How is breaching—a tactical task engineers specialize in—uniquely challenged by the complexity of cities? And why is it important that US Army units have this specialized capability within their formations? This episode of MWI’s Urban Warfare Project Podcast tackles those questions and more, as John Spencer is joined by Staff Sgt. Nicholas Garner, an instructor for the US Army Engineer School’s Urban Mobility Breacher Course.
In the conversation, Staff Sgt. Garner explains how the course works with students over ten days to understand the particular conditions that dense urban terrain imposes on breaching operations—and to overcome the associated challenges. The Army plans to cease offering the course, which means the service is losing one of the few skill development courses focused specifically on the urban environment that it has, so the discussion in this episode also describes the impact the training has had.
You can listen to the discussion below or find the episode on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, TuneIn, or your favorite podcast app. Be sure to subscribe, and if you’re enjoying the Urban Warfare Project Podcast, please take a minute and leave the podcast a review or give it a rating!
Image credit: Spc. Donald Williams, US Army