The Spear

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.

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.

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

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 American soldiers during the United States' long war in the country. In this episode of The Spear, the battalion commander of the forces engaged in that fight reflects on the battle, the challenges that would follow, and the sacrifice of the paratroopers he commanded.

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 care. After he returned, the battalion conducted a mission aimed at clearing an area known to have a strong Taliban presence. Kevin shares the story of his platoon's heavy fighting as they worked their way toward their objective of Barawala Kalay.

In this episode of The Spear, US Air Force Col. Kim Campbell joins to share a story from 2003. A career A-10 pilot, during one mission in the opening weeks of the war in Iraq she felt and heard an explosion. She 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.

Maj. 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.

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 testing laboratory. He joins this episode of The Spear to share the story of the unique operational experience.

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 those deployments, compares the two experiences, and reflects on the leadership lessons he learned during combat. Note: This episode was originally released in May 2018.

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 vehicle as he and others in his unit prepared for a mission when the vehicle suffered a direct hit. Listen to him tell the story of how they reacted when the attack destroyed everything around them. (This episode was originally released in 2018.)