and explosions rocked the camp on average of every 20 seconds for the first three hours of the battle

it was the the absolute urgency that we might show up and there might not be a cop left for us to retake.

Like that was very much on the table when we got told.

That's right, the attack pilots, right? I mean, they were there in their,

Apaches were smoking because they were so little with holes on the bellies of them.

And I remember talking to one of them was like, how's going?

He's got this really nervous look on his face, and he's just, I just don't know if they're going to make it.

That was after the first run.

We were looking at how close you can drop 2,000 pound bombs. How close, right, is too close.

And I mean, you're dropping this stuff just outside. Hi and welcome to another episode of The Spear, 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, we'll hear about the 2009 Battle of Cop Keating, and it takes sort of a unique

form.

While we usually feature one-on-one interviews with guests who walk us through their role

in a particular combat event, what you're about to hear is more of a discussion between

three people, all involved in the battle.

Stony Portis was the commander of Bravo Troop 3-61 Cav who manned combat

outpost Keating along with a small contingent of Afghan National Army soldiers.

Cop Keating was a small and isolated outpost tucked precariously and vulnerable in the rugged

mountains of Nuristan Province in eastern Afghanistan.

...