Bourbon & Rum Podcast

Duration: 31:08 | Recorded on November 29, 2025

S2E36 – In this episode, Kent and Kyle open with their featured spirits before diving into a thoughtful conversation about their father’s personal history, his Vietnam experience, political choices, and the weight of war across generations. The discussion expands into modern military conflicts, the treatment of veterans, geopolitical complexity, and concludes with an unexpected (and entertaining) detour into UFO disclosure and government secrecy.

Featured Spirits

Journeyman Distillery Last Feather Rye

Parce Rum – Brothers Blend

Show Notes

/ Reflections on Their Father’s Life Story

Kent and Kyle discuss reading through their father’s autobiographical questionnaire, noting its brevity and emotional reserve. They highlight surprising details—including his vote for Lyndon Johnson in 1964—and the understated ways he described major life events, relationships, and beliefs. His concise responses spark a conversation about generational differences in emotional expression and self-disclosure.

/ Vietnam: Service, Perspective, and Aftermath

The hosts explore their father’s experience in Vietnam and how his firsthand service shaped his political and moral views. They examine how, through modern eyes, the Vietnam War seems incomprehensible, but for those who served, the conflict held meaning tied to duty, containment, and sacrifice. They reflect on the moral courage of service members versus the failures of political leadership, and how veterans—then and now—carry lasting psychological burdens often left unspoken.

/ Trauma, Stoicism, and Veterans Across Generations

Comparing their father’s silence about combat to their grandfather’s more open reflections on World War II, they discuss how trauma manifests differently across eras. While their grandfather framed his stories with pride and a sense of mission, their father’s generation returned from a war with no clear victory and little public support. The hosts also connect this to current mental-health crises among veterans, noting how pain that goes unspoken can still deeply shape a life and family.

/ Politics, Civil Rights, and Historical Context

A surprising revelation—that their lifelong Republican father once considered joining Freedom Riders—leads them into a nuanced look at party alignment in the 1960s South. They discuss how personal character, moral conviction, and the shifting political landscape intersected in that era. They touch on assumptions about party identity, racial justice, and how political histories are often more complex than modern narratives suggest.

/ What Makes a “Decisive” War?

Kent and Kyle explore why post–World War II conflicts rarely end with clear resolution. They compare Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Desert Storm, noting the absence of formal surrender, unified state actors, or unambiguous objectives. Does modern geopolitical complexity—not simply poor policy—makes decisive outcomes nearly impossible, especially when wars involve insurgencies, fragmented leadership, or asymmetrical power dynamics?

/ UFOs, Disclosure, and Government Secrecy

The episode takes a sharp turn as the hosts discuss the documentary Age of Disclosure. They recount the film’s claims, including testimony from senators and former officials about alleged non-human technology, secret government programs, and long-standing information silos that even presidents may not access.

/ Humanity’s Tribal Instinct—Even in the Face of the Extraordinary

Finally, the brothers draw parallels between political tribalism, war, pandemics, and how nations might respond even to extraterrestrial discovery. They question whether humanity would unite—or immediately try to weaponize alien technology against rival nations.

Reference

1964 United States presidential election (Wikipedia)
Why Were Vietnam War Vets Treated Poorly When They Returned? (history.com)
The Freedom Riders: Journey to Desegregation (YouTube)
Age of Disclosure (Prime Video)