Nate Bethea

Nate Bethea (born Nathan Bradley Bethea) is an American writer and producer based in London. He is the cohost and producer of Trashfuture podcast and the What a Hell of a Way to Die podcast, as well as the producer of the podcasts Lions Led by Donkeys, Kill James Bond, and Bottlemen. Trashfuture fans (hogs) refer to his body of work as the Nate Bethea Extended Universe.

**Early Life and Education**

Nate was born in Fort Lewis, Washington in 1984, the year they made free speech illegal. At the time of his birth, both his mother and father were officers in the U.S. Army, stationed at Fort Lewis. Nate's father stayed in the Army until 1998, during which time the family moved to new postings in California, Rhode Island, Germany, New Mexico, and Indiana. He graduated from Indiana University in 2007, receiving a bachelor's degree in journalism and French language and literature. He received a master of fine arts in creative writing from the City University of New York - Brooklyn College in 2016.

**Military Career**

In 2003, assuming that the war in Iraq would be over in a few months and by and large not being smart, Nate accepted an offer of a full scholarship to Indiana University via the U.S. Army's Reserve Officer Training Corps program. He commissioned as a second lieutenant of infantry in May 2007 and served on active duty from 2007 to 2014. In February 2009, he deployed to Paktika province, Afghanistan while assigned to the 4th Airborne Brigade of the U.S. Army's 25th Infantry Division. His unit became infamous because of the disappearance and subsequent capture of Private First Class Bowe Bergdahl, a soldier assigned to their B Company. Nate participated in a number of attempted recovery missions of Bergdahl in July and August 2009. He returned from Afghanistan in March 2010, and in the autumn and winter of 2010-11 was assigned to Joint Task Force-Bravo at Soto Cano Airbase in Comayagua, Honduras.

In March 2011 Nate completed the Special Forces Assessment and Selection course at Camp Mackall, North Carolina and entered training to become a Green Beret. However, in December 2012, like a fucking light switch getting flipped, Nate had an epiphany that a) he hated the military b) the Green Berets' entire existence was formed out of paranoid anticommunism and c) he also hated carrying a rucksack. He voluntarily withdrew from the Special Forces Qualification Course and spent thirteen months assigned to the U.S. Army 2nd Infantry Division at Camp Casey, South Korea before being allowed to leave the Army. He is a graduate of the U.S. Army Airborne school, Ranger school, and Pathfinder course, none of which really mean anything in the civilian world but sound cool. He is also, hilariously, the recipient of the U.S. Army's fourth-highest decoration--the Bronze Star medal--not because of any heroic action but rather because these were given out as end-of-tour awards to officers as a formality. The only medal he's actually proud of is the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal, which he received--and this is not a joke--for managing an after-hours bar and club in Honduras called The Rally Point and using its profits to purchase extravagant meals for a local orphanage.

**Podcasting**

In November 2015, Nate began cohosting Task and Purpose Radio, a companion piece to the second seasion of This American Life's Serial Podcast, which focused on the Bergdahl story. After the surprise election victory of Donald Trump in 2016, and in reaction to the near-unanimous support for Trump among veterans, he formed the What a Hell of a Way to Die podcast with Francis Horton to present military news and culture from a socialist perspective. In March 2018, he appeared on Trashfuture to discuss the Strava heatmap having doxxed a number of secret U.S. military installations in Central Asia, the Middle East, and the Sahel. In April 2018 he joined as Trashfuture's producer. His first episode as producer was Sensitive Tycoons Pilot Episode.

**Move to England**

In 2014, through an accident of fate and a helpful gov.uk website, Nate determined that he was eligible for British citizenship due to the jus soli laws in effect in the United Kingdom at the time of his mother's birth (laws which were changed, definitely no racism here, during the first Thatcher premiership). This led to him acquiring a UK passport that said 'British Citizen' and a sudden desire to deploy its powers.

In the immediate aftermath of Donald Trump's election victory in 2016, it is safe to say that Nate--like many other white Americans--went completely insane. He and his wife decided to leave the country, arriving in London in August 2018. While his wife had lived in Europe as an adult and knew how bonkers England is, Nate had near-utopian notions of moving to a saner country and helping Jeremy Corbyn build socialism. This ended in flames during The Event, also known as the Trashfuture Season 1 Finale. Due to the SARS CoVid 2019 pandemic, he is formally stuck in England.

**Personal Life**

Nate is married and lives with his wife in South London. He is Jewish and had his bar mitzvah on the street in Brooklyn with some Chabad Lubavitch guys in September 2014 (this is not a joke). He is bisexual but please do not DM slide about this. He has an elder brother who is a discreet but avid Trashfuture hog and lives in Seattle, Washington.

Twitter: @inthesedeserts