1 hr 50 min
Episode 25: Bill Flavin Late Night History
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- History
Tonight’s guest is with Bill Flavin, a retired Army Special Forces colonel with 55 years of experience working for the Department of Defense.
Bill has lived an extraordinary life and has a wealth of experience when it comes to war and peace.
As we do on this show we start chronologically. Bill briefly shares how his famous parents steered him away from life in Hollywood. Bill's mom, Lucile Browne, starred in movies alongside John Wayne, while Bill’s dad, James Flavin, was a character actor. James went to West Point and Bill decided he’d follow that military path too.
We discuss Bill’s extended tour to Vietnam and combat experiences in Cambodia. We also talk about his unique career within Army Special Forces, including leading a team for a program called Project Greenlight. This team operated during the Cold War and, according to Bill, was more of a psychological unit over anything. These Green Berets trained with nuclear weapons and their job was to insert behind enemy lines with mini nukes to take high value targets in the event of World War III.
Thankfully, the nukes were never used.
Towards the end of the show, we discuss Bill’s work with NATO peacekeeping operations. This includes his role in the Balkans hunting PIFWCs in the 90s to flying into Afghanistan with FedEx for on the ground stability assessments in 2002. We close with Bill’s powerful War Peace & Justice Symposium focusing on moral injury.
Learn more about the War Justice Peace Symposium here: https://www.warpeacejustice.org
Follow Late Night History on Instagram: @latenighthistory
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Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/late-night-history/support
Tonight’s guest is with Bill Flavin, a retired Army Special Forces colonel with 55 years of experience working for the Department of Defense.
Bill has lived an extraordinary life and has a wealth of experience when it comes to war and peace.
As we do on this show we start chronologically. Bill briefly shares how his famous parents steered him away from life in Hollywood. Bill's mom, Lucile Browne, starred in movies alongside John Wayne, while Bill’s dad, James Flavin, was a character actor. James went to West Point and Bill decided he’d follow that military path too.
We discuss Bill’s extended tour to Vietnam and combat experiences in Cambodia. We also talk about his unique career within Army Special Forces, including leading a team for a program called Project Greenlight. This team operated during the Cold War and, according to Bill, was more of a psychological unit over anything. These Green Berets trained with nuclear weapons and their job was to insert behind enemy lines with mini nukes to take high value targets in the event of World War III.
Thankfully, the nukes were never used.
Towards the end of the show, we discuss Bill’s work with NATO peacekeeping operations. This includes his role in the Balkans hunting PIFWCs in the 90s to flying into Afghanistan with FedEx for on the ground stability assessments in 2002. We close with Bill’s powerful War Peace & Justice Symposium focusing on moral injury.
Learn more about the War Justice Peace Symposium here: https://www.warpeacejustice.org
Follow Late Night History on Instagram: @latenighthistory
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Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/late-night-history/support
1 hr 50 min