Left of Boom | A Military.com Podcast

For two decades, Military.com has reported on the flash points, crises and catalysts that shape U.S. defense policy, and the decisions that affect the lives of men and women in uniform. Now, we’re going deeper. In our new podcast, Left of Boom, we’ll talk to the legends and pathfinders who made U.S. military history; get the ground truth on military myths, rumors and legends; and decode the big ideas shaping the military of the future -- from “Iron Man” suits and pilotless planes to Arctic power-struggles and island-hopping in the Pacific. Join me, Hope Hodge Seck, managing editor of Military.com, as together we get Left of Boom: understanding military issues before they make the news.

It’s hard to think of a more beloved -- and sometimes hated -- cultural touchstone in the military than meals ready to eat, or MREs. They’ve been around since the C-Rations of World War II and beyond, and have for decades offered a touch of comfort and a taste of home -- albeit a highly engineered one that can last for years at high temperatures without spoiling. You can find MRE cookbooks that will tell you how to turn drink mix and generic toaster pastries into gourmet desserts, and there are scores of YouTube videos dedicated to taste-testing chili mac and the prized jalapeno cheese spread.

Well, it turns out there’s a lot of science that goes into each one of these compact rations packs, and sometimes the development of a new MRE menu item -- such as the coveted pepperoni pizza slice -- requires actual technological breakthrough. Today, we’ll talk to two people from the Combat Feeding Directorate in Natick, Massachusetts: Lauren Oleksyk, team leader for food engineering, who holds two patents in revolutionary food science, and David Accetta, an Army military historian and public affairs officer at the directorate.

On this episode, we talk about military awards for heroism. They've been around for almost as long as the republic itself, dating back to George Washington's Badge of Military Merit, first awarded in 1782. They're granted judiciously and closely policed to retain their value and meaning. The nation's highest award for battlefield heroism, the Medal of Honor, has a mystique all its own. While the lower awards, including the Bronze Star, Silver Star and service crosses, can be awarded simply for acts of exceptional bravery, the Medal of Honor signifies life-saving heroism at great risk to one's own life. In fact, many Medals of Honor are awarded posthumously. To be approved, Medal of Honor accounts must have an eyewitness, and they must meet the most stringent legal standard available: beyond a reasonable doubt. Even so, the process of awarding these medals can be subjective and political, and there are a number of service members who may not have gotten the recognition they deserve, among them names like Sergeant First Class Alwyn Cashe from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Cpl. Waverly Woodson from World War II. To dive into the history and politics of military heroism, today we're talking to the undisputed foremost expert on the topic: Doug Sterner, creator of the Hall of Valor. And visit Military.com for all the news and information you need about the military community.

Dale Dye has been an adviser on many of the generation's most iconic military films and shows -- from Platoon to Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers. But he didn't grow up in showbiz. He's a retired Marine who decided that the movies he saw weren't doing right by America's service members, and he decided to do something about it. On this episode, host Hope Hodge Seck and Military.com writer Blake Stilwell ask Dale Dye about the worst military movie he's ever seen, his thoughts on Space Force and his advice for other veterans who want to make a career in showbiz.

As the military tests out new unmanned aircraft platforms, are pilots soon to go the way of the dodo? On this episode, we talk to Sikorsky Innovations Director Igor Cherepinsky about the future of autonomous aviation, its uses in the military and the status of Sikorsky efforts to develop a pilotless Black Hawk helicopter that could lift off without a human aboard as early as next year.

Sure, at this point we’re familiar with tiny quadcopter drones that hover above sporting events and even the large and deadly MQ-9 Reaper and others in its category. But this is different: like driverless cars, this technology in theory could see humans in the passenger seat, but out of the loop. It’s no coincidence that the military is testing driverless trucks and convoy vehicles at the same time it’s experimenting with these autonomous retrofits for passenger aircraft.

After you listen to the episode, head to Military.com to learn more about the military's daring experiments with flight.