Howdy, listeners. Just a quick note that when recording this episode of Friendly Fire,

John was returning from tour and was 30,000 feet in the air.

So it sounds slightly different.

After this, he returns to his home studio.

Now please enjoy the show.

When Major Dan Kirby, played by John Wayne, arrives in Guadal Canal, he's there to whip a relaxed

Hellcat squadron into flying shape.

Unfortunately for him, he was not everyone's first choice for the command.

But Kirby's hardened exterior hides a conflicted inner life.

He hates the difficult decisions he has to make.

He misses his wife and child back home,

and struggles to implement a new low-altitude

ground attack strategy that's meeting resistance from high command. As the casualties

mount and his squadron grows desperate for confidence and supplies, Kirby must lead his men into the

Battle of Okinawa, where issues of strategy and leadership come to a head.

Steal a birthday cake for today's friendly fire. It's the 1951 World War II classic

Flying Leathernecks. Welcome to Friendly Fire,

podcast that talks about a different war movie every week with two movie nuts and a war history nut.

We're just tripping down the stairs on that open every time.

Yeah, which one am I?

Well, John, I mean, you're as much a movie nut as a war history nut, I would say.

I'm just a nut.

...