Here is our second episode in an ongoing series where we break down early life and military experiences of ourselves and other anti war veterans, to catalog and understand the human history of dissent and moral injury, and maybe…let everyone learn a few new bits about their favorite podcast hosts. Let us know what you think.
A special thanks to our Patreon honorary producers – Will Ahrens, Fahim Shirazee, James O’Barr, Adam Bellows, Eric Phillips, Paul Appell, Julie Dupris, Thomas Benson, Janet Hanson, Tristan Oliver, Daniel Fleming, Michael Caron, Zach H, Ren Jacob, Howard Reynolds, Why I am Antiwar Podcast, Kenneth Cordasco, Korgoth, and the Statist Quo Podcast. You all are the engine that helps us power the podcast. Thank you so much!!!
Not up for something recurring like Patreon, but want to give a couple bucks?! Visit Paypal.me/fortressonahill to contribute!!
Note: The views expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts alone, expressed in an unofficial capacity, and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. government.
Talia Lugacy, director and co-writer of This Is Not A War Story, drops by the podcast to discuss the film’s upcoming release. A collaborate work between Talia, her cast and crew, and a group of anti-war veterans, the film takes to task many of the conventional and stereotypical tropes that are associated with veteran portrayals in films and television.
The film will be screened this upcoming weekend on Sunday, March 28 at 5:00pm, at the Cinequest Film Festival, followed by a Q&A with Talia, executive producer Rosario Dawson, actor Sam Adegoke, and veteran / About Face member Eli Wright.
“THIS IS NOT A WAR STORY tracks a ragtag group of combat veterans in New York whose anti-war art, poetry and papermaking keep them together, despite the spectre of their friend’s suicide and the ever-crystalizing fact that healing from war is sometimes an impossible mission.”
Talia Lugacy co-wrote and directed the feature film “Descent” starring Rosario Dawson, which premiered in competition at the Tribeca Film Festival and was released theatrically by Warner Independent. Despite an NC-17 rating “Descent” was championed by The New York Times as “essential to see, a vividness never seen in an American film.”
Talia is a full-time Assistant Professor of Screen Studies at Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts, The New School, in NYC. She is also a member of the Actors Studio Playwrights & Directors Unit, and began studying filmmaking at NYU Tisch at the age of 15. She has directed numerous short films as well as directed environmental PSAs with Frack Action, Water Defense, Mark Ruffalo and Food & Water Watch.
A special thanks to our Patreon honorary producers – Will Ahrens, Fahim Shirazee, James O’Barr, Adam Bellows, Eric Phillips, Paul Appell, Julie Dupris, Thomas Benson, Janet Hanson, Tristan Oliver, Daniel Fleming, Michael Caron, Zach H, Ren Jacob, Howard Reynolds, Why I am Antiwar Podcast, Kenneth Cordasco, Korgoth, and the Statist Quo Podcast. You all are the engine that helps us power the podcast. Thank you so much!!!
Not up for something recurring like Patreon, but want to give a couple bucks?! Visit Paypal.me/fortressonahill to contribute!!
Note: The views expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts alone, expressed in an unofficial capacity, and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. government.
In anticipation of the 50th anniversary of the Pentagon Papers, we sat down with Hedrick Smith, award winning journalist and producer, who was one of the principle journalists covering the initial release of the Pentagon Papers.
Hedrick Smith, Pulitzer Prize-winning former New York Times reporter and editor and Emmy award-winning producer/correspondent, has established himself over the past 50 years of his career as one of America’s most distinguished journalists.
In 26 years with The New York Times, Mr. Smith covered Martin Luther King Jr and the civil rights struggle, the Vietnam War in Saigon, the Middle East conflict from Cairo, the Cold War from both Moscow and Washington, and six American presidents and their administrations. In 1971, as chief diplomatic correspondent, he was a member of the Pulitzer Prize-winning team that produced the Pentagon Papers series. In 1974, he won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting from Russia and Eastern Europe.
His book The Russians, based on his years as New York Times Moscow Bureau Chief from 1971-74, was a No. 1 American best-seller. It has been translated into 16 languages and has been widely used in university and college courses.His next book, The Power Game: How Washington Works, was also a major best-seller. It became a bible for newly elected members of Congress and their staffs and was bedside reading for President Clinton. His newest book, Who Stole the American Dream? published by Random House in September 2012 , has been hailed by critics for brilliant analsysis of political and economic trends and changes in the U.S. over the past 30-40 years.
For PBS since 1989, Hedrick Smith has created 26 prime-time specials and mini-series on such varied topics as terrorism, Wall Street, Soviet perestroika,Wal-Mart, Enron, tax evasion, educational reform, health care, the environment, jazz greats Duke Ellington and Dave Brubeck, and Washington’s power game.
