John Spencer is one of the world’s foremost authorities on urban warfare, the kind of fighting that’s reshaping modern conflict, from Gaza to Ukraine. A retired U.S. Army major, John served more than 25 years in uniform and now leads research as the Chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point.He’s walked the streets of Mariupol, studied the rubble of Gaza, and is now also analyzing India’s own Operation Sindoor, offering insights to militaries around the world on how wars are fought — and lost — in cities. What makes John unique is not just his battlefield experience or academic expertise, but his ability to explain the brutal logic of urban warfare in a way that’s deeply human, brutally honest, and urgently relevant.