McBride & Brennan - 11 November 2023

Ben McKelvey on McBride & Brennan - 4 November 2023

GUEST OVERVIEW: Ben Mckelvey is an author, journalist and editor. Ben's books have won the Australian Independent Book Award for non-fiction, an Australian Book Industry Award and the Nib Military History Prize and they have been shortlisted in the Victorian and Queensland Premier's Literary Awards and for the Les Carlyon Literary Prize. Ben has been the editor of Mr Jones, Sports&Style and Juice magazines and worked at the Sydney Morning Herald as a Senior Feature Writer. As a freelance writer, Ben has been embedded with the ADF in East Timor and Iraq, and has worked independently in Iran, Syria and Afghanistan.

Stuart Ballantyne on McBride & Brennan - 28 October 2023

GUEST OVERVIEW: Stuart Ballantyne​, besides being a columnist for The Spectator, is a fellow of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects. He has a long list of awards including the ICHCA Annual Award 1996, Sea trade Award 1997 (London), Cruise and Ferry Award 2003 (London), AUSMEPA Marine Environment Award 2006 (Sydney) and the Institute of Export – Export Hero of the Year 2008 (Australia). Stuart holds a Master of Philosophy (Naval Architecture) from Strathclyde University, Scotland, and was awarded an honorary doctorate in science from Strathclyde in 2014 for his services to the maritime Industry.

David Archibald on McBride & Brennan - 21 October 2023

GUEST OVERVIEW: David Archibald is the author of The Anticancer Garden in Australia and of the book American Gripen: The Solution to the F-35 Nightmare.

Alistair Pope on McBride & Brennan - 14 October 2023

On today's show, Alistair Pope discusses the question of whether War is Inevitable in The South China Sea and whether China underestimates the resolve and military prowess of the US, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam, and The Philippines to oppose them. We'll explore the following two stories:
Facing Beijing’s threats, Taiwan president says peace ‘only option’ to resolve political differences. Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen emphasizes the importance of peace as the sole option to resolve political differences amid increasing tensions with China. Source: Read More
Philippine diplomat witnessed Chinese ships’ aggressive actions in disputed South China Sea. A Philippine diplomat provides firsthand accounts of aggressive actions by Chinese ships in the disputed South China Sea, shedding light on the ongoing tensions in the region. Source: Read More
GUEST OVERVIEW: Alistair Pope was born in Glasgow, Scotland. Emigrated to Oz in 1964, volunteered for NS in 1966. Served in Vietnam 1969-1970, Indonesia 1973, PNG 1975-1978, Attended Army Staff College 1981. Promoted to Lt. Col. 1984, and Resigned 1986. He founded his own business and has been employed as a Project Manager, Trainer and Consultant. Alistair has written and published over 50 articles on a wide range of subjects. Writing for 11 magazines, including 7 x Military magazines. Married for 47 years to the girl he met in Vietnam. Both daughters served in the Army with operational tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Alistair Pope is now retired and lives for half of the year in Vung Tau, Vietnam and the other half in Melbourne. He's author of the book Traveller's Twisted Tales: Short Stories to Make You Think.'

Robert Beckman on McBride & Brennan - 7 October 2023

On today's show, Robert Beckman discusses ptsd, brain injuries, preventing veteran suicides and effective therapies. 
GUEST OVERVIEW: Dr Robert Beckman is a PhD holder in nuclear non proliferation. As such his specialty suits him perfectly for projects aimed at avoiding or mitigating massive loss of both human life and the loss of prodigious economic resources. One such project is specially connected to 9/11 and its aftermath namely advocating for and helping deeply impacted men and women, affected by brain injuries and PTSD. He has stepped up to the massive task as Co-Founder and Executive Director of TreatNOW which has a as a mission to Stop service member suicides by identifying and treating veterans and others suffering from brain wounds. Dr. Beckman is a former USAF KC-135 pilot and a Vietnam Veteran. He is also the Chief Knowledge Officer for the Foundation for the Study of Inflammatory Disease. His website is: www.treatnow.org/

Lt. Col Saris Sangari on McBride & Brennan - 30 September 2023

GUEST OVERVIEW: US Army Lieutenant Colonel (ret.) Sargis Sangari is CEO of The Near East Center for Strategic Engagement, founder of United Assyrian Appeal, the host of the foreign policy current events podcast NEW PARADIGMS with Sargis Sangari, and Host of The National Security Hour on I-Heart Radio. While serving in the US Army, Sargis had six years of continuous combat deployment in the Middle East, conducted 144 combat patrols 22 Special Forces missions, and survived 7 IED attacks. His website is www.necse.net
https://unitedassyrianappeal.net/
 

McBride & Brennan - 23 September 2023

Maj. Stuart McCarthy on McBride & Brennan - 16 September 2023

On today's show, Maj. Stuart McCarthy  discusses the 'gamifornication' of the Australian veterans' affairs department's billion dollar 'veteran centric reform' program, designed and delivered by the multinational consulting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC). This is probably the worst scam perpetrated on a federal government department so far this century, with the fallout only beginning to emerge in the Defence and Veteran Suicide Royal Commission."
GUEST OVERVIEW: Stuart McCarthy is a retired Australian Army officer whose 28 year military career included operational deployments to Bougainville (Papua New Guinea), Ethiopia & Eritrea, Indonesia, Iraq and Afghanistan. Since leaving the Army in 2017 he has been a vocal advocate for injured and disabled military veterans and their families, including the establishment of the ongoing Defence & Veteran Suicide Royal Commission. In 2021 he was a lead advocate for the repatriation of local Afghan interpreters who had worked for the Australian Defence Force, prior to the Taliban takeover. He has also been published in medical journals on the ethics of military drug trials and the adverse effects of quinoline antimalarial drugs. His more recent advocacy efforts have focused on high level command responsibility for alleged Australian war crimes in Afghanistan.

Dr (Major) Glenn Kolomeitz on McBride & Brennan - 9 September 2023

GUEST OVERVIEW: Following his career with the Australian Defence Force, Glenn worked as a Defence Policy Adviser at Parliament House. He then returned to permanent service deploying on operations to East Timor and Afghanistan with the Special Operations Task Group and subsequently appearing within the specialised role of Military Prosecutor at courts martial and before Defence Force Magistrates. Glenn has applied his professional excellence as a former serving New South Wales Police officer with significant experience in prosecutions, coronial investigations, and counter terrorism. Leaving the Regular Army in 2013, Glenn practiced as a Barrister, starting his own Law Firm and becoming the Director of his own Corporate Investigations Company. He regularly makes submissions and gives evidence in veteran-related matters to various government inquiries and the media.