Podcast
Beyond The Call Hosted By Arroe Collins
Hosted by Arroe Collins · EN
The men and women who sacrifice their lives to serve their nations. Beyond the call is how art has become part of their path of connection.
16episodes
Episodes
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More From The Navigators Letter From Author Jan Cress Dondi
1w ago00:10:58Tap to summarizeThe True Story of Two WWII Airmen, a Doomed Mission, and the Woman Who Bound Them TogetherAt its core, this true story traces the striking parallels between two friends from the same small Illinois hometown, John B. and Bob, bound by the same woman, Polley—one man’s sister, the other’s unrequited love. Both join the Army Air Corps, train as B-24 navigators, and rise to lead crews into combat. Months apart, each is shot down over the same target—and both go missing. Guided by luck and fate, only one finds his way home.The larger picture is the U.S. campaign to destroy Hitler’s fuel source at Ploesti, Romania. From Benghazi, Libya, the 8th and 9th Air Force launched Operation Tidal Wave, the first-ever zero-altitude raid— of the 1,700 men that took off that morning, 532 failed to return, including John B. Bob set out to learn John B.’s fate. Months later, the 15th AF regrouped and followed with relentless high-level bombing—some 2,300 airmen went missing, captured or killed, including Bob. Back home, Polley could only wait and hope as friendship, loyalty are forever reshaped by war.At its heart, is a deeply human story— told through the voices of John B. and Bob and the eyes of Polley (based on hundreds of letters a POW diary and family verities corroborated by primary sources including the national archives, both US and German), where war unfolds not only in missions and survival but in the fragile bonds forged amid wartime chaos.A USA Today bestseller, THE NAVIGATOR’S LETTER by JAN CRESS DONDI, reveals one of the most audacious and overlooked World War II stories. It chronicles a dangerous U.S. Army Air Force campaign through the voices of two airmen bound by duty—and one woman, forming a deeply human narrative. A gripping blend of military history and war biography, it captures brotherhood, love, and sacrifice.
Transcribe →An Oral History Of The Final Marines In WWII From Scott Davis
1w ago00:11:54Tap to summarizeAn oral history of the brutal Pacific Theater in WWII, told by many of the last living U.S. Marine veterans.During World War II, over 16 million Americans served in the Armed Forces. Today, less than 1 percent are still alive. The Last of the Old Breed is an unprecedented oral history of the final living United States Marines from World War II, featuring over 130 veterans, ranging in age from 90 to 103. Told in harrowing detail, the witnesses reveal the brutal reality of combat against a fanatical enemy and the heavy toll it took on their post-war lives.From retirement facilities, veteran's hospitals, and modest homes across the country, the last witnesses opened up about the war like never before, determined to leave an honest account for future generations. For many of the veterans, this was the first - and final - time telling their stories.The Last of the Old Breed is a rare, unvarnished look at the Pacific War, in the words of those who were there. These are the stories that could not be told - until now.
Transcribe →Riding The White Bull The Making Of A Navy Seal From He Who Lived It Jack Ratliff
2w ago00:13:39Tap to summarizeA retired U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander, Ratliff served aboard destroyers and with Underwater Demolition Team 11, the elite Cold War–era unit that directly preceded today’s Navy SEAL teams. Jack writes a historical record of how the U.S. Navy prepared young officers and enlisted men for combat in the 1950s and early 1960s. Riding the White Bull documents the training, culture, and mindset that defined American military readiness in the post–World War II period. Ratliff offers detailed, insider descriptions of destroyer service in the “tin can Navy,” the evolution of frogman units, and the brutal physical and psychological conditioning used to identify who could operate under fear, exhaustion, and uncertainty. Training was not abstract or theoretical; it was deliberately uncomfortable, risky, and unsparing, designed to reveal judgment and character before men were ever sent into harm’s way.
