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The Spear

The Spear

John Amble

Government, News

4.8 • 642 Ratings

Overview

The Spear is a podcast from the Modern War Institute at West Point. It sets out to explore the combat experience, with each episode featuring a guest who tells a detailed and personal story, describing the events and exploring topics like decision-making under stress and what it feels like to be in combat.

203 Episodes

A Marine Platoon in Anbar Province

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. On his platoon's very first patrol, they were ambushed by enemy fighters, earning his Marines a baptism by fire and setting the tone for a difficult deployment ahead. He joins this episode to share the story of one particularly eventful 48-hour period.

Transcribed - Published: 19 June 2025

Escort Mission Over Anbar

In 2007, United States Marine Captain Kyleanne Hunter was flying an escort mission above Marines operating in western Iraq. When the Marines on the ground discovered a massive weapons cache—and a large group of armed insurgents protecting it—she found herself in a situation that challenged her as a pilot and changed the way she and her fellow Marines flew in Anbar province. She joins this episode to share the story.

Transcribed - Published: 5 June 2025

Forward Air Controller in Ramadi

In this episode of The Spear, retired Marine officer David Berke joins to share a story from 2006, when he was a forward air controller attached to an Army unit in Ramadi, Iraq. During a movement-to-contact patrol, they began to take fire, and his job became especially important. He declared the TIC—troops in contact—and two Marine Corps F/A-18D Hornets headed their way to provide close air support. Listen as he tells the story, explaining what it's like to work with the pilots in the air to engage the enemy in support of the ground force.

Transcribed - Published: 22 May 2025

Air Force PJs at War

Air Force pararescuemen, also known as pararescue jumpers or PJs, are special operations forces known for their wide range of professional skills and for their motto, "that others may live." In this episode of The Spear, retired Air Force Master Sergeant Aaron Love joins MWI's Charlie Faint for a detailed discussion about the PJ career field. This wide-ranging conversation covers the PJ assessment and selection pipeline, the role of PJs in combat as well as in non-combat search and rescue situations, and life after military service.

Transcribed - Published: 7 May 2025

Easter Offensive, 1972

During the Vietnam War, the 1972 Easter Offensive was a major operation launched by North Vietnam to destabilize South Vietnam and strengthen its own hand in ongoing peace talks in Paris. The offensive was particularly noteworthy due to its duration and ferocity as well as the extensive use of tanks by North Vietnam, a rarity during the Vietnam War. In this episode, retired Colonel Rick Cassidy recounts a battle and his role in it during this pivotal period, which resulted in him receiving a Purple Heart and the Bronze Star Medal for valor.

Transcribed - Published: 25 April 2025

Surprise on the Kunar River

In this episode Maj. John A. Meyer shares a story from his first deployment, in 2007, to Afghanistan. On July 27, his platoon and a group of Afghan National Army soldiers were moving along the road next to the Kunar River during a squadron mission to secure the valley. The Afghan soldiers began to cross a bridge when they looked down and saw a group of enemy fighters. The massive fight that ensued would involve the other platoons of Meyer's B Troop, as well—matched up against an enemy force three times the size of their own.

Transcribed - Published: 10 April 2025

Rescue Mission in Kunar

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 in Afghanistan, when his team was called on to evacuate casualties thirteen times during a day of intense fighting.

Transcribed - Published: 28 March 2025

Navy Cross in Iraq

In this episode, Brian Chontosh, a retired Marine Corps officer, details the circumstances of an intense and complex combat operation in Iraq that involved Brian and his Marines using captured enemy weapons to clear an entrenched hostile force that ambushed their convoy. Brian ultimately received the Navy Cross, one of the top valor award in the US military, for his actions that day.

Transcribed - Published: 12 March 2025

The MQ-9 Reaper in Combat

This episode features a story from Joe Ritter, an Air Force officer and MQ-9 Reaper pilot. The MQ-9, the largest remotely piloted aircraft in the US military's inventory, has a wide range of the capabilities—from providing intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance to conducting battle damage assessments to helping a ground element direct their fires to striking enemy targets with air-to-ground Hellfire missiles. Ritter and his sensor operator brought all of these capabilities to the fight during a single mission in Afghanistan in October 2018.

Transcribed - Published: 13 February 2025

Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Power of "Yet"

Lieutenant Colonel Liam Walsh is currently the commander of the 4th Battalion of the 9th Infantry Regiment, "Manchu." In this episode of The Spear, Liam speaks with MWI's Charlie Faint about his experiences in reacting to an IED strike in Iraq and responding to a Taliban attack on a forward operating base in Afghanistan, and how a series of setbacks during a rotation at the Joint Readiness Training Center helped him understand the power of "yet."

Transcribed - Published: 29 January 2025

Green Beret, Silver Star

Sergeant Major Chuck Ritter overcame a series of bad decisions in his youth—as well as a rough start to his Army career—to become a highly successful Special Forces senior noncommissioned officer. In this episode, Chuck joins MWI's Charlie Faint for a discussion about resilience, personal responsibility, motivation, good leadership, and the circumstances that led to Chuck receiving the Purple Heart three times, as well as the Bronze Star and Silver Star medals for valor in combat. He also offers his perspectives about critical thinking, the utility of storytelling, and the dangers of hubris.

Transcribed - Published: 7 January 2025

Last Soldier in Afghanistan

On August 30, 2021, General Chris Donahue stepped onto the ramp of the last American C-17 in Afghanistan and into the pages of history. At the time, he was a major general commanding the 82nd Airborne Division, leading his paratroopers as the United States withdrew from Afghanistan after almost twenty years of combat. He would go on to serve as a corps commander and, since December 2024, the commanding general of US Army Europe and Africa. Donahue joins this episode of The Spear to describe the evolving and complex mission on the ground during the 2021 deployment to Afghanistan, during which he relied on trust and relationships to lead his troops and oversee the evacuation of more than 120,000 Afghans. He also reflects on his career and the leadership lessons he learned along the way, sharing advice for junior and aspiring leaders.

Transcribed - Published: 2 January 2025

Valor in Sadr City

Long before his selection as the fifteenth sergeant major of the Army, Dan Dailey served multiple combat deployments in Iraq, first during Operation Desert Storm in the early 1990s and then in Operation Iraqi Freedom more than a decade later. In this episode of The Spear, he joins MWI's Charlie Faint to reflect on those deployments—describing in particular one deployment's operations in Baghdad's Sadr City, where he receiving the Bronze Star Medal for valor. He also discusses lessons he learned over a career that began when he signed his enlistment paperwork as a sixteen-year-old and culminated in his service as the most senior enlisted soldier in the Army. And he shares his thoughts, refined after working alongside officers at every rank, from platoon leaders to the chief of staff of the Army, on the vital relationship between officers and noncommissioned officers.

Transcribed - Published: 12 December 2024

The A-10 At War

In this episode, retired US Air Force Col. Kim Campbell joins to share a story from 2003. A career A-10 pilot, her squadron was deployed to the Middle East at the beginning of the war in Iraq. During a mission, she and her flight lead in another A-10 responded to a call for air support from a US unit engaged with Iraqi troops. On her last rocket pass, she felt and heard an explosion—and 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.

Transcribed - Published: 5 December 2024

A Fight Inside the Wire

In this episode of The Spear, MWI's John Amble is joined by Major Tyson Walsh. In 2013, during a deployment in Afghanistan, he was working out alone late at night on the heavily fortified Bagram Airfield, the largest US and coalition base in the country. It's the last place he expected to end up in a fight—he didn't even have his weapon with him. But that's exactly what happened. Listen as he tells one of the most intense stories we have featured.

Transcribed - Published: 22 November 2024

Leadership in the Ranger Regiment and 4ID

Command Sergeant Major Alex Kupratty enlisted in the Army after a year at the Virginia Military Institute and was immediately assigned to the 75th Ranger Regiment, where he spent most of the next twenty years of his military career, culminating in the position of command sergeant major of the Second Ranger Battalion. He is now the command sergeant major of the Fourth Infantry Division, and he joined the podcast on the eve of the recent Army–Air Force Football game. In this episode, Command Sergeant Major Kupratty discusses the value of interoperability, partnerships, innovation, and the officer-NCO relationship to the modern combat experience.