Mr. Smith’s documentary work has won many of televisions major awards. Two of his Frontline programs, The Wall Street Fix and Can You Afford to Retire? won Emmies and two others, Critical Condition and Tax Me If You Can were nominated. Twice he has won or shared the Columbia-Dupont Gold Baton, or grand prize, for the year’s best public affairs program on U.S. television – for Inside Gorbachev’s USSR in 1990, and for Inside the Terror Network in 2002,an investigation of the Al Qaeda pilots who carried out the 9/11 attack and how the U.S. missed chances to stop them. Along with the George Polk, George Peabody and Sidney Hillman awards for reportorial excellence, his programs have won two national public service awards
A special thanks to our Patreon honorary producers – Will Ahrens, Fahim Shirazee, James O’Barr, Adam Bellows, Eric Phillips, Paul Appell, Julie Dupris, Thomas Benson, Janet Hanson, Tristan Oliver, Daniel Fleming, Michael Caron, Zach H, Ren Jacob, Howard Reynolds, Why I am Antiwar Podcast, Scott Spaulding, Kenneth Cordasco, Korgoth, and the Statist Quo Podcast. You all are the engine that helps us power the podcast. Thank you so much!!!
Not up for something recurring like Patreon, but want to give a couple bucks?! Visit Paypal.me/fortressonahill to contribute!!
Note: The views expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts alone, expressed in an unofficial capacity, and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. government.
This is the first episode in an ongoing series where we break down early life and military experiences of ourselves and other anti war veterans, to catalog and understand the human history of dissent and moral injury.. As usual, Danny is the first subject for dissection. Enjoy!
A special thanks to our Patreon honorary producers – Will Ahrens, Fahim Shirazee, James O’Barr, Adam Bellows, Eric Phillips, Paul Appell, Julie Dupris, Thomas Benson, Janet Hanson, Tristan Oliver, Daniel Fleming, Michael Caron, Zach H, Ren Jacob, Howard Reynolds, Why I am Antiwar Podcast, Kenneth Cordasco, Korgoth, and the Statist Quo Podcast. You all are the engine that helps us power the podcast. Thank you so much!!!
Not up for something recurring like Patreon, but want to give a couple bucks?! Visit Paypal.me/fortressonahill to contribute!!
Note: The views expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts alone, expressed in an unofficial capacity, and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. government.
We revisit “The Siege”, an action movie involving terrorist cells in New York City from 1998, starring Denzel Washington, Annette Benning, and Bruce Willis and we couldn’t in good conscience do that without our friend Tom Secker. Remember that weird time New York City was bombed by Iraqis and Palestinians? Us either. However, that means that Bruce Willis will forever be known as General John McClain.
A special thanks to our Patreon honorary producers – Will Ahrens, Fahim Shirazee, James O’Barr, Adam Bellows, Eric Phillips, Paul Appell, Julie Dupris, Thomas Benson, Janet Hanson, Tristan Oliver, Daniel Fleming, Michael Caron, Zach H, Ren Jacob, Howard Reynolds, Why I am Antiwar, Kenneth Cordasco and the Statist Quo Podcast. You all are the engine that helps us power the podcast. Thank you so much!!!
Not up for something recurring like Patreon, but want to give a couple bucks?! Visit Paypal.me/fortressonahill to contribute!!
Note: The views expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts alone, expressed in an unofficial capacity, and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. government.
We are coming to you live today for a special episode to mark the 50th anniversary of the Winter Soldier hearings. We have a great line-up of guests to discuss this with us, to include Greg Daddis, Andrew Basevich, Vince Emanuele, and Jovanni Reyes, alongside our usual Fortress crew of myself, Danny, and Keagan.
The Winter Soldier investigation was a three day summit in Detroit, MI, in February 1971, which brought combat veterans who fought in Vietnam to testify to their personal experiences with atrocities they or their comrades committed, both against enemy combatants and civilians.
The hearings was preceded by the revelations of the My Lai massacre, which unlike Winter Soldier, received major media attention and forced U.S. officials to defend their policies in Vietnam, causing leaders like General Westmoreland, the senior U.S. commander in Vietnam, to refer to My Lai participants as “a few bad apples”, a comment that many veterans of Vietnam found beyond disingenuous and, alongside other dismissals by those in power, compelled them to speak out.
It was organized by members of Vietnam Veterans Against The War (VVAW), with many of the veterans who participated having never spoken of their experiences publicly prior to their testimony, nor were many of them antiwar activists before the inquiry began. It was filmed by a documentary crew and then turned into a film, which is available on YouTube, for anyone who wants to watch it.
A special thanks to our Patreon honorary producers – Will Ahrens, Fahim Shirazee, James O’Barr, Adam Bellows, Eric Phillips, Paul Appell, Julie Dupris, Thomas Benson, Janet Hanson, Tristan Oliver, Daniel Fleming, Michael Caron, Zach H, Ren Jacob, Howard Reynolds, Why I am Antiwar, Kenneth Cordasco and the Statist Quo Podcast. You all are the engine that helps us power the podcast. Thank you so much!!!
