Show Notes
In this episode, Dr. Whitman Cobb and Col. Hollon sit down with Lt Gen Jason Armagost, Deputy Commander of Air Force Global Strike Command and the Class XXXV graduation speaker. They discuss strategic thinking, military leadership, and the enduring value of intellectual curiosity. Drawing on his experiences as a commander, Stanford fellow, and lifelong reader, Lt Gen Armagost reflects on the role of liberal arts education, the relationship between theory and practice, and the importance of cultivating creativity and critical thinking within military organizations. The conversation explores reading as a tool for professional development, examines challenges posed by emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, and considers how future leaders can avoid technological determinism while adapting to a changing character of war. The conversation concludes with a discussion of recommended books, strategic education, and the challenges facing the next generation of air and space leaders. STICK AROUND FOR THE SUMMER READING ASSIGNMENT After the discussion with Gen Armagost, Dr. Whitman Cobb and Col Hollon welcome Lt Col Rachel Reynolds back to the show to introduce a new mini-series that looks at each class during the year through a work of fiction. The team will discuss the assigned book on the last Wednesday of every month throughout the next school year. This is the last show for this season. Thank you to all who have tuned in and especially those who have reached out to offer feedback and suggestions. We look forward to seeing you in the next school year, starting at the end of June!
Books to Battles: https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/SAASS/ Email: [email protected]
More from Books to Battles
In this episode of Books to Battles, Dr. Wendy Whitman Cobb and Col. Cory Hollon speak with Dr. Rob Hutchinson, SAASS Dean of Academics, about the school’s field study in Germany and its role in educating strategists. They explain how student research and discussions at historical sites connect classroom study to enduring questions about airpower, great-power competition, and the human consequences of strategic decisions. Stops including the Fulda Gap, Schweinfurt, Dresden, and Berlin provide opportunities to examine defense planning, strategic bombing, and the Berlin Airlift. Visits to Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora prompt discussion of the relationship between Nazi war production, forced labor, and the subsequent development of space technology. The conversation also explores how museums and memorials construct historical narratives and how engagements with American and German officials connect those histories to contemporary European security. The trip brings abstract strategic problems into contact with terrain, human suffering, and the choices facing an ally today. If you have questions, comments, or episode recommendations, please email us at [email protected]
In this episode of Books to Battles, Dr. Wendy Whitman Cobb and Col. Cory Hollon welcome Dr. Jared McKinney, Dr. Chris Colley, and Col. James Day to discuss their contributions to Strategy and Airpower in the East and South China Sea. Colley examines the gap between the announced U.S. pivot to Asia and changes in military force posture, including its effects on Chinese perceptions. McKinney explores alternative U.S. responses to a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, including support short of direct war and scenarios in which Chinese actions could draw the United States into conflict. Day and Hollon discuss how airpower and joint all-domain operations could strengthen deterrence through survivability, flexibility, and temporary operational advantages. The discussion tests strategic ambitions against operational realities while asking whether Americans adequately understand the Chinese calculations they hope to influence.
The United States has publicly acknowledged on-orbit space control weapons for the first time. What does that announcement mean for deterrence, strategy, and the future of military competition in space? Dr. Derrick Frazier joins Books to Battles to unpack Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink’s remarks, explore the strategic logic behind space weapons, and consider how greater transparency about U.S. capabilities could shape an increasingly contested domain.
In the latest installment of our fiction-a-month series, Books to Battles takes on Elizabeth Wein’s Code Name Verity. Through the lens of SAASS’s Airpower in the Age of Total War course, we explore the novel’s portrayal of air warfare, intelligence, resistance, and sacrifice during World War II. The conversation considers how fiction illuminates the human dimensions of airpower and the complex relationship between technology, strategy, and those who wage war.
What happens when the mission arrives before the military is ready for it? In this episode of Books to Battles, Col. Cory Hollon speaks with Lt. Col. Ryan Hess and Maj. Elizabeth Townsend, thesis award winners from SAASS Class XXXV, about how military organizations adapt to unfamiliar demands. Townsend examines General Moorman’s role in integrating space capabilities into military operations and his evolving views on an independent Space Force. Hess explores Task Force Holloman’s reception of Afghan evacuees during Operation Allies Welcome, emphasizing leadership, interagency cooperation, and cultural understanding. Both cases reveal how much depends on leaders who can build relationships across organizations, give people room to act, and adapt as circumstances change. However, success can obscure the improvisation and communication failures that helped shape the outcome. Together, they discuss mission command, the limits of preparation, and the challenge of turning improvised successes into lasting institutional improvements.