AI Summary
5 min readJohn Spencer, a retired Army Ranger and chair of urban warfare studies at West Point, has spent decades in war zones, training accidents, and freak events that nearly killed him roughly twenty times. In his book 20 Times I Almost Died, he distills each close call into a lesson—not about survival tactics, but about character, leadership, and the values that carry people through danger. On the Jocko Podcast, he walks through several of those moments, from a Hamas tunnel under Gaza to a bar fight that cost him half his ear, explaining what he learned and why those lessons apply far beyond the battlefield.
Presence Over Proxies
In the aftermath of October 7th, Spencer found himself 150 feet underground in a Hamas invasion tunnel near the Gaza border. The tunnel was two and a half miles long, wide enough for a pickup truck, ventilated to clear carbon monoxide exhaust. He was part of an ad hoc study group—not his normal research method—and everything in his experience told him the situation was unsafe. Two soldiers stood guard ahead, peering into uncleared darkness. No one knew what lay beyond their flashlight beams.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:00) **Episode Intro & Guest Background** - Jocko reads the book’s opening excerpt and introduces John Spencer, his credentials, and the book "20 Times I Almost Died."
- 2 (14:47) **Book Origin & The "Presence" Lesson** - John explains why he wrote the book and Jocko reads the first story: a tense tour of a Hamas tunnel in Gaza.
- 3 (24:47) **Iraqi Checkpoint & The "Common Sense" Lesson** - Jocko reads a story about a pointless order to set up warning signs at a night attack position in Iraq.
- 4 (39:05) **The Booby-Trapped IED & The "Intuition" Lesson** - Jocko reads the story of finding a suspicious yellow wire leading to an artillery round in Iraq.
- 5 (45:30) **The Bar Fight & The "Respect" Lesson** - Jocko reads the story of "Pepper," the bar fight where John had his ear bitten off.
- 6 (68:34) **The Baghdad Gangster Standoff & The "Humility" Lesson** - Jocko reads about a tense meeting between two rival Iraqi gangsters that nearly erupts into a gunfight.
- 7 (75:54) **The Mushroom Cloud & The "Integrity" Lesson** - Jocko reads the story of a routine test fire that accidentally created a massive explosion and mushroom cloud.
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Show Notes
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Urban warfare expert and retired Army officer John Spencer returns to share stories from 20 Times I Almost Died, from Ranger School and Iraq to Ukraine, Gaza, and some incredibly close calls. Along the way, John and Jocko break down leadership, intuition, modern warfare, resilience, and the importance of developing a personal code to live by.
00:00 – John Spencer: 20 Times I Almost Died
02:53 – Kashmir: India, Pakistan & Modern Warfare
05:10 – Lebanon, Hezbollah & the Changing Battlefield
11:17 – Ukraine, Drones & the Future of War
15:54 – Inside a Hamas Tunnel Under Gaza
24:43 – Iraq: Common Sense, Orders & Leadership
39:08 – The IED Trap: Trusting Your Intuition
45:28 – “Pepper”: The Fight That Cost John His Ear
1:08:27 – The “Sopranos of Baghdad” & Humility
1:29:02 – Ukraine, Bucha & the Will to Resist
1:38:00 – Ranger School: “You Can Always Quit Tomorrow”
1:44:03 – The Best Ranger Competition & a 40-Foot Fall
1:55:48 – Iraq: A Deadly Humvee Crash & Duty
2:01:31 – Azerbaijan’s Special Forces & the Battle of Shusha
2:11:08 – Going Full Rambo as an OPFOR Soldier
2:16:01 – The Mission to Capture Saddam Hussein
2:27:05 – The Current Situation in Gaza
2:42:38 – Who Are You? Building a Code to Live By
2:53:21 – Closing Thoughts With John Spencer
2:54:19 – Jocko & Echo Closing / Supporters
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