The Baghdad Shuffle is a crime thriller set against the 2003 invasion of Iraq, but much of the world behind it comes directly from author Josh Bates’s own experience as a Marine.

Bates was serving as a Marine infantry officer when his unit pushed north from Kuwait into Iraq and eventually into Baghdad. What stayed with him was not only the combat, but the chaos that followed the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime—the looting, criminal activity, money left behind, and Marines suddenly dealing with situations far outside conventional warfare. One episode in particular, a Baghdad bank robbery involving thieves trying to breach a vault with RPGs, became part of the inspiration for the story he would eventually write.

Although the novel is fiction, Bates says much of the Iraq section grew out of things he actually experienced during the initial push to Baghdad and the period that followed. He estimates that roughly 85 to 90 percent of the events informing the first act happened to him in some form, then were condensed and reshaped for the story.

We’ll talk with Josh about his Marine Corps career, his experiences during the invasion of Iraq, and how those memories eventually became the foundation for a novel. We’ll also discuss the mix of military experience, crime, humor, and absurdity that shaped The Baghdad Shuffle, and why he wanted the book to reflect the perspective of the young Marines who actually lived through those early days of the war.

Josh Bates is a retired Marine infantry and intelligence officer, podcaster, and author. The Baghdad Shuffle is his first novel.

Lt. Col. Frederick C. Brems carried a camera throughout his World War II service with the 2nd Armored Division, preserving an extraordinary visual record of the war as he experienced it.

Brems enlisted before the attack on Pearl Harbor and eventually served in Europe with the famed “Hell on Wheels” division. From the fall of 1944 through the end of the war, he photographed the soldiers, vehicles, towns, battlefields, and everyday moments around him. His journey included the Battle of the Bulge, Operation Grenade, the advance across Germany, the occupation of Berlin, and the long road home.

Join us for a conversation with his son, retired Lt. Col. Frederick “Fred” Brems, about Knights of Freedom: With the Hell on Wheels Armored Division in World War II, A Story in Photos. The book brings together more than 500 photographs taken by his father, along with wartime letters and the stories he shared with his family over the years. Together, they offer a deeply personal account of one soldier’s service and a vivid look at life inside an American armored division during the final campaigns of the war in Europe.

We’ll talk about the photographs, the stories behind them, and the process of turning a family archive into a detailed history. Brems will also discuss his father’s experiences with the 2nd Armored Division, including combat during the Battle of the Bulge, the Allied drive into Germany, and the occupation that followed. The book contains nearly 600 photographs, dozens of maps, and hundreds of additional illustrations documenting that journey.

Fred Brems is an educator, researcher, writer, and photographer who spent years studying his father’s wartime service and preserving the collection he left behind. He has also worked in U.S. embassies and schools in the United States and overseas.

We hope you’ll join us for this remarkable story of war, memory, family history, and the photographs that brought one veteran’s experience back to life.

Is China already a great power—or still becoming one? And if it is, what does that mean for the United States, the Navy, and the balance of power at sea?

Dr. Bernard “Bud” Cole is a 30-year U.S. Navy veteran, former warship commander, and one of America’s leading experts on China’s military and maritime strategy.

Bud Cole has spent a lifetime in the Pacific—at sea, in uniform, and in the classroom—studying the very questions now dominating headlines:

• Captain, U.S. Navy (Ret.) – Surface Warfare Officer with 30 years of service
• Commanded USS Rathburne (FF-1057) and a destroyer squadron
• Served in Vietnam as a naval gunfire liaison officer with Marines
• Former Professor of International History, National War College
• Author of landmark works on China and naval power, including The Great Wall at Sea

He has watched China’s rise not from afar, but up close—over decades—as its navy evolved into a global force challenging U.S. influence across the Indo-Pacific.

• What “great power” actually means—and whether China meets the test
• The rapid expansion of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN)
• Why the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait matter so much
• How maritime power shapes global trade, energy, and security
• Where U.S.–China competition is heading—and what could go wrong
• Lessons from history about rising powers and established ones

This is not a cable news argument or a policy lecture. It’s a conversation with someone who has served, commanded, studied, and taught the realities of naval power and great-power competition.

About VBC LIVE:
The Veterans Breakfast Club brings veterans, families, and the public together in communities of listening—where stories, experience, and history help us better understand today’s world.

#China #USNavy #IndoPacific #Taiwan #SouthChinaSea #Geopolitics #MilitaryHistory #NavalStrategy #Veterans #GreatPower #VBC

General Mark Clark remains one of the more debated American commanders of World War II. As commander of the U.S. Fifth Army during the Italian Campaign, he led Allied forces through some of the hardest fighting in Europe, from the landings at Salerno through the long advance toward Rome.

Join the Veterans Breakfast Club for a conversation with military historian Roger Cirillo, who will look at Clark’s leadership during the campaign and the difficult circumstances in which he operated. Clark was ambitious, highly aware of the press, and often controversial, but he was also commanding in a theater defined by rough terrain, heavy casualties, an inexperienced American army, and broader Allied strategy that was frequently flawed or overly ambitious.

Cirillo will discuss the Salerno landings, the challenges of the Italian Campaign, the failures and frustrations surrounding Anzio, and the larger strategic questions that shaped Fifth Army operations from 1943 into 1944. Rather than treating Clark simply as either a great commander or a poor one, the program will place his decisions in the context of the campaign as a whole and the limitations facing Allied forces in Italy.

Roger Cirillo is a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel and military historian who has written and lectured extensively on war and military history. He has taught military history to junior officers and served as the research author for American Armies and Battlefields in Europe: World War II.

We hope you’ll join us for a closer look at General Mark Clark, the Fifth Army, and the difficult road from Salerno to Rome.

Where were you on September 11, 2001?

Most of us who were alive that day remember exactly where we were when he saw images of smoke pouring from the North Tower of the World Trade Center. We remember the second plane striking the South Tower live on television. And then, 56 minutes later, that same tower collapsed, followed by its North twin at 10:28am. Meanwhile, another hijacked airplane hit the Pentagon, and reports came in of a fourth crashing into a Pennsylvania field after passengers fought back. We also remember the sickening feelings, the grief, and the sense that everything had changed in an instant.

Join the Veterans Breakfast Club for an open conversation marking the 25th anniversary of 9/11. We’ll remember the day itself, talk about the wars that followed, and reflect on how the events of September 11 shaped a generation of Americans in uniform and those who loved them. Veterans, military family members, first responders, and civilians all have stories to tell and perspectives worth hearing.

This program will be what the Veterans Breakfast Club does best: gathering people to listen, remember, ask questions, and share experiences.

Everyone is welcome, whether you served or not. Bring your memories, your stories, and your questions as we reflect together on the day that changed so much—and the twenty-five years that followed.