Hardtack Podcast

30/06/2024

Have you listened to Hardtack Episode 32: War Movie?

If not, tune in for a great discussion with the documentary’s writer, director, and producer, Steve Summers.

Steve recently did a viewing of War Movie at National Museum of the Pacific War and I had the good fortune to make the trip and spend some time in a Q&A.

Check out the interview at the link below and search War Movie on Amazon for purchase!

Tune in to this episode of Hardtack for an interview with a special guest, the producer, director, writer, and editor of the five-part documentary series, War Movie: The American Battle in Cinema, Steve Summers. War Movie is a documentary series that examines not only the history of war in American....

09/05/2024

25/04/2024

Pictured here is the Sig Sauer 9mm carried by Tomb Sentinels at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. There are only four of these in existence. Just as everything a Tomb Sentinel does is a salute to the Tomb, so, too, is the pistol.

The magazine is a custom extended mag that holds 21 rounds. The Roman numeral XXI is engraved in the side.

The wood in the pistol grip also has a story attached to it. The first Soldier buried in the tomb was selected from four Unknown Soldiers from World War I. The Soldier’s remains were transported from France to the United States in 1921 via a cruiser, the USS Olympia. The wood in the pistol grip is from the hull of the Olympia.

But there’s more. The sight post and rear sights of the pistol don’t have the typical glow dots or white color usually seen. Instead, Sig Sauer used a cloudy substance in the sights, giving them a gray hue. In 1998 the body of an Unknown Vietnam Soldier was exhumed and identified. When the Tomb was unsealed the Sentinels on duty jumped into the tomb and retrieved crypt dust, containing it in jars. It is that crypt dust that was used in the sights of the pistol. As the Tomb Sentinels are always on guard with the pistol worn on the hip, so, too, are the Unknown Soldiers.

18/04/2024

Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier

05/03/2024

Tune in for Hardtack Episode 32 releasing this Wednesday! I had the privilege of interviewing producer, director, writer, and editor of War Movie: The American Battle in Cinema.

War Movie is a documentary series that examines not only the history of war in American cinema, but how this medium has shaped our country’s perspective on conflict, foreign policy, race, masculinity and national identity.

17/01/2024

Hello, Hardtackers! I have admittedly hit another rut in production, and for that I apologize.

But I have some time coming up and will be working on the next episode. Hang in there and know that I am so grateful for your patience!!!

28/11/2023

Ralph Sigler’s body, pictured here, with obvious damage to his torso and face. Also pictured are the stripped wires from the lamp wrapped around one of his arms and the lamp from which the wires were taken. Though his death was ruled a su***de, there obvious signs of torture that did not fit the narrative determined by Maryland police or the U.S. Army.

Who killed Ralph Sigler?

27/11/2023

Pictured here are two scans of a sanitized article written in the Atlanta Constitution newspaper and published on February 6th, 1980. In it, journalist Larry Jolidon exposes the details of Ralph Sigler’s gruesome death and highlights the possibility, based on expert opinion, that the double agent was murdered.

In the article is a direct quote from Dr. Robert W. Hertzog, the Army pathologist who conducted Sigler’s autopsy. Dr. Hertzog admits that the cause of death was electrocution but did not himself rule out torture and murder, begging the question Who Killed Ralph Sigler?

21/11/2023

Pictured here in a Department of the Army photo, Ralph Sigler served nearly thirty years in the United States Army as a double-agent handled by the FBI, U.S. Army, and the KGB. Beginning his career as an enlisted man, Sigler was promoted to Warrant Officer and served admirably in his role. However, the dangers of Cold War era espionage caught later up with him. Who killed Ralph Sigler?

13/11/2023

  The Veterans Breakfast Club’s Veterans Day VET-A-THON is a 12-hour online program bringing veterans from around the nation together to share their stories of service with the public. You’ll hear

20/09/2023

Research for Hardtack Episode 31: Who Killed Ralph Sigler is underway. Kasha providing critical moral support.

