Col. Phil Ryan is an Army aviator who has spent much of his career in the Army's most elite, special operations aviation units. In 2003, in the first days of the invasion of Iraq, he was a pilot in the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, 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.
In 2008, Maj. Emily Spencer was an EOD platoon leader in Iraq. In April, she and one of her teams accompanied a route clearance...
This episode of The Spear features a conversation with Lt. Col. Coley Tyler. In late 2004, he was a captain serving as a battalion...
On April 10, 2003, Company A, 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment (A/1/5) was tasked with searching a mosque in Baghdad for Saddam Hussein. The...