The 18th Airborne Corps Podcast, Episode 11: Elvis's Army

Episode 11: Elvis's Army   In 1958, 23-year-old Elvis Presley, rock star and actor, was among the Nation's most prominent celebrities. That year he was also drafted into an American Army in turmoil. In an era that threatened Soviet-American thermonuclear annihilation, the Pentagon and White House primarily placed the Nation's defense, and its resources, in strategic bombing. Coming out of the ugly, unpopular Korean War, the Army was a faded relic of an antiquated way of conflict. By contrast, the Air Force, with its ability to target Soviet nuclear sites from offshore without putting troops on the ground, was the future. Drafting Elvis, then, represented a marketing opportunity for the U.S. Army: if the rebellious King of Rock and Roll could make Army greens look cool, perhaps the land-based service could get a foothold within American youth culture. On Episode 11, historian Brian McAllister Linn, author of the 2016 book "Elvis's Army: Cold War and the Atomic Battlefield," joins the Doomsday Clock podcast to talk about how the Army set about transforming Elvis from a rebellious teen idol into a clean-cut GI and, by extension, transforming the service itself for atomic warfare. Over the course of the discussion, Brian and host Joe Buccino talk about the Army's attempt at rebranding in the late 1950s and early 1960s and how that effort ultimately failed. This is a particularly timely discussion for our Army today: in the wake of the Fort Hood Independent Review and amidst concerns about white nationalism in the ranks, the Army once again finds itself at an inflection point. There are some critical lessons that leaders today can gleam from the Army Elvis joined. We share those lessons on Episode 11 of the Doomsday Clock Podcast. The Doomsday Clock is the official podcast of the U.S. Army's XVIII Airborne Corps. Stationed on Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the XVIII Airborne houses 92,000 Soldiers across 14 military installations: 40% of the operational Army.  With a new episode every Tuesday, the podcast mines American Cold War history for insight and wisdom for leaders today.