The Spear

This episode of  The Spear features a conversation with Josh Webster. A US Army officer, he previously served as a US Air Force pararescueman—a member of an elite part of the Air Force whose mission includes rescuing and providing medical treatment to wounded military personnel. He shares a story from 2010, when his team was called on to evacuate casualties thirteen times during a day of intense f...

On July 13, 2008, around two hundred Taliban fighters ambushed American and Afghan soldiers in a remote area of eastern Afghanistan. The ensuing fight would become one of the deadliest battles for American soldiers during the United States' long war in the country. In this episode of The Spear, the battalion commander of the forces engaged in that fight reflects on the battle, the challenges that...

In 2010 Kevin Mott's unit arrived in Afghanistan's Kunar province for a deployment that would see months of hard fighting. At one point, he was even wounded so badly—shot in the head, four fractured vertebrae, a broken leg, a torn labrum—that he was sent back to the United States for medical care. After he returned, the battalion conducted a mission aimed at clearing an area known to have a strong...

In this episode of  The Spear , US Air Force Col. Kim Campbell joins to share a story from 2003. A career A-10 pilot, during one mission in the opening weeks of the war in Iraq she felt and heard an explosion. She knew immediately that she had been hit. Listen as she explains what happened that day and how she responded when she suddenly found herself flying a heavily damaged aircraft.

Maj. Brian Kitching joins this episode of The Spear  to share a story from a 2012 deployment in southern Afghanistan's Kandahar Province. Two months into the deployment, the company he commanded was taking part in a large, seven-day clearing operation. They made contact with enemy fighters on both of the first two days, but on the third day of the operation, Kitching and his soldiers found themsel...

In 2014 and 2015, the US Army sent soldiers to help respond to an outbreak of Ebola in Liberia. Capt. Jerod Brammer led one of the deployed teams. He was responsible for setting up and running a testing laboratory. He joins this episode of  The Spear to share the story of the unique operational experience.

In 2003, Alex Perez-Cruz was a company executive officer during the invasion of Iraq. He returned as a company commander during the Surge. Now a lieutenant colonel, he shares stories from each of those deployments, compares the two experiences, and reflects on the leadership lessons he learned during combat.  Note: This episode was originally released in May 2018.

In 2007, Patrick Melton was a military police soldier on his first deployment in Baghdad when his combat outpost was hit by a barrage of improvised, rocket-assisted munitions. He was sitting inside a vehicle as he and others in his unit prepared for a mission when the vehicle suffered a direct hit. Listen to him tell the story of how they reacted when the attack destroyed everything around them. (...

In this episode of  The Spear , MWI Deputy Director Maj. Noel Sioson is joined by retired Master Sgt. Cedric King. In 2012 in Afghanistan, on "a day just like any other day," as he describes it, his platoon got into a firefight during a patrol. When it ended and the unit continued its movement, he stepped on an IED. The blast cost him both of his legs. The most remarkable part of his story is his...

Col. Bill Ostlund retired from the Army in 2019. In 1990, as a lieutenant, he arrived at his first unit as an officer and almost immediately got the order to deploy to Saudi Arabia. Shortly after, he and his battalion air assaulted into Iraq as part of Operation Desert Storm. Listen as he recalls his experiences and the lessons he learned from them.

In 2003, Maj. John Spencer was a platoon leader in Iraq. One night, while waiting in an ambush position, he gave the order for his platoon to move to interdict a group of armed men. When his lead vehicle, his soldiers did what they had been trained to do: they returned fire and assaulted the objective. But there was a surprise in store for them. (Note: This episode was originally released in 2018....

As a lieutenant on his first deployment, Capt. Steve Beckman was in charge of a platoon equipped with a unique vehicle—a Stryker variant called a Mobile Gun System. But when the 105mm main weapon stopped functioning during an engagement with Taliban forces, he had to come up with a different way to fight the vehicle to protect US forces under fire.

