I was dead asleep.

I had my boots off.

I was dead asleep.

What I remember was this bright, almost lightning flash of light.

He was sleeping on the top bunk of these bunk beds up against the outer wall. And this Katusha rocket had penetrated this wall right where he was sleeping. The reality of war, the reality of

the reality of losing somebody became so real and so in your face, of a sudden you are completely changed now you feel like you're

vulnerable you feel like it can be you.

Hi, welcome to 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.

Each episode includes a single one-on-one interview with a guest who walks

us through a particular event and they're role in it. A battle, a firefight, a mission.

It's a first-person account of combat. We chose the spear as the name of the podcast to

capture two ideas. First, that combat is that unique experience that takes place at the tip

of the spear. And second, that in our modern wars, it isn't just combat is that unique experience that takes place at the tip of the sphere.

And second, that in our modern wars, it isn't just combat forces that can find themselves fighting.

Any part of our military.

Any part of the spear, combat or support can be forced by circumstances to become that sharp fighting end.

In this episode, I talked to Tony Luberto. In 2007, as a first lieutenant, his

battalion was deployed and begged at Iraq. He was the maintenance platoon leader.

Early one morning, the combat outposts where he lived was hit by several Katusha rockets.

One of them penetrated the wall of the building, a room nearby his, where the non-commissioned

officers from his platoon lived.

...