S4 Ep6 The Ethics of Special Ops: Raids, Recoveries, Reconnaissance, and Rebels

Join Harry Moffitt as he talks with Dr’s Deane-Peter Baker, Roger Herbert, and David Whetham about their new book The Ethics of Special Ops: Raids, Recoveries, Reconnaissance, and Rebels. At the end of the Afghan campaign a number of Special Operations units were subject to investigations of alleged war crimes. In response, these three distinguished scholars have written a compelling book, looking at how we might learn the lessons of this time. In this broad ranging discussion, Harry, Deane, Roger, and David cover many related topics, including the ethics of war fighting and why it matters, how to prepare soldiers for the moral challenges of the battlefield, and some of the techniques they use in training and development, including The King’s College London Centre for Military Ethics Playing Cards, found at http://www.militaryethics.uk/en/playing-cards . The Ethics of Special Ops: Raids, Recoveries, Reconnaissance, and Rebels (Cambridge University Press 2023).  Dr Deane-Peter Baker is an Associate Professor of Ethics in the School of Humanities and Social Science at UNSW Canberra, and Director of the Military Ethics Research Lab and Innovation Network (MERLIN). He is also a Senior Visiting Research Fellow in the Kings College London Centre for Military Ethics. Dr. Herbert is the Robert T. Herres Distinguished Military Professor of Ethics at the U.S. Naval Academy. Previously, he served for 26 years as a Naval Special Warfare officer, including commanding SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 2, Naval Special Warfare Unit 3, and the Naval Special Warfare Center. Dr David Whetham is Professor of Ethics and the Military Profession at the Defence Studies Department of King’s College London, based at the Joint Services Command and Staff College at the UK Defence Academy where he coordinates or delivers the military ethics component of courses for between two and three thousand British and international officers a year.

Join Harry Moffitt and Simon as they talk about his journey into tactical medicine and TEMS, his military experience, and leadership, teamwork, and navigating uncertainty inside trauma and emergency medicine. They also venture into the mind and trauma voyeurism.Simon is the Deputy Director of the Trauma Services at The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, where he practices clinically as an anaesthesiologist and a trauma consultant. His many areas of interest include trauma and health systems, trauma-team-work, austere medical support, prehospital care, and effective leadership in trauma care. He recently completed a study into tactical care in high-threat and complex environments, via a Churchill Fellowship looking at Tactical Emergency Medical Support (TEMS) and global tactical policing. You can read it here https://www.churchilltrust.com.au/fellow/simon-hendel-vic-2022/Simon Hendel - Churchill TrustTo assess Police Tactical Emergency Medical Support (TEMS) in comparable overseas jurisdictions - Health and Medicine — Training of health and medical workerswww.churchilltrust.com.auHe is also a LT COL in the Army Reserve and has worked in and around Special Forces teams overseas and here in Australia, most notably deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Chris Warner, Mountaineer, Second American to Summit every 8,000 meter peakJoin Preston Cline as he and Chris Warner talk about his experiences in Mountaineering, in business, and in experiential education. Chris was one of Preston’s first instructors as a wilderness guide in 1989 and their lives have been intertwined ever since.https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/everest/this-climber-just-became-the-second-american-to-summit-every-8000-meter-peak/

Chief Brian Fennessy of the Orange County Fire Authority joins us to talk about leading and innovating in the face of history, tradition and bureaucracy. Brian began his career in 1978 with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management, working as a hotshot crewmember, hotshot/helishot/helitack captain and, ultimately, crew superintendent. In 1990, Fennessy joined the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department (SDFD) and, ultimately, became chief of the department in 2015. While he was with the SDFD, he developed and established a fire/rescue/EMS helicopter program. He became fire chief of the Orange County, CA, Fire Authority in 2018. Under his visionary guidance, OCFA’s Quick Reaction Force (QRF) — a groundbreaking public-private partnership with Southern California Edison — has revolutionized wildfire response. The QRF fleet, including CH-47 helitankers and intelligence helicopters, made over 2,200 drops, preventing new wildfires from exceeding 10 acres, 95 percent of the time. As fire chief Fennessy oversees 78 stations serving nearly 2 million residents in 23 municipalities and unincorporated area. The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) awarded Chief Fennessy the 2023 IAFC Fire Chief of the Year, noting that “Chief Fennessy’s remarkable contributions to the fire service have earned him the IAFC Chief of the Year recognition, a testament to his enduring commitment and dedication to making a lasting impact on the fire service community.”