15/09/2023

Alexander Samsonov (1859 - 1914)

General Alexander Samsonov was the commander of the Russian Second Army at the Battle of Tannenberg in 1914. Tannenberg was fought in East Prussia between Russia’s First and Second Army and the German Eighth.

Samsonov made several fatal blunders before and during the battle. Ultimately, Germany’s victory at the Battle of Tannenberg resulted from superior tactics compounded by Russian failures in cooperation, mobilization, logistics, and deficits in intelligence.

Samsonov, ashamed of the outcome at Tannenberg, delivered final orders for a retreat before committing su***de in the woods. His body was recovered and identified by German leadership.

14/09/2023

Evening shift just hits a bit different. Enjoy the weather, friends!

13/09/2023

Halfway through editing the episode set to release tomorrow, Episode 30 Battle of Tannenberg. My editing software crashed. For whatever reason, my backup files did not save.

I am fu***ng furious. So Hardtack Episode 30 will release Thursday rather than on Wednesday.

Go to hell, Adobe Audition.

So fu***ng angry.

08/09/2023

Herschel Feibel Grynszpan, born, 28 March 1921, entered the German embassy in Paris on the morning of November 7th, 1938 and requested to speak with an embassy official claiming to have an important document to deliver. It was Ernst vom Rath, a secretary to the German ambassador that received Grynspan. When the 29 year old vom Rath stood face to face with the 17 year old, he asked, “Did you have an important document to give me?” Grynspan drew a handgun from his jacket and responded, “You are a filthy Boche and here, in the name of 12,000 persecuted Jews, is your document!”, then fired five rounds. Vom Rath was struck twice and mortally wounded. Hi**er sent personal doctors to Paris who attempted to save vom Rath, but the man succumbed to his wounds two days later on the 9th.

Here Grynszpan is pictured after his arrest.

**er

06/09/2023

A photo released by Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, of German N***s and civilians watching the ransacking of Jewish property during the attacks, known as Kristallnacht, taken most likely in the town of Fürth, Germany, on Nov. 10, 1938.

#1938 **er

01/09/2023

This is where I went to middle school. We referred to it as IRMS, never Indian River Middle School. We also called it hell.

But there is one teacher that stood out to me. One mentor that never realized and likely still has no inkling of the impact he had on me. He was my 7th grade history teacher. A Vietnam War veteran named Timothy McDonald.

And he is the reason that I fell in love with history.

On our first day of class he held up our textbook. He told us that “This is what you will be tested on.” And he threw the book across the room. His next statement was, “Most of this is bullsh*t.”

He then pointed at a tall shelf in the front left of the classroom, one of those shelves that leans from the weight of the books on it, like the content of the words carry a different kind of weight, and said, “This is what really happened.”

The next thing I recall was seeing a photo of amputated feet followed by, “This is the reality of history. Of war. This is what I will teach you.”

I think of Mr. McDonald regularly and what he must have gone through. I think about the times I gave little attention to instruction due to my adolescence. I think about his passion. His blunt, straightforward approach.

And everyday I wish I could tell him how much of an impact he had on me.

Mr. McDonald, wherever you are and whatever you are doing, I am eternally grateful. Thank you.

31/08/2023

It is the feedback like this that keeps me going. Thank you so much! Keep pushing everyone. It is worth it.

20/06/2023

out here coming through! Thank you for the recognition.

This has really given me the push I need to get back into things.

To the Listeners, thank you for making Hardtack what it is.

20/06/2023

It has been a LONG time and for that I am sorry! Drill Sergeant Academy left me no time for the podcast, but we are back and looking to drop episode 29 NEXT WEEK! Thank you for sticking with me and I am glad to be back!

