Another good one! Today we are joined by Ed Westermann, who has just retired from Texas A&M University-San Antonio, where he is now Regents Professor Emeritus of History (congrats, Ed, on your second retirement!). Ed served in the US Air Force for 25 years as a helicopter pilot-turned-academic. He commissioned as a history major from the US Air Force Academy and earned MA degrees from Florida State University (History) and the USAF School for Advanced Air and Space Studies (Airpower, of course), before earning his PhD at UNC Chapel Hill. He is the author of Hitler's Ostkrieg and the Indian Wars: Comparing Genocide and Conquest (Oklahoma), Hitler’s Police Battalions: Enforcing Racial War in the East (Kansas), and Flak: German Anti-Aircraft Defenses, 1914-1945 (Kansas). His recent book is Drunk on Genocide: Alcohol and Mass Murder in Nazi Germany (Cornell), which received the Yad Vashem International Book Prize for Holocaust Research. He published numerous articles in top journals, such as War in History, the Journal of Military History, and Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Not bad for a military brat from Temple, Texas.

Join us for a really interesting chat with Ed Westermann - we'll talk about the SS and drinking culture (yes, that's a deep chat), flying UH1s, deciding to take the military's academic track, being mentored by Dennis Showalter and paying that forward, Fleetwood Mac, Berliner Pilsner, and transitioning to retirement. You'll enjoy this one, but we know you enjoy them all!

Speaking of "them all," this episode closes out Season 6 and, wait for it, is our 150th numbered episode! Thanks so much to each and every one of you for listening, sharing, and supporting us, and a special thanks to all of our guests - thanks for taking the time, and for taking the risk! We've got a long list of folks to get to yet, so we'll keep at it.

Shoutout to Old 300 BBQ in Blanco, Texas!

Rec.: 06/16/2026