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The Spear
by Modern War Institute at West Point
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.
Episodes
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SAG-U Commander's Action Group
In this episode, Colonel Mike Rosol joins MWI's Charlie Faint to reflect on a career spanning armored warfare, multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, teaching and scholarship at West Point, interagency work, and his recent service leading the commander’s action group for Security…
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ISAF Planner in Afghanistan
In this episode with host Dr. Charlie Faint, retired Colonel Pat Howell reflects on a career that took him from the 82nd Airborne Division and conventional engineer units to the 75th Ranger Regiment, strategic planning in Afghanistan, Joint Special Operations Command, and ultimately leadership of...
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Night Stalkers Don’t Quit: An Interview With the Command Team of the 160th SOAR
In this episode of The Spear, host Charlie Faint sits down with the command team of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, Colonel Sean Karrels and Command Sergeant Major Julio Santos, for a conversation about the people, leadership, and culture behind the Night Stalkers. Drawing on...
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Psychological Operations in Combat and on the Joint Staff
In this episode, Colonel Chaveso “Chevy” Cook sits down with MWI's Charlie Faint to recount a career that took him from a South Carolina JROTC classroom to West Point and then on to combat deployments, the psychological operations career field, academia, and ultimately the Joint Staff, where he...
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Explosive Ordnance Technician in Training and Combat
Dr. Charlie Faint sits down with EOD officer Michael Villahermosa in this episode for a wide-ranging conversation about combat, leadership, professional growth, and service. Villahermosa traces his path from an unsuccessful attempt at Special Forces selection to becoming an explosive ordnance...
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Joint Planner for Security Assistance Group–Ukraine
In this episode, Colonel Tiffany Bilderback joins MWI's Charlie Faint to discuss a career defined by coalition building, strategic leadership, and service alongside partner forces from countries like Germany, Iraq, South Korea, and Ukraine. She also describes working in the special operations...
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The Crucible of Innovation in the Indo-Pacific
Chief Warrant Officer 4 Dale Hunter joins MWI's Charlie Faint on this episode to discuss how a new Army unit—the 1st Multi-Domain Task Force (MDTF)—transformed intelligence collection, targeting, and technology integration to compete against sophisticated antiaccess/area-denial threats in the...
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Observer, Coach, Trainer at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center
In this episode, MWI's Dr. Charlie Faint speaks with Captain Francis Ambrogio, an Army armor officer, West Point graduate, and observer, coach, trainer (OCT) at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center (JMRC) in Hohenfels, Germany, to discuss how the Army is preparing for the realities of modern...
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Commanding a Multi-Domain Effects Battalion in the Indo-Pacific
In this episode, Dr. Charlie Faint hosts Lieutenant Colonel Tiane Garner, commander of the Multi-Domain Effects Battalion (MDEB) in the 1st Multi-Domain Task Force, to discuss the Army's evolving approach to operations in the Indo-Pacific. Drawing on nearly two decades of service that began as a...
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Long-Range Precision Fires and the Fight for the First Island Chain
In this episode of The Spear, host Dr. Charlie Faint speaks with Lieutenant Colonel Ben Blane about the rapid evolution of long-range precision fires and the Army’s shift toward multidomain operations in preparation for conflict with near-peer adversaries, particularly in the Indo-Pacific. Ben...
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The Ranger Regiment's Fighting Platoon Sergeant
In this episode hosted by MWI's Charlie Faint, Retired Command Sergeant Major Curt Donaldson reflects on a career shaped by the 75th Ranger Regiment’s relentless standards, emphasizing that true leadership begins with genuinely caring for people while holding them—and yourself—accountable. He...
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Staying Alive in Iraq and Afghanistan
As a young platoon leader in Iraq during the 2003 invasion, John Faunce experienced the chaos of combat, including shifting missions, limited intelligence, and the need to rely on soldiers’ input to make decisions in uncertain conditions. His later experiences as a Special Forces officer,...
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Ranger Missions in Iraq and Afghanistan
In this episode of The Spear, author, journalist, and former US Army Ranger Marty Skovlund sits down with Dr. Charlie Faint to discuss a journey from a rural upbringing in South Dakota to the front lines of the War on Terror and ultimately into a career as a storyteller, author, and professional...
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Combat Interpreter in Iraq
Ayman Kafel and his family survived civil wars in Lebanon and Liberia before immigrating to the United States. Following the September 11 attacks, Ayman enlisted in the US Army and deployed to Iraq, where he served in several different combat roles, including as an Arabic interpreter and a member...
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Route Clearance and Counterbattery in Iraq
JJ Pinter graduated from West Point and was commissioned as a field artillery officer. A few short years after 9/11, JJ found himself in Iraq, leading route clearance missions and performing counterbattery fire against persistent insurgent mortar and rocket attacks. In this episode of The Spear…
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Combat Surgery in Afghanistan
Fred Lough began his Army career as an engineer officer before deciding to leave military service to attend medical school and become a surgeon. After rejoining the Army to support the Global War on Terror, Fred later served two combat tours in Afghanistan, where he was part of a mobile forward...
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Recovering a Downed Marine in Afghanistan
During his service as a combat rescue officer in the US Air Force, Captain Sal Sferrazza and his team of Air Force pararescue jumpers were deployed to Afghanistan, where their mission set included casualty evacuation, personnel recovery, and reintegration operations. In this episode of The Spear,...
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Ranger Regiment J1 in Afghanistan
While serving as an infantry officer in the 75th Ranger Regiment, First Lieutenant Scott Filbert was deployed to Afghanistan to serve as the J1, or personnel officer, for a joint special operations task force. In this episode of The Spear, Scott describes the leadership lessons he learned along…
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Danger in Mosul
In 2005, Jeff Marshburn was a reconnaissance platoon leader in the 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, in Mosul, Iraq. While leading his platoon during the battalion's first contact with the enemy, several of his troops were wounded in action. In this episode of The Spear, Jeff recounts the...
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The Battle of Barawala Kalay
In 2010 Kevin Mott's unit arrived in Afghanistan's Kunar province for a deployment that would see months of hard fighting. At one point, he was even wounded so badly—shot in the head, four fractured vertebrae, a broken leg, a torn labrum—that he was sent back to the United States for medical…
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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...
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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…
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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…
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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…
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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…
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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…
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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...
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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…
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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,...
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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...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
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.
HOSTED BY
Modern War Institute at West Point
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Spear have?
The Spear currently has 226 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Spear about?
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...
How often does The Spear release new episodes?
The Spear publishes regularly with 226 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to The Spear?
You can listen to The Spear on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Spear?
The Spear is created and hosted by Modern War Institute at West Point.
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