Transcribe →The Brand New Novel Passages A Voyage From War To Peace From Author PK Edgewater
Apr 1800:37:03Tap to summarizeBound by chance and the intimacy of therapy, an old warrior and a fledgling psychiatrist test each other’s true north. Miko, the precocious son of a Greek fisherman, has weathered an indecisive path to adulthood in medicine and psychiatry. . . or has he? Dormant in his soul is a muse for writing and a smoldering guilt of abandoning his father. His training trajectory finds him in Tulsa, USA, of all places, where a 2 a.m. hospital admission, the aging, drunk, and potentially violent Vietnam veteran AJ becomes the young physician's patient. A metaphysical quirk awaits them. Unwitting confidants in the quest to understand what each is missing, the two trade insights best borne from meeting the other where he is. AJ is a prisoner of the exhilarating echoes of a confusing war; Miko suppresses his own psychological turmoil while exposing that of others. A chance meeting of their wives leads to a bond kept hidden under norms of confidentiality. Each woman finds something of themselves in the other and the moxie to withstand battles in their own marriages, on their own terms. Why AJ was brought to the hospital by the police that night pits a sense of duty against self-destruction. Why was there but a single round in his Luger that night? In Passages, the author takes aim at our enigmatic humanity. Each of us is the hero in his or her own life, a contrast of magnificence and flaws, navigating the complexity of principles and barriers as best one can.
Transcribe →The First Woman To Command A Space Craft Astronaut Eileen Collins
Apr 500:10:24Tap to summarizeSPACEWOMAN, a doc about Eileen Collins, the first woman to pilot and command a spacecraft, and directed by Hannah Berryman lands in theaters beginning March 20th and will be in select theaters nationwide.Eileen's journey, from her working-class beginnings in Elmira, NY, to breaking glass ceilings at NASA, commanding four space shuttle missions, and navigating the pressures on her family is awe inspiring. The doc includes archival materials and interviews that highlight both the monumental dangers of spaceflight and the incredible achievements of the shuttle program, including her leadership on STS-114, the first mission after the Columbia tragedy.Based on Eileen's book Through the Glass Ceiling to the Stars, the film premiered at DOC NYC and is directed by Hannah Berryman and produced by award-winning teams Keith Haviland (Haviland Digital) and Natasha Dack Ojumu (Tigerlily Productions).It is an intimate and authentic account of an astronaut's life and Hannah Berryman's offers a nail-biting film showcasing the emotional drama Eileen's family experienced, and a philosophical question about what level of risk is acceptable in human endeavor.Here's the trailer:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnhqHdxNsgk
Transcribe →The Navigators Letter From Author Jan Cress Dondi The Birth Of Zero Altitude Air Raids
Mar 3000:20:39Tap to summarizeThe True Story of Two WWII Airmen, a Doomed Mission, and the Woman Who Bound Them TogetherInterviews Available February 2-7, and Upon Requesthttps://jancressdondi.com/ Beginning early on August 1, 1943, Operation Tidal Wave was a risky mission aimed at destroying high-octane fuel production vital to Nazi Germany. It involved the first-ever zero-altitude air raid just 150 feet above the ground – but chances of success were ranged between 50% and suicide. In missions to destroy fuel-rich Ploesti, Romania, 2,432 US bomber crewmen went missing, became POW’s or were killed in action. Jan Cress Dondi shares the inside story surrounding this historic mission in the new book, THE NAVIGATOR’S LETTER: The True Story of Two WWII Airmen, a Doomed Mission, and the Woman Who Bound Them Together (Union Square & Co., February 10, 2026). The connected war stories of her uncle, John B. White, and her father, Bob Cress, are captured in the letters they both wrote to the same woman, Polley, who became Jan’s mother. Both John B. and Bob became navigators on B-24 Bombers, both flew multiple combat missions in Europe, and both were forced down over the hotly targeted oilfields of Ploesti, Romania.
Transcribe →We Chose Resistance From Author Margie Bucheit A Retelling Of Courage
Mar 2900:17:19Tap to summarizeAfter the unforeseen and quick fall of France to the German war machine, a small but fierce minority in France operated in secret to sabotage their efforts and win their country back. Margie Bucheit retells this renowned chapter of 20th Century history in her new, extensively researched historical novel, WE CHOSE RESISTANCE (Koehler Books, November 2025). Numbering roughly 400,000 fighters, the French resistance helped the Allies to confuse, slow, and effectively stop Hitler’s army before winning France back into the hands of its citizens.
