JTAC Breaks Down Operation Red Wings: What Went Wrong?

About this video

Ritland’s guest, a former JTAC (Joint Terminal Attack Controller), recounts his 2006 Afghanistan deployment managing air support from a tactical operations center. He describes the intense pressure of coordinating close air support for teams in contact, watching live feeds of firefights where air assets were unavailable, and reflects on Operation Red Wings—arguing a JTAC embedded with the SEAL team would likely have changed the outcome. The guest also discusses transitioning through law school while deploying as a contractor, managing intelligence programs in Afghanistan and the Philippines, and eventually leaving contracting to practice law.

Key takeaways

• Ritland’s guest recounts experiencing ‘collective impotence’ in the JOC watching teams pinned down with no available air support, including a firefight involving his friend Juan Valentine dragging wounded from a burning truck under fire
• The guest argues that Operation Red Wings would likely have had a different outcome with a JTAC present, citing air power as a historically decisive factor in ground engagements
• He describes managing a contractor intelligence program combining SIGINT, ELINT, and HUMINT that helped identify Taliban finance networks, then later working on tracking programs for Afghan commandos

Episode details: published August 28, 2026 · 40K views · 26:39 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Stories told by Mike Ritland’s podcast guests are the guests’ own accounts, attributed to them — not independently verified. Commentary is Ritland’s, presented as his analysis.

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