Podcasts

B-17 pilot Richard Bushong completed 28 combat missions over Europe during World War II.  He flew as a member of the 390th Bomb Group of the US 8th Air Force, the subject of the compelling documentary “The Cold Blue.” (L-R) BBG, Col. Richard Bushong, Alex Wright- 390th Memorial Museum Richard specifically requested to be a B-17 pilot. After completing combat training in Washington, he sailed to England aboard the Queen Mary. Some might consider this luxury travel but Richard says NOT with 18 officers per cabin. Just before his first mission, Richard fell ill and was grounded. The [...]

Service dogs and their relationships with the Veterans they help is the subject of a wonderful new documentary directed and produced by award winning filmmaker Josh Aronson. Josh and Tom Flood, one of the Veterans featured in “To Be of Service” join us for a discussion. Josh was “pitched” the concept several times before he felt prepared to do the project. However, he says doing the documentary changed him. “I saw the human species in a different way. It’s humbling and it’s troubling but it’s real.” His objective in making the film is to fire people up. Despite data showing [...]

Police suicide is the number one killer of law enforcement officers in the US.  In 2019 alone, 228 officers took their own lives. Retired Sgt. Mark Dibona knows the situation all too well. He came close to taking his own life twice during his 33 year law enforcement career. For Mark it really began when he volunteered to travel to New York following the 9/11 attacks in order to assist with recovery efforts. He says the smell of death and burning flesh was one he could never get out of his head.  A short time after returning to Florida he [...]

Break It Down Show producer and host Pete Turner refined his cultural skills in “some of the most harsh work environments possible” - Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan.  He served over 70 months in combat zones as a counterintelligence specialist for the Army, Department of Defense and State Department. Pete Turner at Work His primary job was to be outside the wire “..trying to figure out what was keeping us from winning.”  Because he was able to develop relationships with unique assets in these combat zones he was able to discover what he calls the “unknown unknowns”; questions that [...]

The Sheepdogs Concept was first made famous in popular culture by Lt. Colonel Dave Grossman in his book “On Killing”.  He joins us for a discussion regarding the psychological impacts of violence. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman Lt. Col. Grossman is a retired Army Ranger and taught psychology at West Point. He holds five patents and has published four novels and six non-fiction books. “On Killing” has sold over half a million copies and is included in the curriculum at the FBI academy. He was also called upon to train mental health professionals and provide counseling following some of [...]

David Pyne Hitler could have changed the course of World War II had he made some different decisions. We have a “reverse lens” historic discussion with respected public policy commentator and national security advisor David Pyne. He has written a very interesting series of articles at Real History.com about how the outcomes of WWII may have been different. David hypothesizes that the Allies could have avoided war all together had they not insisted on the “Carthiginian Peace” of the treaty of Versailles. The extreme punitive elements of this treaty actually led to the rise of Hitler. Hitler probably [...]