Own the Night or Die
“Own The Night or Die,” By John Spencer, Modern War Institute at West Point, January 19, 2026
John Spencer’s “Own the Night or Die” argues that the US military’s dominance in nighttime operations comes from institutional mastery, not just technology. He points to successful missions like Operation Absolute Resolve and observes that even well-equipped forces in recent conflicts rarely conduct large-scale night operations because night combat requires years of relentless training and professional development.
Spencer warns that this American advantage could erode without deliberate effort to maintain it, particularly after two decades of counterinsurgency, where conventional forces emphasized daytime operations. He calls for making night operations a baseline expectation across all training, from basic instruction through combat exercises, to preserve what remains one of the most decisive military advantages in the world.
In three major conflicts involving forces that range from professional to semiprofessional—the 2020 war between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, and Israel’s campaign against Hamas after October 7, 2021—large-scale night operations have been notably rare. Outside of highly specialized units conducting limited raids, most decisive fighting has occurred during daylight… In effect, the night is ceded rather than dominated.
If night-vision goggles have existed for decades, and if even basic systems are widely available, why do so few militaries truly operate at night? The answer is simple and uncomfortable. Night combat is hard… Owning the night is not about possessing devices. It is about institutional mastery.
Stop allowing major attacks during training to begin at dawn… At the National Training Center, I have watched dozens of brigade-level urban assaults begin precisely as the sun rises. The breach coincides with daylight. This may be convenient for observation and evaluation, but it trains the wrong instinct. If adversaries prefer to fight in daylight and pause at night, then attacking at dawn meets them on their terms. We should be attacking when visibility is denied, when control of the light spectrum matters, when electricity is cut, smoke is employed, and confusion favors the force that has trained hardest.
Darkness amplifies fear and uncertainty. For forces that lack training and confidence, night becomes paralyzing. For forces that have mastered it, night becomes a weapon… Technology is an enabler, not the foundation. The foundation is training. Years of repetition. Institutional commitment…The United States still possesses one of the most decisive military advantages in the world: a force capable of conducting massive, coordinated, ground-centric operations at night. That advantage has not disappeared, but it will erode if it is not deliberately maintained.