Preston converses with Eric Hipke and Jim Cook on the power of staff rides in the South Canyon Fire. Documentary1994 South Canyon Fire on Storm King Mountainhttps://youtu.be/ZzGTjfTHihUHighly recommended report to anyone interested in the fire behavior and firefighter movement on the fire. Fire Behavior Associated with the South Canyon Fire (1998) https://www.fs.usda.gov/rm/pubs/rmrs_rp009.pdf Staff Ride Library: https://www.nwcg.gov/wfldp/toolbox/staff-ride/library 

Commander Reid Wiseman is an American astronaut, engineer, and naval aviator. He served as Chief of the Astronaut Office until November 14, 2022. He was a member of the crew of Expedition 40/41, which launched to the International Space Station on May 28, 2014, and returned on November 10, 2014. Before joining NASA, Wiseman was a naval aviator and test pilot. Wiseman was the Deputy Chief of the Astronaut Office from June 2017, working under Chief Astronaut Patrick Forrester. On December 18, 2020, he was promoted to Chief of the Astronaut Office at NASA. Reid has been selected as commander of the crew for the Artemis 2 flight, which is planned to make a flyby of the Moon in 2024. He is the first commander of a lunar mission since Gene Cernan on Apollo 17 in 1972

Dr. Anna Simons: The Anthropology of Mission Critical TeamsDr. Anna Simons recently retired as a Professor of Defense Analysis at the Naval Postgraduate School. She holds a PhD in Social Anthropology from Harvard University and an A.B. from Harvard College. She is the author of Networks of Dissolution: Somalia Undone and The Company They Keep: Life Inside the U.S. Army Special Forces. Most recently she is the co-author of The Sovereignty Solution: A Commonsense Approach to Global Security. Simons' focus has been on conflict, intervention, and the military from an anthropological perspective. Her work examines ties that bind members of groups together as well as divides which drive groups apart. 

Eldership with Chief Chuck DowneyChief Chuck Downey joined the FDNY in 1990 and is entering his 33rd year with the department. He is currently serving as the Chief of the FDNY Fire Academy on Randall’s Island, otherwise known as “The Rock,” Where he oversees all selection and training for the over 17,000 members of the FDNY. His brother Joe Downey is a 37-year veteran and the battalion commander of the FDNY Rescue Battalion, and together, they are the sons of legendary FDNY Chief Ray Downey, who had a 39½-year career and was the Chief in Charge of Special Operations Command when he made the Supreme Sacrifice at the World Trade Center on September 11. We talk about the role that the community must play, especially the elders in the community, to develop people to do hard things.https://app.box.com/s/78t3ljmuzww0onmzjny5yso6y04yulhh

NASA Astronaut Selection with Duane RossMr. Duane Ross has been a key member of the Astronaut Selection Program at NASA since 1978. Duane Ross, has also been involved with or managed the Astronaut Candidate Program at NASA since 1978. He has worked at the Johnson Space Center, in Houston Texas, since 1967, and sat in Mission Control during the moon landing. He spent five decades as the Manager of the Astronaut Selection Program, which means that he has helped select almost every American astronaut in history. In partnership with Dr. Colonel, astronaut Drew Morgan we talk with Duane about some of the changes he has seen over the last 5 decades of Astronaut Selection and where he thinks we might be moving in the future. 

Dr. Sharon M. Ravitch is a Professor of Practice at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education, Fulbright Fellow, 2022–2023. In an internationally recognized researcher and educator joins us to talk about Communities of Practice, Reflection, Use of Emotion as an Instructor, Creation of New Knowledge through collaboration, effective use of risk in training and education. One of the greatest living minds in on the practice of training and education. https://www.gse.upenn.edu/academics/faculty-directory/ravitch