Hey, just a quick word of warning, this episode does include some swearing.

Yeah, when I first got to Bella, and I remember stepping off the Chinook, and I was like, oh my God, we're in trouble.

You know, everything is quiet, and then all of a sudden the enemy is within hand grenade range.

And they know where to walk, they know the mountains, they know the trails, that we can't see shit.

You train for your worst day. When you experience your worst day, there's all kinds of greatness that occurs at the soldier level.

You know, the things that they were doing for one another and what you see a human capable of doing, the choices that they make for their fellow man.

The camaraderie and the ties that they have is so close because of what that experience was. fellow man. The, uh, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the,

the spear and the ties that they have is so close because of what that experience was, you know, a podcast by the Modern War Institute at West Point.

I'm John Amble, editorial director at MWI, and The Spear is our platform to explore the combat experience.

In this episode, MWI's major Jake Moraldi sits down with three guests, Lieutenant Colonel Matt Meyer,

Sergeant Major Scott Beeson, and Sergeant Major William Stockard.

They joined to talk about a deployment to Afghanistan.

Ten years ago, when Meyer was a company commander, Beeson was the company's first sergeant,

and Stockard was a platoon sergeant in the company.

During that deployment in the rugged mountains of eastern Afghanistan, their company, chosen company,

2nd Battalion 503rd Infantry Regiment, saw some of the most intense combat of the war in Afghanistan.

They speak honestly and candidly about what that experience was like as tactical level combat leaders.

They reflect on the lessons of combat, of camaraderie, and of loss.

Before we hear from them, just a couple really quick things.

First, I know we ask this in most of our episodes, but if you're enjoying the stories we

feature on the Spear, please help us reach new listeners who might also want to hear them

by giving us a rating or leaving a review

...