In this episode, Col. Bill Ostlund tells the story of what he calls the most honorable mission he took part in over more than three decades of Army service. When a soldier from an adjacent battalion, Staff Sgt. Ryan Fritsche, was reported missing in action after a firefight, Col. Ostlund led a force composed of his battalion's soldiers to find him. The story is an example of a vital part of the Army's ethos—to never leave a fallen comrade—in action.
In 2010, Maj. Tyson Walsh was a platoon leader on his first deployment. Just ten days after arriving in Afghanistan, the platoon suffered its...
This episode features a story from Maj. Joe Ritter, an MQ-9 pilot—the first remotely piloted aircraft story featured on The Spear. The MQ-9 has...
In 2012, Sean Marquis was an infantry platoon leader—deployed to Dehqobad, Afghanistan—with a Stryker brigade. The boundary between the platoon's area of responsibility and...