"Near the end of World War II, thousands of Allied ex-POWs were abandoned to wander the war-torn Eastern Front, modern day Ukraine. With no food, shelter, or supplies, they were an army of dying men. The Red Army had pushed the Nazis out of Russia. As they advanced across Poland, the prison camps of the Third Reich were discovered and liberated. In defiance of humanity, the freed Allied prisoners were discarded without aid. The Soviets viewed POWs as cowards, and regarded all refugees as potential spies or partisans. The United States repeatedly offered to help recover their POWs, but were refused. With relations between the allies strained, a plan was conceived for an undercover rescue mission. In total secrecy, the OSS chose an obscure American air force detachment stationed at a Ukrainian airfield; it would provide the base and the cover for the operation. The man they picked to undertake it was veteran 8th Air Force bomber pilot Captain Robert Trimble. With little covert training, already scarred by the trials of combat, Trimble took the mission. He would survive by wit, courage, and a determination to do some good in a terrible war. Alone he faced up to the terrifying Soviet secret police, saving hundreds of lives. At the same time he battled to come to terms with the trauma of war and find his own way home to his wife and child. One ordinary man. One extraordinary mission. A thousand lives at stake. This is the compelling, inspiring true story of an American hero who laid his life on the line to bring his fellow men home to safety and freedom. Include photos"--

A riveting account of three women who fought shoulder-to-shoulder with men and worked with local women to restore their lives and push back the Taliban They marched under the heat with 40-pound rucksacks on their backs. They fired weapons out of the windows of military vehicles, defending their units in deadly battles. And they did things that their male counterparts could never do--gather intelligence on the Taliban from the women of Afghanistan. As females they could circumvent Muslim traditions and cultivate relationships with Afghan women who were bound by tradition not to speak with American military men. And their work in local villages helped empower Afghan women, providing them with the education and financial tools necessary to rebuild their nation--and the courage to push back against the insurgency that wanted to destroy it. For the women warriors of the military's Female Engagement Teams (FET) it was dangerous, courageous, and sometimes heartbreaking work. Beyond the Call follows the groundbreaking journeys of three women as they first fight military brass and culture and then enemy fire and tradition. And like the men with whom they served, their battles were not over when they returned home.

Why some team members go the extra mile while others don't--and how to get more out of everyone Business leaders know that some members of their teams go above and beyond while others get by doing the bare minimum. The question on everyone's lips is how to turn every member of your organization into a top performer. Beyond the Call uses case studies, the real-world stories of real managers, and groundbreaking research from NYU's Stern School of Business, to answer important questions about performance and offer real solutions for building high-performing organizations and teams. This book will show you how to coax every member of you team to do more, leaving behind mediocrity for excellence. 'Beyond the Call addresses a topic that goes to the very heart of what makes organisations successful in the 21st Century...this book provides a useful framework to help managers understand more about the discretionary effort. Beyond the Call outlined discretionary effort principles that all managers should benefit from adopting' Jonathan Emms, Head of Primary Care, Country Lead, Pfizer UK

A compelling true-to-life story of pervasive brutality and how it can exist within the bowels of a modern day police agency mired in bureaucratic detail and the blind ambtion of it's top management. Follow the probationary year of a rookie cop who is sucked into a web of deceit, power and murder, squeezed between the mentors who control his future career, and the lure of Internal Affairs.

A surprisingly large number of people have denied that it is possible for human moral agents to act in such a way as to go beyond or transcend what moral duty or obligation requires of them. Some of this opposition to the possibility of supererogation, as it is called, has been motivated by theological concerns. This book surveys the concerns of Luther, Calvin, and Melanchthon, as they react to certain teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, as well as the concerns of several contemporary theologians. It also examines some contemporary philosophers whose concerns have grown out of a commitment to a Kantian, utilitarian, or prescriptive type of ethics and urges that there are valuable lessons to be learned from these theologians and philosophers. At the same time it is argued that some of their concerns are the result of a mistaken idea of what it means to perform an act of supererogation. In addition, it is argued that some of their concerns can be addressed in ways that do not require a denial of the possibility of going beyond the call of duty in human life. This stage of the argument involves a discussion of virtue ethics and an examination of the concept of vocation, particularly as it has developed in Protestant thought, and illustrates the relevance of virtue and vocation to the problem of supererogation.

Sergeant Joseph Matthew, dismayed to be in Vietnam a second time, exchanges dog tags with a dead marine and then surreptitiously leaves that country and goes to Las Vegas, where he avoids capture as a deserter and makes a living as a professional, card-counting, blackjack player. Complications abound; they arise--such as what happens to the dead marine--and are resolved during the process of the novel.