On December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor was hit with fire, chaos, and a surprise attack that should have shattered the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Instead, it produced some of the wildest, most unlikely heroes in American history. In this episode, Ben Thompson is joined by Navy veteran and comedian Rob Mayfield to break down the stories of the men who refused to fold - from mess attendant Doris “Dorie” Miller dropping enemy planes with a .50-cal he’d never been trained to fire, to two hungover fighter pilots who rolled out of bed, ignored every order, and took on the entire Japanese strike force, to the boatswain who literally dove into the harbor to keep a battleship from going down.

It’s Pearl Harbor like you’ve never heard it - intense, unbelievable, and absolutely badass.

America’s first astronaut wasn’t just a spaceman — he was a fighter pilot, a rule-breaker, and a straight-up menace to anyone who underestimated him. This week, Ben is joined by space historian Brandon Fibbs to dig into the wild life of Alan Shepard, the hotshot naval aviator who went from strafing enemy ships in WWII to strapping himself into a tin can perched on top of a barely-tested rocket. Together they unpack how Shepard muscled his way into the Mercury 7, stared down NASA bureaucracy, battled an inner-ear condition that nearly ended his career, and still came back swinging — all the way to hitting a damn golf ball on the surface of the Moon. It’s the story of a man who never stopped pushing higher, harder, and further than anyone thought possible.

History remembers the fall of Rome as inevitable... but buried in the chaos is one man who almost flipped the script. In today's episode, Ben is joined by Matthew and Matteo of the Lost Roman Heroes Podcast to talk about Majorian. He wasn’t a pampered emperor; he was a frontline warrior who carved his way through enemies and politics alike, determined to rebuild an empire everyone else had already written off. He reformed corrupt systems, rallied shattered armies, and launched one of the boldest comeback attempts in Roman history. And just when it looked like he might actually pull it off… well, that’s where things get wild. This is the story of the last emperor who truly tried to save Rome - and the brutal twist that changed everything.