Tip of the Spear in the Ebola Response
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 testi...
27 Mar 202031min
Two Wars in Iraq
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 thos...
11 Mar 202035min
A Direct Hit from a Devastating New Weapon
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 ...
2 Mar 202048min
Combat, Recovery, and Resilience
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 pla...
21 Feb 202032min
The Largest Air Assault in History
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 ...
30 Jan 202029min
Contact, Contact, Contact!
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 vehi...
15 Jan 202030min
Fighting With a Broken Gun
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 stop...
3 Jan 202035min
A Kiowa Pilot's IED Story
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 ...
19 Des 201947min
