Marine Corps thinking, straight from the scuttlebutt.
MCA Scuttlebutt treats the Marine Corps as both a profession and a lived community. Episodes move from maneuver warfare and wargaming to deployment stories, reading-list authors, weapons history, retention, and the harder questions behind military judgment.
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MCA Scuttlebutt is a Marine Corps professional-development show with a wide aperture. It treats the Corps as an institution, a profession, and a community of people still arguing with the lessons they carried out of uniform. The tone is direct and conversational. It can shift quickly from doctrine to memory, from a reading-list title to a deployment story, from organizational policy to the strange personal math of motivation after service. Recent episodes show that range clearly. August Cole brings fiction, journalism, future warfare, robotics, and the power of narrative into the frame. Ian Brown returns to talk about A New Conception of War, John Boyd, maneuver warfare, and why Marine contributions to Warfighting deserve more accurate credit. A conversation with the Commandant and Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps turns retention and accountability into a discussion about seeing the whole Marine, including the rough edges that still need shaping. Mike LeBlanc's episode works through anger, Afghanistan, transition, gratitude, and what the civilian world can feel like after the Corps. MGySgt Adam Walker (Ret) gives the E-8 redesignation board pilot program a practitioner-level treatment, with attention to roles, humility, and professional respect. Other entries revisit the interwar period, decision-forcing cases, old friends of the show, and the technical story behind the 6.5 Creedmoor. The show's center of gravity is learning. Wargaming, professional reading, adult education, doctrine, leadership, marksmanship, and institutional memory appear as tools for Marines who are expected to think as seriously as they train. The conversations are sometimes rough around the edges, but that is part of the texture. MCA Scuttlebutt is at its strongest when it lets informed guests challenge easy mythology, restore overlooked contributors, and connect big Marine Corps ideas to lived responsibility. It is for listeners who want more than nostalgia or official messaging. It gives them shop talk with depth, argument, humor, and practical professional purpose.
Made for: For Marines, former Marines, Marine families, and serious Marine Corps supporters who want professional development grounded in doctrine, history, leadership, and lived experience. It also suits military readers, wargamers, and listeners interested in how service institutions think about change.
What sets it apart: The show pairs Marine Corps Association professional-development priorities with candid long-form conversations that keep institutional ideas connected to people who have lived them. It stands out by treating reading lists, wargaming, weapons history, retention, and future warfare as parts of one professional conversation.
The Marine Corps Association is dedicated in its mission to support Today’s Marines. Our podcast, Scuttlebutt, seeks to create a forum to encourage and inspire Marines, former Marines, Marine families, and supporters of the Marine Corps to engage with issues that impact Marines and the Corps. Storytelling not only helps us unpack who we are, but brings us into conversation with the world and people around us. We will hear stories from Marines and civilians working to honor, uncover, and restore Marine Corps history, as well as from those working every day to make the world a better place.
This is the show that takes you from E-8 billets to robot ethics without changing uniforms.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Ian Brown revisits Warfighting's origins and restores contributors that the mythology tends to obscure.
Episode 237 brings MCA Scuttlebutt's Literary Lethality series to Ian Brown and A New Conception of War, his study of John Boyd, the U.S. Marines, and maneuver warfare.
Cleveland interviews, veteran-run, stories left to run long.
Straight talk from the service-world edge.
Real service stories, practical leadership lessons.
Military aviation, read through the signal.
Fairchild base life, told from inside.
August Cole discusses the power of narrative and storytelling, drawing from his experience as a journalist and fiction writer, and reflects on the 10-year anniversary of his book Ghost Fleet.
MCA Scuttlebutt continues its Literary Lethality series with returning guest Ian Brown, author of 'A New Conception of War: John Boyd, the U.S.
The hosts celebrate the Marine Corps Gazette's 110th anniversary, discussing its role in institutionalizing maneuver warfare and its historical significance.
A conversation with Josh Cannon about the parallels between metalworking and personal transformation after military service.
Hosts discuss the upcoming modern-day marine expo and introduce the episode's focus on the book Matterhorn with author Michael Jerome Plunkett.
MCA Scuttlebutt episode 232 features General Eric Smith and Sergeant Major Carlos Ruiz discussing the Marine Corps’ ARG-MU capability, quality of life, suicide prevention, retention, audits, and professional education.
MCA Scuttlebutt episode 231 features Mike LeBlanc, a former Marine ground intelligence officer, Harvard Business graduate, robotics executive, and author of What If Anger is the Answer.
MCA Scuttlebutt episode 230 features retired Master Gunnery Sergeant Adam Walker explaining the Marine Corps E-8 redesignation pilot program for Master Sergeants and First Sergeants.
Vic Rubel, Nancy and William review The Last 600 Meters, Michael Pack's PBS documentary on the 2004 battles of Najaf and Fallujah.
Professional reading builds a "2,000 year old brain" because you vicariously gain experience from battles, wars, and policies of the past.
After a Mervyn's shirt commercial in Malibu, three dolphins cut through an emerald wave and Peter Cook decided to become a teacher.
This episode discusses the importance of self-directed study in the art and science of war for Marines, and promotes wargaming as a tool for mental readiness.
This episode of Scuttlebutt features a conversation with Will Schick, an original guest, discussing decision-forcing cases and professional development for Marines.
A conversation with Dennis DeMille, co-creator of the 6.5 Creedmoor, about his Marine Corps career and the development of the iconic rifle round.
Interview with August Cole, co-author of Ghost Fleet and Burn In, discussing his work in useful fiction and his background as a modern-day Marine.
This episode reviews the film 'Devil Dogs: Hero Marines of WWI' as part of the Marine Corps Association's Road to 250 series, highlighting Marine Corps history and professional development resources.