My Underground Warfare Wish List

Spencer's pre-Gaza-war essay argues that subterranean spaces should be treated as a separate domain of maneuver — not as an obstacle to be cleared — and lays out the specific capabilities required to dominate it. The piece anticipates much of what the Gaza campaign would force on Western militaries five years later: underground goggles, ground-penetrating radar, sonic navigation, rapid boring, foam grenades, and a fundamentally different doctrinal posture.

Read alongside the 2024 paradigm-shift piece, the wish list functions as a roadmap for the category Traysar is now building inside.

“The Army thinks about subterranean environments too narrowly… The vast underground world of most major urban areas should be treated as a separate environment and capabilities developed not just to deal with it, but rather to dominate it.”

“The US military once had an advantage over our enemies in night operations; we 'owned the night.' We can achieve a similar dominance in the subterranean with a different way of thinking about it.”