A Platoon Leader's First Combat Missions
In 2003, Maj. (ret) John Spencer was a platoon leader in the 173rd Airborne. In this episode, he talks about the very first mission after his unit jumped in northern Iraq. He also described a complex ...
12 Sep 201835min
Surviving an IED Blast, then Returning to War, Part 2
In the second of a two-part conversation with Ryan Hendrickson, our guest shares a story from 2016. Six years and a couple deployments after nearly losing his leg in an IED blast, Ryan was once again ...
29 Aug 201849min
Surviving an IED Blast, then Returning to War, Part 1
This episode features the first of a two-part conversation with Ryan Hendrickson. In this part, he shares a story from a 2010 deployment. On a mission in a particularly restive part of Afghanistan, Ry...
15 Aug 201839min
A Green-on-Blue Attack in Nangarhar
In February 2012, Capt. Jannelle Allong-Diakabana was a military police platoon leader deployed in Nangarhar province, Afghanistan. One day, as she and her platoon prepared to respond to an incident o...
1 Aug 201837min
The Battle of Wanat
On July 13, 2008, around two hundred Taliban fighters ambushed American and Afghan soldiers in a remote area of eastern Afghanistan. The ensuing fight would become one of the deadliest battles for Ame...
12 Juli 201853min
An Ambush in Musa Qala
In 2008, British Army officer Will Meddings was part of a team deployed in Helmand province, Afghanistan, tasked with partnering with, mentoring, and training Afghan forces. That job brings with it a ...
27 Juni 201840min
Under Fire, from Iraq to Afghanistan
This episode of The Spear features Brian Humphreys, a former US Marine Corps officer who shares stories from two deployments. In the first, to Iraq’s Anbar province,the ambush he describes is indicati...
14 Juni 201848min
A Marine Platoon in Anbar
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. Listen as he tells the story of one parti...
23 Maj 201838min
