Staying Alive in Iraq and Afghanistan

As a young platoon leader in Iraq during the 2003 invasion, John Faunce experienced the chaos of combat, including shifting missions, limited intelligence, and the need to rely on soldiers’ input to make decisions in uncertain conditions. His later experiences as a Special Forces officer, particularly working with Afghan commandos, emphasized leadership through trust, autonomy, and partnership, while navigating complex coalition dynamics. In this episode, he shares what he learned in those combat zones about leadership and recounts a career defined by embracing difficulty, learning from failure, and adapting under pressure.

You can listen to Staying Alive in Iraq and Afghanistan online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Staying Alive in Iraq and Afghanistan is an episode from The Spear by John Amble.

This episode is 01:07:06 long.

This episode was published on Mar 24, 2026.

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