Modern warfare history book – “Tools of War, Tools of State” (SUNY Press, 2018) – Robert Tynes interview

Robert Tynes is a former journalist and an academic who has studied African politics and the use of child soldiers by various groups. I spoke to him about his new book on the subject.

1:20 – Robert Tynes talks about how he got into the study of child soldiers. He lived in Kenya for a few months and became interested in African politics.

4:21 – Robert talks about what is considered a child and what is considered a soldier for this study.

10:00 – Robert talks about the book and what it discusses.

13:02 – Robert talks about Mao’s ideas of protracted war and how it connects to child soldiers.

14:30 – He mentions the Hitler Youth groups and how that connects to protracted war.

19:40 – Robert talks about how ISIS, Al-Shabab, and Boko Haram use child soldiers.

28:46 – Robert talks about how he collected his data for the research.

39:20 – Robert talks about Libyan training camps for children.

49:00 – We talk about science fiction looks at how children are used in war.

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Guests: Robert Tynes

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: military, history, military history, conflict, war, interview, non-fiction book, Africa, Lords resistance Army, RUF, ISIS, Al-Shabab, Boko Harum, children, Hitler Youth, Mao, tactics