Chasing Ghosts: An Irregular Warfare Podcast

by Bill Buppert

A podcast series peeking behind the curtain at the vast machinery and briar patch politics of fighting terrorism and insurgency and everything in between. I'm a "COINtra" and not a "COINdinista", the latter are the vast army of apparatchiks and apologists who fire the engines of Irregular Warfare (IW) planet-wide. We're the skeptics and doubters of all things IW and special operations. And we are a tiny sliver of the IW commun ...   ...  Read more
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Podcast episodes

  • Season 1

  • Ep 026 "Review and Discussion: Tattoo Zoo by Paul Avallone"

    Ep 026 "Review and Discussion: Tattoo Zoo by Paul Avallone"

    S01 E26
    32:16

    Every war has a seminal novel, a book that really resonates with generation that wrote it and the following generations from the Iliad to Gore Vidal's historical fiction to The Centurions by Jean Larteguy to From Here to Eternity by James Jones to this one.

  • Ep 025 "Technicals: Toyotas Go To War""

    Ep 025 "Technicals: Toyotas Go To War""

    S01 E25
    47:02

    In the one year anniversary episode (!), we chat about the use of thin-skinned vehicles in the modern age and the asymmetric nature of the fight. The employment of commercially produced vehicles for conduct of raids and ambushes employing a wide array of weapons medium- to heavy-machine guns to mortars to ATGMs and everything in between. Please note that Toyota outside of Japan does not produce these for purpose-built military employment. And, to my fellow CruiserHeads, I salute you.

  • Ep 024 "The Other Fight: Understanding the Conventional Conflict""

    Ep 024 "The Other Fight: Understanding the Conventional Conflict""

    S01 E24
    40:44

    I take the time to discuss some of the conventional ramifications of modern warfare and book recommendations that have given me a deeper and more nuanced understanding of why wars begin and end as they do.

  • Ep 023 "Afghanistan: The Soviet Debacle 1978-1989"

    Ep 023 "Afghanistan: The Soviet Debacle 1978-1989"

    S01 E23
    37:07

    The defeat of the USSR in Afghanistan was part of a broad tapestry of disasters that eventually brought the Russian communist state crashing down. The shattering of Soviet forces by the indigenous rebels aided by foreign fighters and sophisticated weapons technology from the West doomed the USSR to failure. The American would later respond with: "Hold my beer..."

  • Ep 022 "Review and Discussion: Day of the Rangers: The Battle of Mogadishu 25 Years On""

    Ep 022 "Review and Discussion: Day of the Rangers: The Battle of Mogadishu 25 Years On""

    S01 E22
    42:36

    We examine the Day of the Rangers: The Battle of Mogadishu 25 Years On by Leigh Neville and Matt Eversmann to discuss the book, the event and what led up to the event.