The following shows aired in January 2016. Click on the show date in the left column to listen to that show. Files are in MP3 format.
1/3/16 Hunter Killer. The first-ever inside look at the US military’s secretive Remotely Piloted Aircraft program—equal parts techno-thriller, historical account, and war memoir.

Remotely piloted aircraft (RPA), commonly referred to by the media as drones, are a mysterious and headline-making tool in the military’s counterterrorism arsenal. Their story has been pieced together by technology reporters, major newspapers, and on-the-ground accounts from the Middle East, but it has never been fully told by an insider.

In Hunter Killer, Air Force Lt. Col. T. Mark McCurley provides an unprecedented look at the aviators and aircraft that forever changed modern warfare. This is the first account by an RPA pilot, told from his unique-in-history vantage point supporting and executing Tier One counterterrorism missions. Only a handful of people know what it’s like to hunt terrorists from the sky, watching through the electronic eye of aircraft that can stay aloft for a day at a time, waiting to deploy their cutting-edge technology to neutralize threats to America’s national security.

And Gail Whitright founder of Proposition USA. Proposition USA is a group of Connecticut Teachers and Patriots who love our beloved country and have complete faith in AMERICANS to help to get our country moving again. Proposition U.S.A. is based on EVERY AMERICAN helping one other AMERICAN.

1/10/16 Islam and the Middle East. What is the difference between Sunni and Shiite Muslims and how does it affect what is happening in the Middle East today? Join host Dale Throneberry and his guests this week as we look at the History of Islam and what might happen in the Middle East during 2016.

First up to help us understand Islam is Emil Homerin, Professor of Religion and Chair of the Department of Religion & Classics at the University of Rochester, where he teaches courses on Islam, classical Arabic literature, and mysticism. Homerin completed his Ph.D. with honors at the University of Chicago, and subsequently lived and worked in Egypt, Turkey, and Morocco for a number of years. His many publications include six books, and chapters on Islam in The Religious Foundations of Western Civilization (Abingdon Press, 2006), and Introduction to World Religions (Abingdon Press, 2010). Homerin has been the recipient of grants from the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation, the Fulbright Foundation, the American Research Center in Egypt, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.  He has also won a number of translation and teaching awards from the American Association of Teachers of Arabic, the Golden Key Honor Society, and the University of Rochester.

And Veterans Radio favorite Bing West. Bing has been a frequent guest on Veterans Radio. He has written ten books about war and close-in battle. A graduate of Georgetown and Princeton Universities, in Vietnam he was a member of the Marine Force Reconnaissance team that initiated Operation Stingray –attacks behind enemy lines deep in the jungles. He also understands high-level strategy. While serving as Assistant Secretary of Defense under President Reagan, he chaired the United States Security Commissions with El Salvador, Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, South Korea and Japan. Bing West’s amazing insight into what has been going on in the Middle East and the various terrorist organizations from that part of the world have always been “dead on”.

1/17/16 Legend: Medal of Honor Recipient Roy Benavidez. The unforgettable account and courageous actions of the U.S. Army’s 240th Assault Helicopter Company and Green Beret staff sergeant Roy Benavidez, who risked everything to rescue a Special Forces team trapped behind enemy lines. In Legend, acclaimed bestselling author Eric Blehmtakes as his canvas the Vietnam War, as seen through a single mission that occurred on May 2, 1968. A twelve-man Special Forces team had been covertly inserted into a small clearing in the jungles of neutral Cambodia—where U.S. forces were forbidden to operate.

What followed would become legend in the Special Operations community. Flown into the foray of battle by the courageous pilots and crew of the 240th Assault Helicopter Company, Benavidez jumped from the hovering aircraft and ran nearly 100 yards through withering enemy fire. Despite being immediately and severely wounded, Benavidez reached the perimeter of the decimated team, provided medical care, and proceeded to organize an extraordinary defense and rescue. During the hours-long battle, he was bayoneted, shot, and hit by grenade shrapnel more than thirty times, yet he refused to abandon his efforts until every survivor was out of harm’s way.

Don’t miss this incredible true story of Medal of Honor recipient Roy Benavidez.

1/24/16 We Gotta Get Out of This Place: The Soundtrack of the Vietnam War. For a Kentucky rifleman who spent his tour trudging through Vietnam’s Central Highlands, it was Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’.” For a “tunnel rat” who blew smoke into the Viet Cong’s underground tunnels, it was Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze.” For a black marine distraught over the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., it was Aretha Franklin’s “Chain of Fools.” And for countless other Vietnam vets, it was “I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ to Die,” “Who’ll Stop the Rain,” or the song that gives this week’s program its title.

Join us this week on Veterans Radio. In We Gotta Get Out of This Place, Doug Bradley and Craig Werner place popular music at the heart of the American experience in Vietnam. We will be exploring  how and why U.S. troops turned to music as a way of connecting to each other and the World back home and of coping with the complexities of the war they had been sent to fight. They also demonstrate that music was important for every group of Vietnam veterans―black and white, Latino and Native American, men and women, officers and “grunts”―whose personal reflections drive the book’s narrative. Many of the voices are those of ordinary soldiers, airmen, seamen, and marines.

1/31/16 Veterans Radio salutes and honors the 30th anniversary mission of the Challenger Space Shuttle crew.  Then a memorial to fallen Army, Pfc. Holly J. McGeogh who was killed by an IED, Kirkuk, Iraq, January 31, 2004. Hear the words of her mother as she recalls her “Little Soldier” and talks about her daughter’s Foundation. Representatives from our VA System will give us the latest updates on the Ann Arbor Welcome Center, VA Choice Card and the Golden Age Games will be with us.Veterans Radio will finish with ‘Pets for Vets’ a Veteran-animal matchup program.