The Debrief: Stories from Damn Fine Soldiers

Episode 3: Steel in the City: Part 1

The battlefield changes in Episode 3. After two episodes covering the desert drive north and the rapid push toward Baghdad, Lt. Col. (Ret.) Scott Rutter and Matthew Paul shift their focus to one of warfare's oldest and most brutal proving grounds: the city. In "Steel in the City," Rutter and Paul take listeners inside the dense, chaotic urban terrain of Iraq—ancient cities with no grid plans, no street logic and millions of civilians caught in the middle. They unpack why fighting in cities has challenged armies for centuries, from ancient Mesopotamia to Stalingrad, Hue and Grozny, and how the lessons of history shaped the way Task Force 2-7 approached Baghdad. The conversation covers the critical role of combined arms integration—tanks, infantry, engineers, aviation and fires working in tight coordination—and why that synchronization made the difference between grinding stalemate and momentum. They discuss the compression effect of city fighting: how time, distance, visibility and decision-making all collapse at once, pushing soldiers and leaders to their limits. And they reflect honestly on fratricide risk, the fog of operating in 360 degrees, the translation gaps that left PSYOPS broadcasts unintelligible to the locals and the navigational challenges of maneuvering through cities with maps designed for tourists. Rutter and Paul also set the stage for the Thunder Run, the seizure of Baghdad International Airport and the next chapter of the fight—including an upcoming conversation with Jimmy Lee about what city combat looked like from inside an M1 Abrams tank. "The Debrief: Stories from Damn Fine Soldiers" is hosted by Lt. Col. (Ret.) Scott Rutter and Matthew Paul, authors of "Damn Fine Soldiers."

The Drive from Hell: Speed is Survival

Before the Thunder Run. Before the airport fight. Before Baghdad — there was the road north. In March 2003, Task Force 2-7 Infantry launched one of the fastest armored offensives in modern military history. But speed alone doesn't win wars. Fuel does. Ammunition does. The ability to keep moving when everything around you is breaking down does. In this episode, Lt. Col. (Ret.) Scott Rutter and Matthew Paul take you inside the march from Kuwait to Baghdad — the blown timelines, the nine-day defensive pause at Objective Raiders and the brutal calculus of managing bullets and fuel at the edge of operational reach. Then Col. (Ret.) Jesse Delgado joins to break down what casualty care actually looks like in large-scale combat operations: medics treating patients under direct fire and why every soldier in the task force carried an IV bag. The lesson that runs through all of it: armies don't fail because they lose battles. They fail when they lose momentum. What you'll hear: * Why tanks measure fuel in hours, not miles * How Task Force 2-7 managed ammunition down to the platoon level — without waiting for reports * The nine days the enemy saw an opportunity and pressed it * Why point-of-injury air evacuation won't exist in the next large-scale fight * What the Army stopped doing during two decades of counterinsurgency — and needs to relearn fast This is Episode 2 of the "21 Days to Baghdad: Lessons in Modern War" podcast series.  "Damn Fine Soldiers," the book behind the podcast, releases July 7 from Globe Pequot Press.

Forged Before the Fight

Before the first shot was fired, the battle was already being won — or lost — in training. In this opening episode of "The Debrief," Lt. Col. (Ret.) Scott Rutter and Matt Paul, authors of "Damn Fine Soldiers," go back to the beginning. As commander of Task Force 2-7 Infantry, the legendary "Cottonbalers," Rutter led 900 soldiers on a 21-day advance from Kuwait to Baghdad in 2003. Paul was one of his captains. Together, they're telling the full story for the first time. Episode 1 of the "21 Days to Baghdad: Lessons in Modern War" series covers everything that came before the fight: rebuilding readiness after the 1990s defense drawdown, grueling live-fire training at Fort Stewart, a pivotal National Training Center rotation just months before deployment and the last-minute fielding of new digital systems in the Kuwaiti desert. They also reflect on what it meant to carry the 200-year legacy of the Cottonbalers into combat. With wars once again reshaping the global security landscape, the lessons from America's last large-scale combat operation have never been more relevant. This is a leadership story.  In this episode: * How 9/11 transformed a peacetime Army overnight * Training soldiers and families for the fight ahead * What the National Training Center really teaches  * Fielding new technology days before combat * Why large-scale combat operations demand a fundamentally different Army