Dan Becker Podcast

Jere Van Dyk is an American journalist and author who has spent decades covering Afghanistan and Pakistan for The New York Times and CBS News. In the early 1980s, he lived alongside Afghan fighters while reporting on their war against the Soviet Union. In 2008, while researching a book on the Taliban, he was captured near the Afghanistan–Pakistan border and held prisoner for 45 days. He later told that story in his book, Captive: My Time as a Prisoner of the Taliban.

Craig Reed spent years on the road with Lynyrd Skynyrd as a guitar technician during one of the most important eras in Southern rock history. He worked closely with the band behind the scenes, helping keep the shows moving while witnessing the personalities, chaos, friendship, and incredible success that came with being part of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s world. On October 20, 1977, Craig was aboard the Convair CV-240 carrying the band when it crashed in Mississippi—killing Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines, Cassie Gaines, and others. Craig survived, but the crash permanently changed his life and the legacy of one of America’s most beloved rock bands. In this podcast, Craig takes us inside the real Lynyrd Skynyrd: what the band was like offstage, his role on the road, the final days before the crash, and what happened when the plane went down. He also shares rare, never-before-seen footage he captured with the band roughly two years before the crash. This is Craig Reed’s story.. a firsthand account from someone who lived through one of the most devastating moments in rock-and-roll history.

In February of 2005, brothers Jim and Dave Metza set out for a day of snowmobiling on Wisconsin’s Chippewa River. While attempting to cross the 300-yard-wide river, Dave’s snowmobile suddenly broke through the ice, plunging him into the freezing water approximately 75 yards from safety. Jim watched from the riverbank, knowing that rushing onto the unstable ice could kill them both. A former Coast Guard helicopter rescue crew member, he understood exactly how quickly a rescuer could become another victim. Desperate to reach Dave, Jim rode downstream searching for a safer place to cross. Then the ice collapsed beneath his snowmobile too. Separated by hundreds of yards, both brothers were now fighting for their lives. Jim spent approximately 30 minutes in the water before finally pulling himself onto the ice. Dave remained trapped for more than an hour, breaking ice with his arms as the current carried him downstream and hypothermia began shutting down his body. After reaching a nearby house and calling for help, Jim returned to the river. Believing Dave might still be alive, he crawled back across the unstable ice and somehow pulled his brother from the water. Both brothers survived, but the experience never truly left them. In this deeply emotional conversation, Jim and Dave recount what happened on the river, the impossible decisions Jim was forced to make and the trauma he had never fully processed until now.

In 2005, 16-year-old Craig Hutto was on vacation in Florida with his family, wading out to fish with his older brother Brian, when something bumped his leg. Seconds later, a bull shark latched onto him and pulled him under. Brian swam straight into the attack, grabbed his brother, and fought to drag him back toward shore while the shark refused to let go. Craig tried to pry the shark’s mouth open with his hands. Brian punched it again and again until it finally released him. Craig survived, but the attack cost him his leg. Today, I’m sitting down with both brothers to hear what really happened in the water that day.

Kennedy Bingham was just 16 years old when one ordinary drive home turned into an unbelievable fight to survive. After losing control of her vehicle, Kennedy was ejected from the car, thrown nearly 30 feet into the air, and ended up hanging from a live power line by her broken leg. For over an hour, she hung there fully conscious, badly injured, bleeding, and waiting for rescuers to figure out how to get her down safely. The crash nearly killed her. Kennedy lost her leg, suffered a devastating injury to her arm, and faced a long road of surgeries, pain, and recovery. But what makes her story so powerful isn’t just what happened on that power line. It’s what happened after. In this episode, Kennedy shares the terrifying details of the accident, the moment she realized how badly she was hurt, the emotional weight of losing a limb, and how she found the strength to keep going when life looked completely different than she ever imagined.

Jordan Hatmaker survived what almost no one should survive. During a skydiving jump from 13,500 feet, Jordan’s parachute malfunctioned. Her chute became tangled around her leg, her reserve deployed, and the two parachutes sent her into a violent spin toward the ground. Seconds later, she hit the earth — conscious — with devastating injuries to her back, leg, and ankle. In this interview, Jordan walks me through exactly what happened in the sky, what she remembers from the impact, the fear of possibly being paralyzed, the long road through surgery and recovery, and how she found the strength to walk again.This is a story about survival, faith, fear, recovery, and what happens when the thing you love most almost takes your life.

Brady Lowry was attacked by a grizzly bear while he and his friend Kendell Cummings were out in the Wyoming backcountry. When Kendell saw the bear on Brady, he didn’t run, he jumped in and tried to pull the bear off his friend. The grizzly then turned on Kendell and mauled him too. Then it buried him alive.

Loren Schauers was an 18 year old construction worker whose life changed forever after a horrific forklift accident nearly killed him. But behind the headlines is a story far deeper than most people realize. In this episode, Loren and his wife Sabia sit down with me to tell the full story in their own words. From the moments before the accident… to waking up in the hospital… to the impossible decision doctors gave him… to what life actually looks like now. This isn’t just a survival story. It’s a story about resilience, love, identity, faith, pain, and choosing to keep living when everything changes in an instant.

Nicole Johnson set out for what should have been a normal kayaking trip near Ashland, Missouri — but when a flash flood hit, everything changed in an instant. Her kayak was ripped away, and Nicole was swept miles downriver, slammed into rocks, pulled under the water, and pushed to the edge of drowning. Somehow, a massive wave finally threw her out of the river… but surviving the flood was only the beginning. Injured, soaked, exhausted, and freezing, Nicole hiked until she found shelter inside a barn, where she spent hours battling hypothermia, hoping someone would find her before it was too late. This is her incredible story of survival, endurance, and the rescue that happened almost by chance.

*This episode contains discussion of rape and sexual abuse. Viewer discretion is advised*Elizabeth Smart joins me to share the story that shocked the country. At just 14 years old, she was taken from her bedroom in the middle of the night and held captive for nine months before being found alive. In this conversation, Elizabeth talks about what happened, what those months were like, how she survived, and what life looked like after the headlines faded. We also talk about trauma, healing, resilience, and the reality of moving forward after something unimaginable. This is a heavy episode, but an incredibly important one. I’m grateful to Elizabeth for her honesty, courage, and willingness to tell her story in her own words.