Transcribed - Published: 6 November 2024

Military Cross in Afghanistan

For his service with the Household Cavalry during a deployment to Afghanistan in 2013, British Army Major Al Pickthall was ultimately awarded the Military Cross, a decoration presented by the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries for acts of "exemplary gallantry” in combat. In this episode, Al recounts the details of that deployment and the actions for which he was awarded the Military Cross, as well as his education at Sandhurst and Yale University and his thoughts about topics such as leadership, military writing, and his recent visit to the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Transcribed - Published: 18 October 2024

Emergency Deployment with the Ranger Regiment

While serving as a company executive officer with the 1st Battalion of the 75th Ranger Regiment in 2016, Ryan Crayne and his company were training at the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center when they received emergency overseas deployment orders. Just days later, and after a herculean logistical effort, Ryan and his fellow Rangers were in Afghanistan and engaged in a major clearing operation against ISIS. He joins this episode to share the story of that operation, explaining how high-performing units leverage leadership principles such as mutual trust, disciplined initiative, and prudent risk to enable extraordinary accomplishments in training and on the battlefield.

Transcribed - Published: 11 October 2024

Combat in a Technological War

In 2016, Brennan Deveraux was deployed to a small base in Baghdad called Union III. An artillery officer, Brennan worked in a small group known as a strike cell, where he was the theater-level rocket artillery liaison for Operation Inherent Resolve. Over the course of the deployment, he fired more than five hundred HIMARS rockets in support of Iraqi security forces as they fought to wrest back control of vast swathes of territory seized by ISIS two years earlier. In this episode, he shares the story of one of those rockets. Brennan has also written about this story and others in a forthcoming book. The book is one example of the type of professional military writing that is undergoing a rejuvenation with the backing of the Harding Project, an initiative that was launched one year ago this week. For listeners who would like to contribute to the Army’s professional military discourse, a special edition of Military Review has just been published, dedicated to the Harding Project’s work, detailing the importance of professional writing, and offering encouragement and guidance on how to get started.

Transcribed - Published: 10 September 2024

A Helicopter and an IED

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.

Transcribed - Published: 27 August 2024

Sniper Fire in Baghdad

In the fall of 2006, Rory McGovern was a company fire support officer assigned to a combined arms team operating in the area around Abu Ghraib, Iraq. The day after Christmas, he was on a security patrol in support of a local sheikh’s Hajj send-off party when a shot rang out. McGovern had been hit. He shares the story of that encounter with the sniper and subsequent recovery in this episode.

Transcribed - Published: 15 August 2024

One Day in Panjwai District

Lt. Col. 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 themselves engaged in a fight of an entirely different level of intensity. Listen as he tells the story of that day and describes the selfless service of his soldiers' actions under fire.

Transcribed - Published: 2 August 2024

No-Fly Zone

In 1998, retired US Air Force Colonel Mike "Starbaby" Pietrucha was an electronic warfare officer flying in an F-15E Strike Eagle, enforcing the northern no-fly zone over Iraq in the 1990s. In this episode, he brings listeners into the cockpit as he describes one particular mission during that deployment, when his aircraft was targeted by a radar guidance system for an SA-3 antiair missile. Not long after, the Iraqi surface-to-air missile was headed his way. After some rather hasty maneuvering, the F-15E crews in the air developed a plan with other coalition aircraft to strike back.

Transcribed - Published: 17 July 2024

Sadr City's Three-Block War

For Bill “Fenway” Wyman, Sadr City in 2004 was a strange mix of combat and humanitarian missions. Fenway, then an Army major, was servince as a a civil affairs team leader, advising the commander of the 2-5 Cavalry on how to win local trust, support humanitarian operations, and spur economic development. In this episode, he recounts a pair of events—handing out backpacks one day and hunting down snipers just a few days later—that combine to highlight the ever-changing nature of combat operations in Baghdad.

Transcribed - Published: 3 July 2024

Five Days in Paktia

In this episode of The Spear, MWI's John Amble is joined by Maj. Jacob Absalon. He shares a story from his first deployment in 2009, as a lieutenant and platoon leader in eastern Afghanistan Paktia province. Toward the end of a five-day operation, after meeting with a local key leader, the platoon and a partnered Afghan National Army force came under fire from two enemy positions. He tells the story of the fight that ensued—and what came next.

Transcribed - Published: 20 June 2024

Apaches in Action

This episode features a conversation with Captain 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 Captain Heisler's, immediately took action to protect the ground force. She shares the story in this episode.

