Sep 5, 2026 · 58 min · 13 segments
Underground and urban warfare have become the decisive battlegrounds of modern warfare, yet for a long time, military doctrine has been built to avoid both, said John Spencer, a retired U.S. Army…
John SpencerGuest
Jan JekielekHost
John Spencer is a retired U.S. Army major, a combat veteran, and a leading global scholar on urban warfare.

He recently wrote a book titled 20 Times I Almost Died, Life Lessons from the Edge of Survival.

name the war, you're probably going to mention a city as a battle we remember from World War II, Civil War, the American Revolution, you name it, you're going to talk about a city fight because that's where the decisive

He joins me to discuss the intricacies of modern warfare, whether just war is possible today, and what people often get wrong when thinking about
Read the full transcript.
Create an account to read the whole episode, search across every transcript, and follow the shows you care about.