AUSA’s Army Matters Podcast

In July of this year millions across the country were blown away when the 82nd Airborne Division All-American Chorus appeared on the talent show America’s Got Talent, impressing the judges and making it to this month’s semifinals. But the Chorus has been around for decades, telling the story of the Army through song and performance. Hosts LTG (Ret.) Leslie C. Smith and SMA (Ret.) Dan Dailey sit down with two Chorus members, SSG Marcus Gilbert and SGT Damarielis Vargas, to talk about the Chorus, their favorite performances, the intimidating nature of Simon Cowell… and perhaps belt out a tune or two…
 
Guests:
SSG Marcus Gilbert, U.S. Army
SGT Damarielis Vargas, U.S. Army
 
Credit:
America’s Got Talent clips courtesy of FremantleMedia North America, Inc. and Maidmetal, Ltd.
 
Donate: If you are interested in supporting AUSA’s educational programs, such as this podcast, please visit www.ausa.org/donate.
Feedback: How are we doing? Email us at podcast@ausa.org.
Disclaimer:
AUSA’s Army Matters podcast primary purpose is to entertain. The podcast does not constitute advice or services. While guests are invited to listen, listeners please note that you are not being provided professional advice from the podcast or the guests. The views and opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views of AUSA.

In October of 2022, SGT Alison Weisz won the World Championship in the Women’s 10m Air Rifle Competition, becoming the first American woman to win the title since 1979. Not stopping there, she’s currently spending her days training at Fort Moore for a chance at winning gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Hosts LTG (Ret.) Leslie C. Smith and SMA (Ret.) Dan Dailey sit down with SGT Weisz to discuss how a children’s gun safety course led her to where she is today, how a proper diet affects everything in life, and what advice she’d give to Elmer Fudd in his pursuit of the bunny.
 
Guest: SGT Alison Weisz, U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, International Rifle Team
 
Donate: If you are interested in supporting AUSA’s educational programs, such as this podcast, please visit www.ausa.org/donate.
Feedback: How are we doing? Email us at podcast@ausa.org.
Disclaimer:
AUSA’s Army Matters podcast primary purpose is to entertain. The podcast does not constitute advice or services. While guests are invited to listen, listeners please note that you are not being provided professional advice from the podcast or the guests. The views and opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views of AUSA.

Army recruiting. Climate change. Community service. AI. These are all important issues, and in the second of our special two-part series we continue speaking to four top ROTC. and JROTC cadets to get their thoughts on all of these topics – and more.
 
Guests:
Catherine Blotevogel, Georgetown University ROTC Cadet
Kyle Fernandez, Bowie State University ROTC Cadet
Jake Witt, Conroe High School JROTC Cadet
Easten Jenn, Leilehua High School JROTC Cadet
 
AUSA Scholarships:
https://www.ausa.org/scholarships
 
https://www.ausa.org/education/stroup-scholarship-essay
 
Donate: If you are interested in supporting AUSA’s educational programs, such as this podcast, please visit www.ausa.org/donate.
Feedback: How are we doing? Email us at podcast@ausa.org.
Disclaimer:
AUSA’s Army Matters podcast primary purpose is to entertain. The podcast does not constitute advice or services. While guests are invited to listen, listeners please note that you are not being provided professional advice from the podcast or the guests. The views and opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views of AUSA.

Many of today’s Army leaders started out as cadets in ROTC or JROTC. Well, what do the youth in the program today think about the Army and the world itself? In today’s episode – the first of a very special two-part series – we sit down with four top cadets to get their thoughts on their programs, the benefits and difficulties of service, what the Army could do to improve recruitment, as well as some musings on topics like climate change, mental health, social media and more.
 
Guests:
Catherine Blotevogel, Georgetown University ROTC Cadet
Kyle Fernandez, Bowie State University ROTC Cadet
Jake Witt, Conroe High School JROTC Cadet
Easten Jenn, Leilehua High School JROTC Cadet
 
AUSA Scholarships:
https://www.ausa.org/scholarships
 
https://www.ausa.org/education/stroup-scholarship-essay
 
Donate: If you are interested in supporting AUSA’s educational programs, such as this podcast, please visit www.ausa.org/donate.
Feedback: How are we doing? Email us at podcast@ausa.org.
Disclaimer:
AUSA’s Army Matters podcast primary purpose is to entertain. The podcast does not constitute advice or services. While guests are invited to listen, listeners please note that you are not being provided professional advice from the podcast or the guests. The views and opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views of AUSA.

In July, 1973 then-U.S. Secretary of Defense Melvin R. Laird announced the U.S. military would fill its ranks with volunteers, not draftees. In the last fifty years over 11 million volunteers have signed up, making the All-Volunteer Force a model recruitment process for the country. Hosts LTG (Ret.) Leslie C. Smith and SMA (Ret.) Dan Dailey sit down with General (Ret.) Carter Ham to discuss what it was like being amongst the first to volunteer in that 1973 volunteer class, and then chat with Lt. Gen. Walter E. Piatt to discuss what the Army is doing this month to celebrate the 50th anniversary.
 
Guests:
GEN Carter Ham, U.S. Army Retired
LTG Walter Piatt, Director of the Army Staff
 
Donate: If you are interested in supporting AUSA’s educational programs, such as this podcast, please visit www.ausa.org/donate.
Feedback: How are we doing? Email us at podcast@ausa.org.
Disclaimer:
AUSA’s Army Matters podcast primary purpose is to entertain. The podcast does not constitute advice or services. While guests are invited to listen, listeners please note that you are not being provided professional advice from the podcast or the guests. The views and opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views of AUSA.