10/05/2023

"Chuam-ni area, Korea, 19 February 1951. Informal outdoor portrait of 19915 Sergeant (Sgt) Stafford Kenny James 'Len' Lenoy, a member of the 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR). Sgt Lenoy, is wearing a pile cap, scarf and windproof jacket to ward off the cold.​​​​​​​​​
Sgt Lenoy, an Aboriginal serviceman, had previously served in the Second World War, and in the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) in Japan. He was later killed in action in Korea, on 24 April 1951, at the Battle of Kapyong."
- Australian War Memorial (P01813.802)

27/03/2023

The next, next episode’s topic. N**i Purges Part II. Some may recall Hardtack Episode 2, Night of the Long Knives. Hardtack will revisit Hi**er’s rise to power and path to genocide in April with Episode 29.

22/03/2023

Interested in a Hardtack sticker pack? Check out the available subscriptions on the Hardtack Patreon!

https://www.patreon.com/HardtackPodcast?utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator

22/03/2023

If you haven’t heard the latest episode of Hardtack Podcast you can check that out by clicking the link below.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hardtack/id1635462919?i=1000604280051

Little update, I am wrapping up the script for episode 28 The Legend of Miyamoto Musashi. Recording to take place in a few days. Stay tuned!

22/03/2023

Caesar’s rise to power was a political masterclass, but he did not accomplish his meteoric rise alone; others were hungry for power. Caesar, along with Pompey the Great and Marcus Licinius Crassus, came together to form the First Triumvirate. Though a success, political maneuvering and cracks in loyalties were evident even before the forming of the First Triumvirate.

What the three men shared was a diversity of skill; Caesar was a great orator and propagandist, Pompey a great administrator, and Crassus resourceful though untrustworthy. The triumvirate had one major characteristic in common: ambition.

19/03/2023

As we all get ready to return to the work week tomorrow, here’s a friendly reminder that you and your co-workers should not form a conspiracy to stab your boss. Even if they suck. Get your frustrations out and live vicariously through the Roman Senate of 44 BCE in the latest episode of Hardtack.

15/03/2023

New episode!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hardtack/id1635462919?i=1000604280051

15/03/2023

In 27 BCE, Rome transitioned from a republic to an empire. Emperor Augustus Caesar reinstated past political institutions and championed reform that enabled peace, prosperity, and targeted corruption. The rule of Augustus brought about the beginning of Pax Romana, or Roman Peace, a nearly 200-year period that is considered to have been Rome’s “golden age”. During this time, the Roman Empire reached the pinnacle of its expansion, its population increased, and economic, military, and government institutions experienced stability and growth. Rome laid its extensive road system, connecting the expanses of the Empire with the ancient world where “all roads lead to Rome”. The people of Rome lived in relative safety and security.

But the road to Roman Peace was not paved straight, level, or on solid foundation. It was treacherous, broken and twisted, with rises and falls, and it was built with the bones and blood of its people, and of the people that Rome had conquered. In the years before 27 BCE Rome had created for itself a multitude of enemies. Germanic tribes, British Celts, Dacians, Armenians, Numidians, and scores of others had reason to hate the great Empire, and desired only to add Roman bones to the ever growing pile. However, not all enemies were of foreign origin. Some enemies could be found within Rome, on its streets, and some within Rome’s own Senate. So learned Dictator for Life, Julius Caesar, on the Ides of March, 44 BCE as he bled out on the floor of the Curia of Pompey, surrounded by some that he called “friend”.

06/03/2023

Battle plan for the Battle of Chaeronea 338 BCE.

Philip II and his son Alexander personally advanced ahead of their troops against the Athenians and Thebans, Philip on the left and Alexander on the right.

The Allied Greek forces were soundly defeated and the battle marked the final battle before the formation of the League of Corinth and the first ever unification of the Ancient Greek world.

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04/03/2023

Looking for a bit of history and intrigue this weekend? Check out the latest episode of Hardtack and find out how Philip II came to power, consolidated and unified Ancient Greece, and explore who orchestrated his assassination.

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