In 2010, Rick Witt was a new SEAL team commander preparing his unit to deploy to Iraq when one of his subordinate platoons encountered leadership and cohesion problems. Faced with the hard choice of replacing the platoon commander, Witt made that change, which likely had direct consequences when that platoon found itself engaged in a firefight and taking casualties. Witt watched this chain of events unfold from his command post knowing the decisions he made prior to deployment and that day impacted the situation on the ground.
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...
Rick Jackson enlisted in the Marine Corps in the 1980s, later attending Officer Candidates School and commissioning as an infantry officer. He joins this...
In 2014, Master Sgt. Raymond Collazo was a platoon sergeant deployed to eastern Afghanistan. Just weeks into his unit's deployment, the platoon was on...