Military & Armed Forces

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews the new, much-hyped film starring Tom Cruise, Demi Moore and Jack Nicholson.

Military policy expert Carolyn Becraft joins Terry to discuss how women soldiers will participate in the U.S.'s humanitarian mission in Somalia.

Schwarzkopf commanded American troops in the Mideast during the Gulf War. He's got a new memoir, "It Doesn't Take a Hero," in which he claims "hawks" in the Bush administration pushed to start a land offensive against Iraq before troops were ready and diplomatic efforts were exhausted.

Marty talks with science writer Seth Shulman about how the military has left toxic wastes in bases all across the country. His new book is "The Threat at Home: Confronting the Toxic Legacy of the U.S. Military." (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Tim Weiner reports on national security issues and the justice department for the Philadelphia Inquirer. In 1988, he won his second Pulitzer Prize for a series of articles on secret Pentagon spending. He discusses the A-X weapon - a stealth bomber which has just been put into production. It's predecessor, the A12, was cancelled because of cost overruns and unnaccountability.

Carolyn Becraft is an expert on issues concerning military families and women in the military. She's the director of the Women and the Military Project. She and Terry will discuss the role of women in the Gulf War.

Terry talks with Louise Hall, of the Military Family Support Network. As a mother with a son in the Gulf, she shares her continuing anxieties about his safety.

Terry talks again to Sir Michael Howard, professor of military and naval history at Yale. He'll discuss the Allied military strategy in the Gulf and how it compares to past wars throughout history.

Marian Faye Novak was pregnant when her husband, David, a Marine, was sent to Vietnam. Her daughter, Jeannie is now an army officer serving in the Gulf war. We talk with Marian about her new memoir about the Vietnam War, Lonely Girls with Burning Eyes, and her feelings today about her daughter's military service. We also talk with David about what it's like for him to be waiting at the other end.

Terry talks with Alex Molnar, the founder of the Military Families Support Network, a support group that's very critical of the government's handling of the war.

Terry Gross talks with the military historian about the conflict in the Middle East. They discuss when war is warranted, and acknowledge the suspicions many citizens may have about those motives. Howard teaches at Yale University.

Terry interviews Jim Creighton, the staff councilor with Friends Military Counciling, a group sponsored by the Quakers; he advises men and women in the military who object to the Gulf War. Afterwards, she speaks with Sergeant Reginald Bullock, an Air Force recruiter in the Philadelphia area. We'll find out how his job has changed in the past week,

Terry talks with Marie Burke, a wife and mother in Calhoun, Georgia. Burke has three sons, all of whom are in the Georgia National Guard and have been called to active duty.

National Organization for Women vice president Patricia Ireland says that the cultural place and treatment of women both in Arab countries and the American military is evidence of a gender apartheid. She joins Fresh Air to explain her organization's positions.

Barkalow was among the first women to enter the military academy at West Point. Her new memoir, "In the Men's House," chronicles her rise from cadet to commander. She currently works in the Pentagon as a special assistant to the Army Chief of Staff.

A new edition of photographer David Douglas Duncan's 1951 book This is War, which captures images of Marines in Korea, has just been published. Duncan is also known for his several photos of Pablo Picasso.

Writer Allan Bérubé (bah-RUE-bay). To research his new book is "Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women In World War II," Bérubé spent ten years interviewing gay and lesbian veterans, searching out wartime letters, and consulting newly declassified government documents. Bérubé found that hundreds of thousands of gays entered the military despite a procedure for screening out homosexuals. In his interview with Terry, Bérubé, talks about what it was like in World War II and the situation now for gays in the military.

Short story writer Stephanie Vaughn. Her first collection of stories is "Sweet Talk." Most of these stories chronicle the childhood, youth, and adulthood of Gemma, the daughter of a career army man. The New York Times says Vaughn "emerges as a thoroughly original writer, blessed with a distinctive voice, by turns witty and lyrical, wisecracking and nostalgic." Vaughn's stories first appeared in "The New Yorker," and in the O. Henry and Pushcart Prize collections. ("Sweet Talk" is published by Random House.)

Richard Barnet, co-founder of the Institute for Policy Studies. Barnet discusses the end of the Cold War and the implications for U.S. domestic and foreign policy. His new book is "The Rocket's Red Glare." (It's published by Simon and Schuster).

Journalist Michael Norman. Norman served in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War, and his memoir, "These Good Men: Friendships Forged from War," he tells the stories of some of the men he served with. Norman, a former columnist for the New York Times, spent 5 years looking for his comrades, traveling from Oklahoma to London, finding out what had happened to them in the 20 years since the war and trying to understand how his own life had been changed.