As a lieutenant, Maj. Jesse Lansford was deployed to Afghanistan. A Kiowa helicopter pilot assigned as an aviation platoon leader, he rarely found himself on foot outside the wire. But on one day his helicopter had to land. He spent a brief time on the ground, but it was enough for him to encounter an IED. He joins this episode of  The Spear to tell the story.

In this episode of  The Spear , MWI's Maj. Jake Miraldi speaks to Capt. Jason Pomeroy. In 2011, he was a platoon leader in Kunar province, Afghanistan, and he joins the podcast to tell the story of Operation Strong Eagle III, a mission during to expel enemy fighters from a rugged valley that quickly turned into a grueling fight.

In this episode of  The Spear , MWI's John Amble is joined by Maj. Tyson Walsh. In 2013, during a deployment in Afghanistan, he found himself fighting hand to hand against an enemy combatant in an unexpected place: inside the heavily secured Bagram Airfield, the largest US and coalition base in the country. Listen as he tells one of he most intense stories we have featured.

This episode of  The Spear features a conversation with Capt. Lindsay Heisler. An aviation officer and Apache pilot, in December 2015 she was part of a mission in Afghanistan supporting a ground force. Just as Chinook helicopters arrived to pick up that force, they came under fire from 360 degrees around them. The two Apaches overhead, including Capt. Heisler's, immediately took action to protect...

This episode of  The Spear features our first ever conversation with a US Army medic. On Oct. 3, 2009, Combat Outpost Keating was attacked by three hundred enemy fighters. Half of the fifty-seven US soldiers there would be wounded by the time the fighting ended. Master Sgt. Shane Courville was a medic at the COP, and he describes what it's like to be a combat medic in the middle of one of the most...

This episode of  The Spear is the second in a two-part series featuring three guests who took part in the Battle of Mogadishu, made famous by the book  Black Hawk Down and the movie of the same name. This episode picks up where the last one left off, with our guests—from the Army's most elite units—describing how they react as the battle quickly intensifies. (This episode originally ran in 2018.)

This episode of  The Spear is the first in a two-part series featuring three guests who took part in the Battle of Mogadishu, made famous by the book  Black Hawk Down and the movie of the same name. Even if you've read the book or the movie, you're certain to learn much more about that fight from these three practitioners from the Army's most elite combat units. (This episode originally ran in 201...

In the second of a two-part conversation with Ryan Hendrickson, our guest shares a story from 2016. Six years and a couple deployments after nearly losing his leg in an IED blast, Ryan was once again in Afghanistan and found himself in an intense fight, part of a grueling 18-hour mission that he recounts in this episode.  Note: This episode was originally released in August 2018.

In this episode of  The Spear , we're joined by Capt. Lucas Gebhart. An aviation officer, he was deployed to Iraq during the Battle of Mosul. That battle involves intense fighting on the ground, but the pace and complexity of the fight was equally intense for the pilots engaged from the air.

This episode features the first of a two-part conversation with Ryan Hendrickson. In this part, he shares a story from a 2010 deployment. On a mission in a particularly restive part of Afghanistan, Ryan stepped on an IED. Listen as he described that day and the aftermath of an incident that nearly cost him his leg.

In 2008, Maj. Emily Spencer was an EOD platoon leader in Iraq. In April, she and one of her teams accompanied a route clearance patrol that was planned to approach Sadr City, a notorious safe haven for militants. As the reached the edge of the dangerous neighborhood, IEDs began detonating and they began taking fire. Listen to Maj. Spencer talk through the fight.

In 2008, British Army officer Will Meddings was part of a team deployed in Helmand province, Afghanistan, tasked with partnering with, mentoring, and training Afghan forces. That job brings with it a host of unique challenges, many of which come to the fore when things go badly—like they did for Will and his team on one particular day in July.

In 2004, Tim Strabbing was a lieutenant and platoon commander in the Marine Corps, deployed to an area just outside Fallujah in Iraq's restive Anbar province. Listen as he tells the story of one particularly eventful 48-hour patrol.