Most people know Robert Irvine as a celebrity chef and television host. But not everyone knows he got his start in the British Royal Navy at age 15, that he runs 11 businesses employing over 5,000 people, and that he spends a large amount of time every year meeting with – and feeding – troops around the world. Hosts LTG (Ret.) Leslie C. Smith and SMA (Ret.) Dan Dailey sit down with Chef Irvine to discuss his military career, his new book for entrepreneurs, and have him judge a friendly – or not? – podcast cooking competition.
 
Guest: Robert Irvine, Celebrity Chef and Television Host
 
Donate: If you are interested in supporting AUSA’s educational programs, such as this podcast, please visit www.ausa.org/donate.
Feedback: How are we doing? Email us at podcast@ausa.org.
Disclaimer:
AUSA’s Army Matters podcast primary purpose is to entertain. The podcast does not constitute advice or services. While guests are invited to listen, listeners please note that you are not being provided professional advice from the podcast or the guests. The views and opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views of AUSA.

John McManus, one of the most prolific chroniclers of Army history, has just completed an acclaimed trilogy of books about the Asia-Pacific battles in World War II. Hosts LTG (Ret.) Leslie C. Smith and SMA (Ret.) Dan Dailey sit down with McManus to discuss his last book, To the End of the Earth: The US Army and the Downfall of Japan, 1945, lessons learned from those battles, and how he transitioned from an aspiring baseball announcer to a history professor and author. (Oh, and Professor McManus also oversees a little history pop quiz along the way…)
 
Guest: John McManus, author of To the End of the Earth: The US Army and the Downfall of Japan, 1945
 
Donate: If you are interested in supporting AUSA’s educational programs, such as this podcast, please visit www.ausa.org/donate.
Feedback: How are we doing? Email us at podcast@ausa.org.
Disclaimer:
AUSA’s Army Matters podcast primary purpose is to entertain. The podcast does not constitute advice or services. While guests are invited to listen, listeners please note that you are not being provided professional advice from the podcast or the guests. The views and opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views of AUSA.

In early 1945 a predominantly all-black, all-female battalion was sent to Europe to do the impossible: ensure delivery of 17 million pieces of mail to aid morale across the continent. They succeeded, but it took over fifty years – and the work of many – for the exploits of the “Six Triple Eight” to be recognized. Hosts LTG (Ret.) Leslie. C. Smith and SMA (Ret.) Dan Dailey sit down with Col (Ret.) Edna Cummings to discuss her efforts to bring attention to the 6888, the glass ceilings she burst through in her own 25-year Army career, and what it was like to witness the 6888’s leader Charity Adams honored in the recent naming of Fort Gregg-Adams.
 
Guest: COL (Ret.) Edna Cummings, Army Reserve Ambassador-Maryland, Six Triple Eight Congressional Gold Medal Champion, and Documentary Producer
 
Coming Soon:  Six Triple Eight Exhibit at the Army Women's Museum, Fort Gregg-Adams. https://awm.lee.army.mil/ 
 
Video Citation: "LTC Charity Adams, Oral History, 1990." U.S. Army Women's Museum. January 31, 2018. Video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3snVXlW5ng&t=7s.
 
Donate: If you are interested in supporting AUSA’s educational programs, such as this podcast, please visit www.ausa.org/donate.
Feedback: How are we doing? Email us at podcast@ausa.org.
Disclaimer:
AUSA’s Army Matters podcast primary purpose is to entertain. The podcast does not constitute advice or services. While guests are invited to listen, listeners please note that you are not being provided professional advice from the podcast or the guests. The views and opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views of AUSA.

MSG (Ret.) Darrell Utt has overseen many brave missions in his life, from ones as a young child that put food on his family’s table to tracking down war criminals as a Green Beret. Today he oversees the operations of the in-progress National Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington, TX. Hosts LTG (Ret.) Leslie C. Smith and SMA (Ret.) Dan Dailey sit down with MSG (Ret.) Utt to discuss the importance of teamwork, what makes him so driven to complete the Medal of Honor Museum, and how to put together a honeypot operation.
Guest:
MSG (Ret.) Darrell Utt, Chief of Operations, National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation
 
If you are interested in supporting AUSA’s educational programs, such as this podcast, please visit www.ausa.org/donate.
As SMA Dailey asked in the episode: How are we doing? Email us at podcast@ausa.org.
Disclaimer:
AUSA’s Army Matters podcast primary purpose is to entertain. The podcast does not constitute advice or services. While guests are invited to listen, listeners please note that you are not being provided professional advice from the podcast or the guests. The views and opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views of AUSA.

When the Department of Defense decided to examine the renaming of its bases in 2020, it turned to Brigadier General (Ret.) Ty Seidule to vice-chair its Naming Commission. Not only is BG (Ret.) Seidule Professor Emeritus of History at West Point Academy, but also a southerner. He grew up in awe of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, but eventually had to reevaluate who should be honored as a hero. Hosts LTG (Ret.) Leslie Smith and SMA (Ret.) Dan Dailey sit down with BG (Ret.) Seidule to discuss the process of renaming military bases, the importance of history, and give shout-outs to a number of heroes that more people should be aware of.
 
Guest:
BG (Ret.) Ty Seidule, U.S. Army
 
If you are interested in supporting AUSA’s educational programs, such as this podcast, please visit www.ausa.org/donate.
Recommendations for future topics are welcome via email at podcast@ausa.org.
Disclaimer:
AUSA’s Army Matters podcast primary purpose is to entertain. The podcast does not constitute advice or services. While guests are invited to listen, listeners please note that you are not being provided professional advice from the podcast or the guests. The views and opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views of AUSA.