Military & Armed Forces

Historian MATTHEW F. DELMONT is the author of the new book Half-American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad. It's about the African American experience in World War II, the discrimination Black Americans faced in the military and in civilian defense industries.

Buzz Bissinger, author of Friday Night Lights, tells the story of college football stars-turned Marines who endured some of the most savage fighting in World War II at the Battle of Okinawa.

China scholar Michael Beckley says China is engaged in the largest military buildup since World War II, and is being increasingly aggressive with its Asian neighbors and with the U.S.

Journalist Anne Applebaum has been covering the war in Ukraine for The Atlantic. "I don't think that we will ever again smugly assume that borders in Europe can't be changed by force," she says.

Journalist Matthieu Aikins shed his own identity and traveled with his Afghan interpreter along smugglers' routes to reach Europe and escape the Taliban. His book is The Naked Don't Fear the Water.

The U.S.'s first Black national security advisor, chairman of the Joint Chiefs and secretary of state died on Oct. 18. Powell spoke to Fresh Air in 1995 about how the army had shaped his life.

Journalist Peter Bergen talks about bin Laden's path to mass murder and reflects on the consequences of the recent U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan. Originally broadcast Aug. 4, 2021.

Galloway, who died Aug. 18, was the only civilian to be awarded the medal of valor in the Vietnam War. He later co-authored We Were Soldiers Once ... and Young. Originally broadcast in 1992 and 2003.

Spike Lee talks about making his film 'Da 5 Bloods,' why awards aren't the true measure of a film's value, and working with the late Chadwick Boseman on the film.

The legendary aviator, who died Dec. 7, served as a fighter pilot in World War II. Later, as a test pilot, he was the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound. Originally broadcast in 1988.

Intercept journalist James Risen says new documents show how Iran has embedded itself in the politics of its neighbor — and that the late Gen. Soleimani oversaw Iran's proxy wars in Iraq and Syria.

In his new book, Accessory to War, the astrophysicist argues that people who work in his field are often complicit to military development — despite being overwhelmingly liberal and anti-war.

Cronauer, who died last week, hosted an armed forces radio show in Saigon during the Vietnam War and later was the subject of a film starring comic Robin Williams. Originally broadcast in 1988.

"The Vietnam War" the latest documentary series by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, examines the story of the war from multiple perspectives.

Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Tom Ricks says the writings of Winston Churchill and George Orwell still resonate today. Ricks also discusses the generals serving in the Trump administration.

In 2009, Maj. Mary Jennings Hegar was shot down by the Taliban in Afghanistan while co-piloting an Air National Guard medevac helicopter. Though she was wounded in her rifle arm, Hegar managed to return fire while hanging onto a moving helicopter, which saved the lives of her crew and her patients.

The protagonist of Sebastian Barry's new novel is conscripted right off the boat as the price of American citizenship. Eventually he finds love and companionship with one of his fellow soldiers.

As the wife of a Navy fighter pilot, memoirist Rachel Starnes has had much of her life — including where she lives and how often she gets to live with her husband — determined by his career.

Tobias Lindholm's Oscar-nominated film tells the story of a Danish commander's error in judgment during the war in Afghanistan. Critic David Edelstein says A War will "leave you in pieces."

Phil Klay served in Iraq from January 2007 to February 2008. He recently won a National Book Critics Circle award for his collection of short stories. Originally broadcast Nov. 25, 2014.