Transcribe →The Story Of Bob From Steven C Law Through Darkness Came A Global Activation
Mar 2100:14:37Tap to summarizeSteven C. Law, author of the new book, THE STORY OF BOB (Feb. 16, 2026)? Steven tells the life of Reverend Robert W. Wood: a World War II veteran, ordained Christian minister, and early gay rights advocate who chose visibility at a time when silence was often the only path to survival. In 1960—nearly a decade before Stonewall—Wood published Christ and the Homosexual, a radical act that openly affirmed gay people within a religious world that overwhelmingly rejected them.Drawing from intimate interviews and deep archival research, Law traces Wood’s life from his early awareness of his identity, through wartime service, to his involvement with the Mattachine Society and his quiet but consequential role in shaping early LGBTQ+ advocacy. Wood was never famous, never safe, and never passive. His activism came with real costs—professional, personal, and spiritual.What makes The Story of Bob especially compelling for LGBTQ+ readers is its human scale. This is not a mythic hero’s tale, but the story of a gay man navigating love, faith, fear, desire, and integrity in a world that offered him very few models for living openly. The book restores Bob to queer history as someone who lived authentically when doing so could cost everything.
Transcribe →Look Twice Your Guide To Staying Safe Vol One From Tim Beard
Feb 2800:20:14Tap to summarizeIn a time when personal safety is increasingly top of mind, author and former CIA officer and security expert Tim Beard launches LOOK TWICE, a groundbreaking new series of three books designed to give readers the practical tools and mindset to stay alert, aware and protected in their everyday lives. Volume I, available January 27, 2026; Stillwater Books, lays the foundation with Tim’s signature “Look Twice Mindset” — a simple yet powerful approach to recognizing risks before they become threats. In Tim’s timely new books, he introduces the essential security concepts that anchor the entire series. With clear, relatable guidance, he shows readers how to stay Safe at Home and at Work, from identifying vulnerabilities to mastering basic precautions that greatly reduce risk. The book also offers step-by-step advice for navigating ordinary outings — what Tim calls Out in Town — including running errands, using ATMs and moving through public spaces confidently and safely. Recognizing that transportation plays a major role in many safety incidents, Tim devotes a full section to Transportation Awareness. Readers will learn how to stay secure while driving, riding subways, managing encounters with road rage, and more. Each chapter blends real-world insight with actionable strategies, empowering readers to make safer decisions in every environment. “Safety isn’t about fear — it’s about preparation,” says Tim. “My goal with the LOOK TWICE series is to help people build everyday habits that increase awareness, protect their families and give them peace of mind.”
Transcribe →U.S. Marine And CIA Agent Tim Beard Preps Your Protection In Look Twice
Feb 100:23:33Tap to summarizeIn a time when personal safety is increasingly top of mind, author and former CIA officer and security expert Tim Beard launches LOOK TWICE, a groundbreaking new series of three books designed to give readers the practical tools and mindset to stay alert, aware and protected in their everyday lives. Volume I, available January 27, 2026; Stillwater Books, lays the foundation with Tim’s signature “Look Twice Mindset” — a simple yet powerful approach to recognizing risks before they become threats. In Tim’s timely new books, he introduces the essential security concepts that anchor the entire series. With clear, relatable guidance, he shows readers how to stay Safe at Home and at Work, from identifying vulnerabilities to mastering basic precautions that greatly reduce risk. The book also offers step-by-step advice for navigating ordinary outings — what Tim calls Out in Town — including running errands, using ATMs and moving through public spaces confidently and safely.Recognizing that transportation plays a major role in many safety incidents, Tim devotes a full section to Transportation Awareness. Readers will learn how to stay secure while driving, riding subways, managing encounters with road rage, and more. Each chapter blends real-world insight with actionable strategies, empowering readers to make safer decisions in every environment.“Safety isn’t about fear — it’s about preparation,” says Tim. “My goal with the LOOK TWICE series is to help people build everyday habits that increase awareness, protect their families and give them peace of mind.”
Transcribe →