A Lieutenant's Dilemma

January 31, 2024 00:35:19
A Lieutenant's Dilemma
The Spear
A Lieutenant's Dilemma

Jan 31 2024 | 00:35:19

/

Show Notes

Before his NFL career, Alejandro Villanueva was a rifle platoon leader in the 10th Mountain Division. During a deployment to an especially restive sector near Kandahar, Afghanistan, his unit faced heightened security challenges due to a prison break that freed a large number of Taliban fighters. But Villanueva also had to contend with a unique dilemma: after a member of the Afghan National Police accompanying his platoon opened fire on an approaching motorcycle, they lost sight of the driver. The potential that this was a civilian casualty led Villanueva's brigade headquarters to task his soldiers with determining what happened. The task was made much more challenging when Taliban radio communications indicating they were planning to attack the Americans along one of the most dangerous wadis in the area: Route Mariners. He joins this episode to share the story.

Other Episodes

Episode

January 29, 2025 01:09:29
Episode Cover

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,...

Listen

Episode

May 08, 2019 00:35:26
Episode Cover

The Second Battle of Fallujah

This episode of The Spear features a conversation with Lt. Col. Coley Tyler. In late 2004, he was a captain serving as a battalion...

Listen

Episode

December 12, 2024 00:57:10
Episode Cover

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...

Listen