In this episode of The Spear, John Amble talks to Maj. John Spencer. In 2003, Maj. Spencer was a platoon leader in the 173rd Airborne. After jumping into northern Iraq, he and his platoon were involved in their first combat mission of the war, tasked with securing an intersection and destroying mortar and machine gun positions that had been identified nearby. He talks through that mission and a subsequent incident, in which his platoon was the target of a complex ambush, hit by RPGs and heavy machine gun fire. Listen to Maj. Spencer describe these events, both incredible stories of combat, and reflect on some interesting comparisons between the two.

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