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I Serve

Foreign Policy 6 Episodes Jul 28, 2026

Every service member has a story worth telling. On I Serve, a new eight-episode podcast from Foreign Policy and With Honor, men and women from the U.S. and allied armed forces tell those stories in their own words. From tank battles in the Persian Gulf to helicopter extractions under fire in Vietnam, I Serve goes deep into the defining moments and enduring values of the people who wore the uniform. Hosted by U.K. Royal Navy veteran Robert Irvine, each episode follows one service member through a mission that tested their limits—and through the standards that they carried long after leaving the field. I Serve is produced by Foreign Policy and With Honor and brought to you by the same team behind the hit show I Spy.

Episodes

The Founder Jul 28, 2026 1351 Rye Barcott enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve in 2000 while attending the University of North Carolina. He was commissioned as a Marine officer upon his graduation in 2001. While enrolled at UNC, Barcott co-founded CFK Africa with Salim Mohamed and the late Tabitha Atieno Festo, an international nonprofit that empowers youth in Kenya’s informal settlements through community-based health s

The Minister Jul 21, 2026 1741 Alistair Carns enlisted in the U.K. Royal Marines in 1999 at the age of 19. He worked his way up to the rank of colonel and did four tours in Afghanistan. He was awarded the Military Cross in 2011. In 2024, Carns was elected as the Labour member of Parliament for Birmingham Selly Oak. He served as the minister for veterans and people at the Defence Ministry from 2024 to 2025 and minister for the

The Astronaut Jul 14, 2026 1588 Charles Bolden graduated from the Naval Academy in 1968 and went on to fly more than 100 combat missions during the Vietnam War as a member of the Marine Corps. Selected as a space shuttle astronaut in 1980, Bolden traveled to orbit four times between 1986 and 1994, commanding two of the missions and piloting two others. In 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama nominated Bolden as the 12th administr

The Surgeon General Jul 7, 2026 1640 Nadja West spent more than 40 years in the U.S. Army, rising to become the Army's first Black surgeon general and the highest-ranking woman ever to graduate from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. She retired in 2019 with the rank of lieutenant general. In 1990, West was deployed to Operation Desert Shield with the 197th Infantry Brigade, providing care for troops at a time when women wer

The Infiltrator Jun 30, 2026 1283 Maj. James Capers Jr. served as a U.S. Marine Corps reconnaissance officer during the Vietnam War. He led Team Broadminded, a specialized group of Force Recon Marines that conducted some of the most dangerous and clandestine missions in Vietnam.   Capers received multiple decorations related to his Vietnam service, including three Purple Hearts. This June, U.S. President Donald Trump aw

The Interpreter Jun 23, 2026 1758 Kayla Williams served in the U.S. Army as an Arabic linguist for five years. She was deployed to Iraq from 2003 to 2004.  Officially, women at the time were barred from direct ground combat, based on a 1994 Defense Department ruling. But because there were so few Arabic speakers in the military, Williams ended up joining her male colleagues on patrol in Baghdad. More from Williams: Love My

The Historian Jun 16, 2026 1729 H.R. McMaster spent 34 years as a U.S. Army officer, with tours of duty in the first Gulf War, Afghanistan, and the war in Iraq.  In 1991, his cavalry troop destroyed an Iraqi Republican Guard armored brigade in 23 minutes at the Battle of 73 Easting—one of the most decisive engagements in modern U.S. military history. He came home with a Silver Star.  And in 2017, McMaster was appoint

The Special Operator Jun 9, 2026 1668 Elliot Ackerman spent eight years as a U.S. Marine and CIA paramilitary officer, serving five tours of duty across Iraq and Afghanistan, including some of the heaviest urban combat of the post-9/11 wars. In 2004, he fought in the Second Battle of Fallujah and came home with a Silver Star.  More from Ackerman: 2034 Red Dress in Black and White Waiting for Eden I Serve is a production fro

Coming Soon: I Serve Jun 2, 2026 110 Every service member has a story worth telling. On I Serve, a new eight-episode podcast from Foreign Policy and With Honor, men and women from the U.S. and allied armed forces tell those stories in their own words. From tank battles in the Persian Gulf to helicopter extractions under fire in Vietnam, I Serve goes deep into the defining moments and enduring values of the people who wore the unifor

I Serve

Episodes

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