Fire Watch | A Military.com Podcast Military.com

In this episode we examine the history of the military, Hollywood and the veterans who brought real-as-can-be portrayals of that world to big and small screens. I interviewed some of the contemporary players – actors, advisors and writers – who made some of those portrayals a reality.
In this episode: Jim LaPorta, Drew F. Lawrence, Caitlin Bassett, Capt. (ret.) Dale Dye

We’re in a Norwegian valley, high above the Arctic Circle. It’s late afternoon in early March and a group of over a dozen infantry Marines are standing around an American and Norwegian chaplain. It’s windy, cold. The Marines hold laminated prayer cards in dense gloves, some are shifting back and forth to stay warm. A radio chatters in the background with reports from the front.
“That symbol – that cross – came to signify that Rome could force people to obey out of fear, obedience out of fear of being raised upon that cross,” a Marine chaplain said. “And Christ says, I will destroy the fear of death and dying. I myself will be raised upon that cross in order to evoke life and hope.”
Article Five of the NATO agreement – if one is attacked, all are attacked – is a provision that binds these NATO countries together. The last – and only – time it has been invoked was in the aftermath of 9/11 when “NATO rallied in support of the USA,” according to Vice Adm. Doug Perry, commander of Joint Force Command - Decades later, he said the alliance was now more relevant than ever because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
We spent time with the Marines miles above the Arctic Circle in Norway as part of the largest NATO exercise in the region since 1988. We spoke to Norwegians, Swedes and Finns as well – all nations that contributed to America’s fight in Afghanistan, all nations that lost troops to it, too. Now, those countries are on the brink of an uncertain future.
In this episode: Norwegian Chaplain, LT Kathleen Laboa, MONTAGE, Drew F. Lawrence, American Chaplain, Former President Donald Trump, Ville, Vice Adm. Doug Perry, HM2 Zachery Matthews, Marine Sergeant

Since the COVID-19 pandemic four years ago, recruiting across the military services has been in crisis. Many recruiters lost access to schools that were shuttered. The military also has been increasingly the subject of political attacks – mainly from the right of the aisle condemning the services as “woke.” We’ll get into that in the episode.
My colleague, Steve Beynon – an Army veteran and Military.com’s Army reporter – and I wanted to see what it was like for recruiters on the ground floor. How do they recruit? Why were they at the Great American Outdoors show? Are the problems that gain so much traction in Washington the same ones that recruiters on the ground are experiencing?
We talked to people who approached the recruiting booth and asked them why they were interested in the Army. Some of the answers were pretty par for the course, and others were a bit surprising.
Appearing in this episode: Steve Beynon, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Sen. Tom Cotton, Terri, Sgt. First Class Nickolas Gordon, Staff Sgt. Jonathan Volz, Lt. Col. Thomas Geisinger, Drew F. Lawrence, Carter
 

The PACT Act, which was meant to help veterans receive care and benefits after being exposed to toxins and burn pits while serving their country, was billed as the most sweeping piece of veteran healthcare legislation ever passed.
But for some veterans, like those exposed to things like the “black goo” and even cyanide at Karshi-Khanabad Air Base, also known as K2 – it was not sweeping enough.
Military.com’s veterans and health reporter Patricia Kime spoke to several veterans about being left out of this law after years of advocacy and months of political turmoil. What does being left out mean for their futures? How are they grappling with illnesses that advocates say should be covered by the VA’s biggest healthcare law?
In this episode: ​​​​Jon Stewart, John Feal, Patricia Kime, Drew F. Lawrence, Shane Liermann, Rosie Torres

Note: This special Christmas episode originally aired on December 23rd, 2022. We thought it might bring you some holiday cheer again this year. Enjoy.
When the red telephone began to ring, Col. Harry Shoup feared the worst. It was 1955, at the height of the Cold War, and Shoup was in the operations center of the Continental Air Defense Command in Colorado. CONAD, as it was known then, stood as the early warning system for a Soviet attack. So the ringing of the red telephone never meant anything good.
What happened next launched the now-named North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, into a decades-long tradition to track Santa and bring joy to children around the world. And it started with a simple act of kindness, a Cold War scare and a youngster hoping to tap into a little Christmas magic.
So who runs NORAD, and how do they know so much about Santa? On this episode of Fire Watch, we learn about the decades-long tradition and speak to the service members who track Santa on Christmas. Plus, a special reading of “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” by the 18th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. (Ret.) Martin Dempsey.

Pier 6 sits where the Elizabeth River and Chesapeake Bay meet at the largest navy complex in the world – Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia.
It’s Monday, windy and cold. Sailors, civilian contractors and dock workers, or stevedors as they’re called on Pier 6 hurry to unload three enormous food trucks filled with hundreds and hundreds of pounds of Thanksgiving provisions for the USS Forrest Sherman, a destroyer that’s docked at Norfolk during the holiday.
Soon an assembly line for the food forms; fruits, veggies, potatoes, pies, whole turkeys make their way from the truck, to the deck and down into the belly of the ship where they will sit, chilled, until they head to the galley for preparation.
On this episode, we’ll take a look at that tradition, the preparation for it and what it means to the sailors on the ship for Thanksgiving. Since antiquity, one way to learn about a military and its personnel is through their stomachs, what they’re being fed and by how much – and this year – with all of the uncertainty the world has to offer, troops are getting a lot to eat this Thanksgiving.
Appearing on this episode: Michael Hong, CS3 Jacob Weed, Robbin Durie, Drew F. Lawrence, Robin Whaley, IT1 Jacob Hruska, Lt. Melissa Jock, Commander Jorge Roldan, CS3 Lopez Miller