As a young platoon leader in Iraq during the 2003 invasion, John Faunce experienced the chaos of combat, including shifting missions, limited intelligence, and the need to rely on soldiers’ input to make decisions in uncertain conditions. His later experiences as a Special Forces officer, particularly working with Afghan commandos, emphasized leadership through trust, autonomy, and partnership, while navigating complex coalition dynamics. In this episode, he shares what he learned in those combat zones about leadership and recounts a career defined by embracing difficulty, learning from failure, and adapting under pressure.
As an executive officer of an infantry company at Forward Operating Base Fenty in Afghanistan, Michael Houghton was heavily involved in one of his...
On October 3, 2009, several hundred Taliban fighters attacked Combat Outpost Keating, an isolated outpost manned by B Troop, 3-61 CAV and a small...
In early 2019, Eric Kahle was a first sergeant assigned to an aviation maintenance company bound for Forward Operating Base (FOB) Dahlke in Afghanistan—also...