In this episode of The Spear, MWI’s Maj. Jake Miraldi is joined by Capt. Lucas Gebhart. An aviation officer, he has deployed as an Apache pilot multiple times to both Afghanistan and Iraq. Most recently, he served as a troop commander in northern Iraq during the battle to retake the city of Mosul from ISIS.
The pace and complexity of that fight were intense, not only on the ground, but also for the pilots flying above them and supporting the fight from the air. As Capt. Gebhart describes it, the total number of engagements his unit was involved in during the year and a half he was deployed in Afghanistan was approximately equal to the number they experienced in the span of just a single week while in Mosul.
Listen to the conversation below, and don’t forget to subscribe to The Spear on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts!
Image credit: Spc. Craig Jensen, US Army
Interesting podcast.
During the beginning of the Easter Offensive of 1972 in I Corps, there were 23mm, 37mm, 57mm, 85mm, and 100mm AAA guns (with SA-2s thrown in the mix) in and BELOW the DMZ. Might be interesting to have Huey, Cobra, and OV-10 crews on a future podcast, too.
Excellent podcast. I felt in the cockpit of a Troop commander. The Spear is doing a good job by putting experiences in perspective. It’s interesting to note that both have experience in infantery tactics , which greatly facilitates the conformity of what is said in the podcast and the mission command on the battlefield. I appreciated a lot the sequence in which the Troop Commander anticipated the ennemy and took off « flying to the sound of the guns « .