Transcribed - Published: 5 June 2024

Rescue in an Afghan Valley

In 2009, Sgt. 1st Class Sean Ambriz was on his first deployment in Afghanistan. When a platoon became pinned down by enemy fire, he was among the soldiers sent to help. The highest ranking soldier on site asked for volunteers to work their way up the mountainside to treat and evacutate the platoon's casualties. It turned into an hours-long fight to get to them, and continued as they worked their way back down the mountain with the casualties. He shares the story in this episode.

Transcribed - Published: 23 May 2024

A Black Hawk in a Firefight

In this episode, Joe Roland joins to share a story from 2004. A UH-60 Black Hawk pilot, his aircraft and another were supporting an Army Special Forces team in search of a group of enemy combatants in Afghanistan. As soon as his helicopter landed to drop off a US soldier and two Afghans to take up an overwatch position, enemy fighters were identified approaching the position. Roland made a quick decision—to hover his aircraft between the enemy fighters and the friendly position. He shares the story of that decision and the fighting that quickly followed in this episode.

Transcribed - Published: 8 May 2024

Kiowas in Action

Just six weeks out of flight school, Jordan Terry was in Afghanistan. On one of his first days flying, he took off on a flight that was supposed to be straightforward—he and three other pilots left their base in two OH-58D Kiowa helicopters, intending to help get him oriented to the rugged, mountainous area the unit was responsible for. On their way back, they they flew around a bend in a valley and came upon an Afghan unit under fire from Taliban fighters. The mission quickly changed, and an hours-long fight ensued, with the two helicopters repeatedly engaging the enemy from the air, refueling and rearming, and returning to the fight.

Transcribed - Published: 25 April 2024

Spectre in the Sky

In August 2007, a US Army Special Forces team came under fire while passing through a valley in Afghanistan. The call for support went to a nearby base, where an AC-130H Spectre gunship crew was standing by. The crew quickly launched, and shortly later, the aircraft was overhead. This is the type of job the AC-130H was designed for. In the hours that followed, they engaged enemy targets a number of times with both a 40-millimeter cannon and a 105-millimeter howitzer. Michael Murphy was a copilot on that aircraft in Afghanistan, and he joins this episode to share the story.

Transcribed - Published: 11 April 2024

Ambush in Uruzgan

In this episode, host Tim Heck is joined by Lt. Col. Blake Schwartz. In 2009, Schwartz was a Special Forces team leader deployed in Afghanistan's Uruzgan province. Enemy fighters in the Langar valley, a restive area astride a vital road network, were a particular target for Schwartz’s soldiers. Schwartz attempted three times to enter the valley with his forces. On his final attempt, while countering a Taliban ambush, he authorized the firing of a Hellfire missile from an orbiting MQ-1 Predator. The impact had unintended consequences for the mission and for Schwartz.

Transcribed - Published: 27 March 2024

A Lieutenant's Dilemma in Kosovo

When Chris L’Heureux joined the Army in 1999, it was before the 9/11 attacks and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that would define a generation of US Army service. Like many others across the Army, he would go on to deploy multiple times to those war zones. But his first deployment was very different. As a platoon leader, Chris and his soldiers were sent to Kosovo as peacekeepers. In his words, the United States had committed to placing American service members “in between two groups of people that desperately wanted to kill each other.” Some of his experiences would foreshadow challenges of future counterinsurgency operations. But one incident—which drew the platoon directly into an extraordinarily difficult situation when locals accused Russian peacekeepers in the area of criminal violence—presented dilemmas few lieutenants are fully prepared to face. He joins this episode to share the story.

Transcribed - Published: 13 March 2024

The Bridge on the Saddam Canal

In early 2003, Karl Blanke was a Marine platoon commander during the early stages of the US-led invasion of Iraq, when his battalion was given an objective: secure a bridge over what was known as the Saddam canal. It was meant to be a straightforward task. The intelligence briefings they received did not expect the Marines to meet with resistance from Iraqi military defenders. But as they approached the objective, that intelligence was quickly proved wrong. The lead elements began to engage, follow-on elements maneuvered alongside, and the battle began. Karl describes the fight that followed in this episode.

Transcribed - Published: 28 February 2024

Three Missions in Panjwai District

This episode features a conversation with Ryan Hendrickson. After almost losing his leg in an IED blast in 2010, he was back in Afghanistan just eighteen months later. He shares the stories of three missions from that first deployment back, when he was testing his body physically and working to prove that he was ready to be back at the tip of the spear, on a US Army Special Forces team.

Transcribed - Published: 14 February 2024

A Lieutenant's Dilemma

Before his NFL career, Alejandro Villanueva was a rifle platoon leader in the 10th Mountain Division. During a deployment to an especially restive sector near Kandahar, Afghanistan, his unit faced heightened security challenges due to a prison break that freed a large number of Taliban fighters. But Villanueva also had to contend with a unique dilemma: after a member of the Afghan National Police accompanying his platoon opened fire on an approaching motorcycle, they lost sight of the driver. The potential that this was a civilian casualty led Villanueva's brigade headquarters to task his soldiers with determining what happened. The task was made much more challenging when Taliban radio communications indicating they were planning to attack the Americans along one of the most dangerous wadis in the area: Route Mariners. He joins this episode to share the story.

Transcribed - Published: 31 January 2024

Moral Courage

Rick Jackson enlisted in the Marine Corps in the 1980s, later attending Officer Candidates School and commissioning as an infantry officer. He joins this episode to reflect on a career that spanned nearly three and a half decades. He shares one story in particular, from a deployment to Iraq’s restive Anbar province, which included what he describes as one of his lowest days in the Marine Corps. Listen as he describes what he learned from that experience about the essence of leadership and what it means to be a Marine.

Transcribed - Published: 17 January 2024

Surprise Ambush in Nuristan

In 2008, Major Corey Faison was a scout platoon leader at Combat Outpost Lowell in Afghanistan's Nuristan province. The area was a hotbed of Taliban activity and the company at the COP found itself frequently under attack. Faison’s platoon planned to conduct an ambush aimed at killing or capturing a high-value target transiting the area. But while climbing the rugged, mountainous terrain en route to the designated ambush site, Faison and his soldiers found themselves being ambushed instead.

Transcribed - Published: 3 January 2024

Objective Reindeer

In June 2003, almost three months after the US-led invasion of Iraq, Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment was given a mission. A training camp of foreign fighters near the Syrian border in western Iraq had been identified. The camp, given the name Objective Reindeer, was situated in a wadi—a depression in the desert. The company commander's scheme of maneuver called for part of the force to infiltrate by ground while the remainder arrived at the objective on aircraft. One of the Rangers on a CH-47 Chinook helicopter was Josh Richardson, the company's fire support officer. As soon as they approached the wadi, the aircraft began taking fire. He joins this episode to share the story of the fight the unfolded next.

Transcribed - Published: 22 December 2023

MQ-9 Reaper in Eastern Afghanistan

This episode of The Spear features a story from US Air Force Major Joe Ritter. An RPA pilot, his story takes place both at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, where he and his sensor operator, Dylan, were located, and in Afghanistan's Kunar province, where thhey were flying an MQ-9 Reaper during an intelligence collection mission. When an unusual event catches his eye, Joe realizes his MQ-9 Reaper may have found something other than what they were looking for.

Transcribed - Published: 7 December 2023

In the Skies above Anbar

In 2007, United States Marine Captain Kyleanne Hunter was flying escort missions above Marines operating in western Iraq. When the Marines on the ground discovered a massive weapons cache—and a large group of armed insurgents protecting it—she found herself in a situation that challenged her as a pilot and changed the way she and her fellow Marines flew in Anbar province. This episode also marks the first with Tim Heck, MWI’s deputy editorial director, as host.

Transcribed - Published: 23 November 2023

Paktika's Ambush Alley

In 2003, Dave Rittgers was in command of a Special Forces team deployed to Afghanistan. Partway through its tour, the team moved to a firebase in Orgun-E to undertake a new mission—helping to mitigate the threat of Taliban ambushes in an area where they were so frequent it earned the nickname "ambush alley." Lt. Col. Rittgers joins this episode to share the story of one of those ambushes.

Transcribed - Published: 8 November 2023

Apaches Adapting Under Fire

During a deployment in Afghanistan, Chief Warrant Officer 4 Dylan Ferguson was flying an Apache, providing close air support to a special operations ground force below. When his aircraft's 30-millimeter cannon failed and there wasn't space to get the standoff distance required to fire Hellfire missiles, he and his copilot changed tactics—flying in low over enemy fighters to bait them into opening fire on their helicopter, so the other Apache flying with them could identify the enemy location and target it. He shares the story in this episode.

