School of War

People think retired Army Major John Spencer lost part of his ear in combat. He didn’t; he lost it in a fight behind a bar that cost him his spot in the Army Rangers. Spencer went on to serve repeatedly in combat and become one of the country’s leading experts on urban warfare. He joins Aaron MacLean to discuss his origin story and other anecdotes from his new book, Twenty Times I Almost Died, as well as why he thinks the U.S. “is clearly winning” the war in Iran.

3:30 War With Iran
9:43 Battle of Hormuz
10:42 Wartime Stockpiles
12:32 The Stakes of Failure
15:34 Losing His Ear
23:34 Losing the Rangers
25:51 Resilience
28:58 Invading Iraq
33:59 Common Sense in Combat
39:08 The IED Trap
44:25 Battle of Marjah
51:01 Gangs of Baghdad

This episode of School of War is brought to you by Maven Smart System, the builder platform for the American warfighter, fielded across the force and live on the frontline today. Learn more at palantir.com.

This episode of School of War is also brought to you by Stratolaunch, a leading pure-play hypersonics company. Stratolaunch helps the U.S. and its allies move new hypersonic technologies from concept to capability, faster and cheaper. Learn more about how Stratolaunch is accelerating the future of hypersonics at Stratolaunch.com.

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Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster was on the phone with the Pentagon when the plane struck the building on September 11, 2001. “I thought, Okay, we are going to war,” he recalls. Twenty-five years after 9/11, McMaster joins Aaron MacLean to discuss the wars that followed. Drawing on his experience as a wartime commander and national security adviser, McMaster explains why he considers Afghanistan a self-defeat, how American withdrawal helped enable the rise of ISIS in Iraq, and why he thinks the latest Iran ceasefire was “a big mistake.”

4:39 McMaster on 9/11

7:27 Adapting to Iraq

12:33 Lessons From Iraq

15:13 Counterinsurgency’s Legacy

21:19 The Post-9/11 Wars

23:23 Afghanistan’s “Self-Defeat”

25:07 When America Leaves

29:53 Sustaining Afghanistan

32:14 Defending the Afghan Mission

35:37 The Axis of Aggressors

44:41 Trump’s Messaging About the War

49:07 Politics in the Military

This episode of School of War is brought to you by Maven Smart System, the builder platform for the American warfighter, fielded across the force and live on the frontline today. Learn more at palantir.com.

This episode of School of War is also brought to you by Stratolaunch, a leading pure-play hypersonics company. Stratolaunch helps the U.S. and its allies move new hypersonic technologies from concept to capability, faster and cheaper. Learn more about how Stratolaunch is accelerating the future of hypersonics at Stratolaunch.com.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Chinese hypersonic missile targeting either U.S. coast would leave room for “about 10 minutes of warning time.” Zachary Krevor, CEO of Stratolaunch, is building vehicles to help the Pentagon learn to detect, track, and intercept this threat. Today, Krevor joins School of War to explain how China and Russia have outpaced the U.S. in hypersonic weapons testing, why AI-enabled missile “swarms” may be on the horizon, and what it will take for America to defend itself against them.

2:32 What Makes a Weapon Hypersonic?

4:47 The Real-Life Top Gun: Maverick

6:14 From Model Airplanes to Hypersonics

9:09 Why America Stopped Investing in Hypersonics

10:55 Two Types of Hypersonic Weapons

14:09 Glide Bodies vs. Cruise Missiles

15:44 Surviving the Heat of Mach 5

20:20 Testing America’s Hypersonic Technology

23:20 China and Russia’s Hypersonic Advantage

25:24 How to Stop a Hypersonic Missile

29:09 The Coming Age of Hypersonic Swarms

40:38 Can Golden Dome Stop Hypersonic Weapons?

This episode of School of War is brought to you by Maven Smart System, the builder platform for the American warfighter, fielded across the force and live on the frontline today. Learn more at palantir.com.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When it comes to world superpowers, Cambridge historian Brendan Simms argues there are only four that matter—and two of them are fading. Today, Simms joins Aaron MacLean to argue that Britain still belongs among the world’s leading powers; why its place among them is “by no means guaranteed”; and why Hitler is no longer the absolute evil against which people define themselves.

4:08 The Four R’s of Great Power

4:29 Defining Great Power

8:09 Iran’s Regional Power

11:44 The Great Powers Return

15:39 The Cold War

17:44 Europe Wakes Up

21:45 American Unipolarity Ends

25:16 Britain’s Great-Power Claim

35:47 The New World Order

38:26 Realism’s Blind Spots

42:07 Losing Postwar Optimism

45:53 A “Post-Hitler World”

This episode of School of War is brought to you by Maven Smart System, the builder platform for the American warfighter, fielded across the force and live on the frontline today. Learn more at palantir.com.

This episode of School of War is also brought to you by Stratolaunch, a leading pure-play hypersonics company. Stratolaunch helps the U.S. and its allies move new hypersonic technologies from concept to capability, faster and cheaper. Learn more about how Stratolaunch is accelerating the future of hypersonics at Stratolaunch.com.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The story of Air Force General David Goldfein, who miraculously survived after his plane was shot down over Serbia in 1999, has since become military legend. Today, he joins School of War to recount the harrowing rescue mission that saved him, how he stayed alive behind enemy lines, and the lessons his remarkable career offers about leadership, airpower, and preparing America for the next war.

2:43 An Air Force Family

3:25 Rejected by the Air Force Academy

6:39 Becoming an F-16 Pilot

8:12 What Makes a Great Fighter Pilot?

12:36 Information Overload in Combat

15:28 Goldfein’s First Combat Mission

19:57 Training for Confidence Under Fire

21:37 A Leadership Lesson from the Gulf War

24:32 Shot Down Over Serbia

28:51 Surviving Behind Enemy Lines

31:48 The Race to Rescue Goldfein

36:22 Guiding the Rescue Helicopter

44:50 The Impact on His Family

48:53 Witnessing the Attack on the Pentagon

51:19 Digitizing the American Military

This episode of School of War is brought to you by Maven Smart System, the builder platform for the American warfighter, fielded across the force and live on the frontline today. Learn more at palantir.com.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices