We're back with another slate of episodes!

Last fall, C2SI sat down with retired US Army infantry NCO and former Ranger Instructor (and Adrian's 1SG in the 173rd Airborne Brigade back in the day) Randy Collins. In this episode, we talk with Randy about what Ranger School is like from the RI's point of view, training up an infantry company for deployment to Afghanistan, and more.

Right now, C2SI is closely following the latest developments regarding US policy in Ukraine, but for this episode, we're going back for some historical perspective. Back in November, we sat down for a great discussion with Dr. Alex Burns of the Franciscan University of Steubenville to talk about military training, force generation, and warfare in the 18th century -- the "kabinettskriege" period.

You can follow Dr. Burns at kabinettskriege.bsky.social and read more of his work at https://kabinettskriege.blogspot.com/. His new book, "Infantry in Battle 1733-1783", is available here.

If you support Ukraine, the best thing you can do is DONATE TO HELP THE ZSU. There are many charities you can support, here are some of the larger Ukrainian ones:

https://u24.gov.ua/

https://savelife.in.ua/en/

https://prytulafoundation.org/en

For the past few years the military has experienced difficulties recruiting and retaining enough troops to meet its authorized size. While that is changing, the crew sat down last fall to talk with reporter and Army veteran Steve Beynon, who has covered the issue very closely for Military.com. The information is a little out of date, but listeners will still be able to understand the contours of the basic issues.

We're back! C2SI returns for 2025 with a new episode. Recorded last fall but relevant to the the latest headlines, we sat down for a discussion with professional wargaming umpire Jan Heinemann to talk about the history and uses of wargaming, from Prussians preparing for war to modern think tanks preparing to resist an authoritarian takeover of America. Jan is a member of the International Kriegsspiel Society and can be found on BlueSky at https://bsky.app/profile/letsplayhistory.bsky.social.

The fall of the Assad regime on December 8 is a turning point for Syria -- but what comes next? C2SI's own Ethan Wilson spent much of the last decade working in the international aid response to Syria, and last week, he sat down with C2SI's Dan Blakeley to discuss the history of the Syrian conflict and what the future might look like.

Prevailing in the information domain is crucial to victory in modern conflict. Public Affairs is one of the US Army branches dedicated to doing so. In September, C2SI spoke with US Army V Corps Public Affairs Officer (PAO) COL Ellis Gales, Jr. to understand the role of Public Affairs and the training that goes into producing this special type of Soldier.

V Corps Public Affairs Office: https://www.vcorps.army.mil/Newsroom/Public-Affairs-Office/

We usually focus on military training and readiness, but in this episode, we take a look at a separate but related topic: response and resilience in the face of natural disaster. In October, C2SI's President, Dan Blakeley, volunteered to assist with relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Helene, which caused severe damage and loss of life in his home state of North Carolina in late September. We recently sat down to talk with him about his experiences and observations during his two trips to the western NC to assist with recovery efforts.

Usually, C2SI focuses on modern military training and readiness. Sometimes, though, we like to get a historical perspective. We recently sat down with Patrick Wyman, host of the Tides of History podcast and author of The Verge, to chat about how armies were raised and trained (or not!) at the dawn of modern military professionalism in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, and how studying this period can help us understand our own tumultuous time.

Tides of History -- available on Wondery and Spotify

Patrick's substack

The Verge

Follow Patrick on Twitter: @Patrick_Wyman