduced from the episode title, this is Episode 250. We said it when we hit 100, and then again when we hit 200, but we’ll say again how honored, and quite frankly, surprised we are to be going now 250 strong. That being said, we recognize that this is not a solo endeavor. So, we want to use this episode to thank our team, the MCA leadership, our guests, and most importantly, you the listener for keeping this thing going. We are so thankful for your support cause as you know, we literally could not do this without you.   This week, we’re going on a little trip on the way back machine. Yes, this is a clip show, but with a twist. We’ve brought in the team and formed Voltron to bring you a quiz clip show. Nancy, William, and I look back out our amazing guests by quizzing each other on how much we remember of the past 5 years of Scuttlebutt. Just putting this episode together made us laugh and encouraged us with our profoundly insightful, intelligent, and hilarious guests. Hopefully this walk down memory lane is as enriching for you as it was for us to put together.   We started this show with the premise that stories matter and are proud that we never strayed from it. Your stories do matter, and we are so honored that you are willing to share them with us.  Semper Fidelis.   The post #250: A Trip on the Way Back Machine – Some Highlights of 250 episodes of Scuttlebutt first appeared on Marine Corps Association.

  8. 25 Jun

    #249: Interrogator, Author, Lawyer with MSgt Jonathan Hackett (Ret.)

    Hey, Scuttlebutt listeners. Thank you for joining us and your continued support. This week, we welcome Jonathan Hackett to the scuttlebutt. Jonathan is a retired MARSOC operator, intelligence specialist and interrogator, the author of the books, Theory of Irregular War and Iran’s Shadow Weapons, and is now a student at Yale Law School. He has been the expert guest on multiple news outlets, such as Al Jazeera and CBS News, so I have no idea how we were able to get him on our show, but we are so honored to have him. Jonathan talks to us about his path to the yellow footprints, his journey in the special forces world and experiences as a key interrogator during the Global War on Terror, and what he is up to now. He’s got some great advice for transitioning veterans and how to balance being goal-oriented and ambitious, while simultaneously slowing down and appreciating where you are. For someone so accomplished, he is remarkably humble and level-headed, which makes his insight and perspective so much more appealing.  Also, we’ll be taking a break for the 4th of July holiday but will be back the following week with our 250th episode. We said this back in episode 100, and then again in 200, but I’ll say it again…we had no idea when we started that we would be going 250 episodes strong. We are so lucky and have all you listeners and our wonderful guest to thank. And the empty sound studio here at the MCA. But mostly you listeners and our guests. A most sincere thank you and appreciation for all your support.   This is Episode 249.  linkedin.com/in/thejonathanhackett  jonathanwhackett.com  The post #249: Interrogator, Author, Lawyer with MSgt Jonathan Hackett (Ret.) first appeared on Marine Corps Association.

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About

The Marine Corps Association is dedicated in its mission to support Today’s Marines. Our podcast, Scuttlebutt, seeks to create a forum to encourage and inspire Marines, former Marines, Marine families, and supporters of the Marine Corps to engage with issues that impact Marines and the Corps. Storytelling not only helps us unpack who we are, but brings us into conversation with the world and people around us. We will hear stories from Marines and civilians working to honor, uncover, and restore Marine Corps history, as well as from those working every day to make the world a better place.

Information

  • Creator
    MCA Scuttlebutt
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2026
  • Episodes
    199
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Marine Corps Association
  • Show Website
    MCA Scuttlebutt

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