Former Marine hosts new podcast

Series discusses faith, war, the importance of serving others, and inspiration

By Alex Junes-Ward

Military expert W. Thomas Smith Jr. is hosting a new podcast series, FOURTH WATCH ONE, that tackles everything from his personal faith in God, experiences as a former U.S. Marine infantry leader and today writer and military analyst, history, what is truth, and why encouragement and forgiveness are so important in leadership and life. The series, which began August 24, is now available on Apple Podcasts.

Averaging four episodes per month, Fourth Watch One is produced by Chris Carter, a Jackson, Missouri-based Air Force veteran and former firefighter who like Smith writes about national security and military issues for several publications.

“My good friend Chris is the guy who pushed me to do this series,” said Smith from his office in central S.C., Tues. “The strength of this podcast series I believe is in our brevity. Most of our episodes are less than four minutes each, and that is by design.”

According to Smith, short episodes are more listener friendly.

“That doesn’t mean far-longer discussions in other podcasts of say 20 to 40 minutes in length are not necessary,” he says. “They absolutely are, and there are many great hour-long podcasts by hosts who have been doing this a lot longer than I have. But the kind of time-commitment required of the listener in most other podcasts would not serve our purposes or the point of this series.”

Smith adds, “You can listen to an episode of Fourth Watch One in the time it takes to brush your teeth. And in that, you will walk away with something useful that you can easily remember, take to heart, and use to encourage others.”

Episodes so far have included encouragement in leadership, truth and judgment, and why in a tough situation, “the physical presence of the commander is vital.”

Smith’s most recent episode – the longest in fact – is a five-minute “crash course” in who the wise men were in the Biblical account of the Christmas story, where they were from, and how many there really were.

Speaking of the program’s episode-brevity, Smith tells a story of the French general and emperor Napoleon to illustrate his point: “Remember what Napoleon told one of his couriers before dispatching him to one of his subordinate commanders in the midst of a great battle. Napoleon said, ‘Go sir, gallop. And don’t forget the world was made in six days. You may ask me for anything you like except time.’”

A former Marine infantry leader, counterterrorism instructor and retired field-grade officer from the S.C. Military Dept. where he established the department’s first counterterrorism task force under the late Adjutant General Stan Spears, Smith is a New York Times bestselling editor and a 2019 recipient of the Order of the Palmetto, the highest honor awarded by the state of South Carolina and presented by the Governor.

FOURTH WATCH ONE is available at http://uswriter.com/the-fourth-watch/ and at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fourth-watch-one/id1541920494.

– Alex Junes-Ward is a S.C.-based freelance writer.