Both military practitioners and scholars believe that artificial intelligence will influence the character of war in the future. But it’s difficult to know how it will do so exactly, particularly as we look further and further into the future. Much of what we learn about that future will come from experimentation that yields lessons not just about …

Cities' complex man-made terrain, the presence of civilian populations and infrastructure to support those populations, a complicated information environment, and a range of political and other factors make planning for brigade and division urban operations extremely difficult. Too often, militaries rely on a limited set of options—such as the deli…

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 t…

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…

Thirty years ago this week—on October 3, 1993—US special operations forces launched a mission in Mogadishu. It was part of Operation Gothic Serpent, which was aimed at capturing Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid. The mission was intended to be of a short duration. But things changed when, shortly after members of Task Force Ranger launched from t…

From ancient Jerusalem to today's urban battlefields in Ukraine and Gaza, we can find many examples of urban conflicts that have been heavily influenced by their underground components. But how should military forces categorize subterranean spaces and consider the different functions of underground structures? How does this subterranean dimension i…

When news emerged from Lebanon recently that several thousand pagers belonging to members of Hezbollah had exploded, observers quickly began piecing together an assessment of what happened. It looked to be an Israeli intelligence operation—and a wildly successful one, both operationally and psychologically. But why did Israel pick now to conduct it…

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 Iraq…

Would Patton be an effective battlefield commander today? Do the characteristics of successful commanders generally remain constant over time? Or do they evolve alongside—and in response to—the changing character of warfare? And if they do change, what traits will commanders need on the battlefields of today and tomorrow? Dr. Anthony King, the auth…

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…

For weeks, after an Israeli strike that killed a senior Hezbollah commander and the killing of a Hamas leader in Tehran, tensions between Israel and Iran have spiked. So far, Iran has yet to follow through on its threats to retaliate against Israel. But these heightened tensions, like the period earlier this year when Israel killed senior officers …

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 snip…

After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Ukrainian government began asking its international supporters to provide it with combat aircraft. By 2023, a number of NATO members had agreed to provide training on the US-made F-16 to Ukrainian pilots, and last summer it was announced that a number of F-16s would be provided to Ukraine. No…

A strongpoint is a heavily fortified battle position tied to a natural or reinforcing obstacle. It is used to create an anchor for the defense or to deny the enemy decisive or key terrain. Throughout the history of urban warfare, buildings turned into strongpoints have played an outsized role. Multiweek battles have even been fought over single bui…

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 t…

The term "cohesion" features prominently in discussions of military effectiveness, especially at the small-unit level. We all know intuitively what it means, but understanding how to develop and nurture it in practice is a challenge. That's even more true as technological advances continue to make constant connectivity with the outside world easier…

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 g…

How does cyberspace differ from the other warfighting domains—land, sea, air, and space? What challenges do those differences pose? Does cyber require unique approaches to talent manage to ensure the US military can recruit, promote, and retain the talent it needs? What resources are needed to effectively compete in cyberspace, and are those differ…

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 event…

The Prussian military theorist Carl von Clausewitz is held in high regard among US military scholars. But it can be challenging at times to apply his ideas—with necessary nuance—to real-world security challenges. In this episode, Dr. Donald Stoker, a professor at the National Defense University’s Eisenhower School and the author of Clausewitz: His …

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 und…

No unit in the US Army has more experience defending against drone attacks than 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division. During a recent deployment to the Middle East, spread out across eight bases in Iraq and Syria, the brigade was targeted more than one hundred times by drones known as one-way attack unmanned aircraft systems. The brigade…