As a new military police platoon leader, Robin Fontes unexpectedly found herself present at a turning point of strategic significance. Assigned to the Berlin Brigade, Fontes and her soldiers were part of the American effort to maintain an outpost in the German capital, keep tabs on the Soviets, and stay ready for the start of World War III—all while citizens across Eastern Europe were increasingly demanding additional freedoms and political representation from their communist governments. As tensions inside East Germany continued to rise, Fontes had a front-row view. When the Berlin Wall came down in October 1989, she found herself thrust into a delicate balancing act in the midst of geostrategic uncertainty in a profoundly historic moment.
In 2004, Dan Gade’s armor company took over a sector of Ramadi, Iraq, then the heart of the Sunni insurgency. Within days, his unit...
In 2012, Mike Kelvington was a company commander in 1st Battalion, 508th Infantry Regiment, deployed in southern Afghanistan's Kandahar province. He joins The Spear...
In August 2007, a US Army Special Forces team came under fire while passing through a valley in Afghanistan. The call for support went...