We are all going to die anyway. NDEs, Survival School, Secret Missions & Facing Death. With Don Winner
Don Winner is a former Military Intelligence Officer, Investigative Journalist for 48 Hours, Dateline, Nightline, Discovery Channel, the BBC and more. He's solved countless murders, studied thousands of NDEs (Near Death Experiences) and is on the Four Fs podcast to tell you the full story.
To get you started, a little background: At 18 years old, Don Winner left small-town New York and stepped into the United States Air Force. What followed was a 20-year career in signals intelligence during the Cold War — flying reconnaissance missions, preparing for POW capture, training for survival behind enemy lines, and operating in high-risk environments where mistakes could be fatal.
This episode dives deep into the moments where survival wasn’t theoretical.
From military survival school — where airmen train for capture, interrogation, and escape — to classified reconnaissance missions over volatile regions, Don shares what it’s like to prepare for death… and continue the mission anyway.
We talk about:
What survival school actually teaches (and why it changes you)
POW resistance training and psychological pressure
Flying combat-coded missions in Central America
Standing on the runway during the capture of Manuel Noriega
Holding a TS/SCI clearance and living inside high-stakes intelligence
The mental framework required when decisions carry life-or-death consequences
How facing mortality reshapes discipline, clarity, and fear
This conversation isn’t about heroics — it’s about preparation, structure, and how ordinary people operate in extraordinary danger.
If you’ve ever wondered what it feels like to train for captivity… to fly missions that could go wrong… or to live in the shadow of global conflict — this episode delivers.
Tags: NDE, NDEs, near death experience, military survival school, POW training, Air Force reconnaissance, Cold War missions, Central America 1980s, Manuel Noriega capture, combat survival training, TS SCI clearance, NSA intelligence analyst, signals intelligence, C130 missions, life and death decisions, military mindset, facing mortality, psychological resilience, escape and evasion training, high risk operations, discipline under pressure, intelligence community, war stories podcast, survival mindset, leadership under stress