Transcribed - Published: 25 October 2023

SEALs in Iraq

In 2010, Rick Witt was a new SEAL team commander preparing his unit to deploy to Iraq when one of his subordinate platoons encountered leadership and cohesion problems. Faced with the hard choice of replacing the platoon commander, Witt made that change, which likely had direct consequences when that platoon found itself engaged in a firefight and taking casualties. Witt watched this chain of events unfold from his command post knowing the decisions he made prior to deployment and that day impacted the situation on the ground.

Transcribed - Published: 11 October 2023

Across the Fence

Arriving in Vietnam in April 1968, John “Tilt” Meyer volunteered for a highly classified unit without knowing so much as its name. Tilt, it turned out, was volunteering to join Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG), which ran highly classified special operations missions deep into North Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. On one of Tilt’s first missions, an area reconnaissance of an important North Vietnamese Army site in Laos, his small team was quickly discovered. A harrowing firefight followed. Later, with only a few months' experience, he became the team leader, taking the responsibility on his shoulders for the decisions made in the jungle.

Transcribed - Published: 27 September 2023

An Information War with Guns

Infantry battalions operating tactically rarely have the possibility to directly impact alliance constructs, foreign policy objectives, and national security strategy. But Dan Leard’s 1-38 Infantry did. As a battalion commander, he deployed with his soldiers to support coalition operations in Syria in 2021. He joins this episode to describe that deployment, during which his battalion encountered Russian patrols, Iranian-backed influence operations, and persistent surveillance. It was an environment where one misstep could lead to strategic shifts.

Transcribed - Published: 13 September 2023

The Leader and the Damage Done

"Trust your NCOs" is common advice given to every new lieutenant. This adage, the overwhelming majority of the time, is valid. But when it’s not, it’s not. When Chris Liggett was a lieutenant, he deployed to Afghanistan as an infantry platoon leader in the 101st Airborne Division. His weapons squad leader was fit, aggressive, capable, and confident—and his hard work earned him Liggett's trust. So when his platoon was given responsibility for gate security at Forward Operating Base Fenty—an unglamorous but vital job—it was a natural decision to place the weapons squad leader in charge of the night shift. It was a mistake, Liggett later learned, with serious consequences.

Transcribed - Published: 30 August 2023

Leading with Love

In 1995, Robert Craven was a teenage high school dropout with a baby on the way. Looking for options to improve his life, he turned to the Army and embraced its “be all you can be” motto as his own. Years later, as the senior platoon sergeant in a HIMARS battery deployed to Afghanistan, Craven found himself having to replace the rotating first sergeant while simultaneously addressing a command climate in another platoon that risked mission success. Now the command sergeant major for the United States Corps of Cadets at West Point, Craven shares his hard-earned wisdom and reflects on what it means to lead with love.

Transcribed - Published: 16 August 2023

History of the World War (Part II)

Before legendary entertainer Mel Brooks was known as Mel Brooks, he was Corporal Melvin Kaminsky, a combat engineer fighting in Europe during World War II. From facing air raids to artillery rounds bursting in the trees to demining toilets and pickle jars, Mel Brooks witnessed large-scale combat operations from the ground. In this episode of The Spear, Mel shares stories of his training, deployment, combat, and the end of the war in Europe. He also talks about the role entertainment played in returning to some sense of normalcy after VE Day.

Transcribed - Published: 2 August 2023

Smiling When It Sucks

In 2003, Dan Stuewe was a platoon leader in the 101st Airborne Division preparing to cross into Iraq. With only a few weeks with his platoon, Stuewe deployed forward, convinced he’d never see his new wife again. On the day the unit deployed, a soldier handed him some chewing tobacco and a valuable lesson: smiling changes everything. After air assault missions as the unit moved toward Baghdad, Stuewe's soldiers provided him the valuable reminder to smile when times got tough. Combat in Najaf, Karbala, Baghdad, and Mosul all proved the wisdom of smiling when it sucks.

Transcribed - Published: 19 July 2023

Calling in Close Air Support

In this episode of The Spear, retired Marine officer David Berke joins to share a story from 2006, when he was a forward air controller attached to an Army unit in Ramadi, Iraq. During a movement-to-contact patrol, they began to take fire, and his job became especially important. He declared the TIC—troops in contact—and two Marine Corps F/A-18D Hornets headed their way to provide close air support. Listen as he tells the story, explaining what it's like to work with the pilots in the air to engage the enemy in support of the ground force.

Transcribed - Published: 6 July 2023

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