Col. Phil Ryan is the commander of the elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. In 2003, in the first days of the invasion of Iraq, he was a pilot in the unit, part of a fourteen-helicopter mission deeper into the country than any coalition forces had yet made it. When enemy forces on the objective engaged the helicopters, an intense fight broke out. Listen to Col. Ryan tell the story of that mission.
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...
In 2004, Dan Gade’s armor company took over a sector of Ramadi, Iraq, then the heart of the Sunni insurgency. Within days, his unit...
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...