Not up for something recurring like Patreon, but want to give a couple bucks?! Visit Paypal.me/fortressonahill to contribute!!
Note: The views expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts alone, expressed in an unofficial capacity, and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. government.
Tom Secker joins us to discuss the third and final film in Oliver Stone’s Vietnam trilogy, Heaven And Earth.
“Le Ly (Hiep Thi Le) lives in a small Vietnamese village whose serenity is shattered when war breaks out. Caught between the Viet Cong and the South Vietnamese army, the village is all but destroyed. After being both brutalized and raped, Le Ly resolves to flee. She leaves for the city, surviving desperate situations, but surviving nonetheless. Eventually she meets a U.S. Marine named Steve Butler (Tommy Lee Jones) who treats her kindly and tells her he would like to be married — maybe to her.”
A special thanks to our Patreon honorary producers – Will Ahrens, Fahim Shirazee, James O’Barr, Adam Bellows, Eric Phillips, Paul Appell, Julie Dupris, Thomas Benson, Emma P, Janet Hanson, Tristan Oliver, Daniel Fleming, Michael Caron, Jason, Zach H, Ren Jacob, Bart, Howard Reynolds, and the Statist Quo Podcast. You all are the engine that helps us power the podcast. Thank you so much!!!
Not up for something recurring like Patreon, but want to give a couple bucks?! Visit Paypal.me/fortressonahill to contribute!!
Note: The views expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts alone, expressed in an unofficial capacity, and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. government.
Vincente Emanuele of PARC Media stops by the podcast to discuss his extensive organizing work, the 80’s movies that drove him to enlist, his background in the Midwest and his family’s roots, his reactions to the January 6th Capitol siege, and the idea of understanding the wide variance of beliefs and attitudes of veterans who participated in it.
A special thanks to our Patreon honorary producers – Will Ahrens, Fahim Shirazee, James O’Barr, Adam Bellows, Eric Phillips, Paul Appell, Julie Dupris, Thomas Benson, Emma P, Janet Hanson, Tristan Oliver, Daniel Fleming, Michael Caron, Jason, Zach H, Ren Jacob, Bart, Howard Reynolds, and the Statist Quo Podcast. You all are the engine that helps us power the podcast. Thank you so much!!!
Not up for something recurring like Patreon, but want to give a couple bucks?! Visit Paypal.me/fortressonahill to contribute!!
Note: The views expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts alone, expressed in an unofficial capacity, and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. government.
(1-23-21: Our podcast hosting server had some issues yesterday and early this morning. There’s still issues streaming the episode through iTunes, but it will now download and can be heard streaming on our website. Apologies for the inconvenience.)
As the United States embraces a new year and a new president (and his Obama era dream team), we felt inclined to discuss our predictions for American foreign policy for 2021, including Africa, the Greater Middle East to include Iraq, Afghanistan, and Yemen, and the shift to great power competition including Russia and China.
A special thanks to our Patreon honorary producers – Will Ahrens, Fahim Shirazee, James O’Barr, Adam Bellows, Eric Phillips, Paul Appell, Julie Dupris, Thomas Benson, Emma P, Janet Hanson, Tristan Oliver, Daniel Fleming, Michael Caron, Jason, Zach H, Ren Jacob, Bart, Howard Reynolds, and the Statist Quo Podcast. You all are the engine that helps us power the podcast. Thank you so much!!!
Not up for something recurring like Patreon, but want to give a couple bucks?! Visit Paypal.me/fortressonahill to contribute!!
Note: The views expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts alone, expressed in an unofficial capacity, and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. government.
On January 4th, we hosted a live stream to discuss the verdict of Julian Assange’s extradition hearing (he’s not being extradited for the time being) and the ramifications of the decision, both to Julian and to freedom of speech as a whole. Steve Poikonen, host of Slow News Day and co-host of the Free Assange online vigil series, along with a few of Steve’s pals, joins us to discuss the verdict and the potential impact to American journalism.
A special thanks to our Patreon honorary producers – Will Ahrens, Fahim Shirazee, James O’Barr, Adam Bellows, Eric Phillips, Paul Appell, Julie Dupris, Thomas Benson, Emma P, Janet Hanson, Tristan Oliver, Daniel Fleming, Michael Caron, Jason, Zach H, Ren Jacob, Bart, and the Statist Quo Podcast. You all are the engine that helps us power the podcast. Thank you so much!!!
Not up for something recurring like Patreon, but want to give a couple bucks?! Visit Paypal.me/fortressonahill to contribute!!
Note: The views expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts alone, expressed in an unofficial capacity, and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. government.
