This episode of The Spear is the second in a two-part series featuring three guests who took part in the Battle of Mogadishu, made famous by the book Black Hawk Down and the movie of the same name. This episode picks up where the last one left off, with our guests—from the Army's most elite units—describing how they react as the battle quickly intensifies. (This episode originally ran in 2018.)
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...
As a lieutenant, Maj. Jesse Lansford was deployed to Afghanistan. A Kiowa helicopter pilot assigned as an aviation platoon leader, he rarely found himself...
In 2003, after completing the march up to Baghdad in dramatic fashion, and after an all-night gunfight to seize one of Saddam’s palaces, the...