Original subtitles

[Applause]

the rooftop main Mount Landing biggest

thing going through my head is don't it

up ready to put my skids on the rooftop

and I was just like what what the heck

am I

doing contact seconds matter even one or

two seconds sometimes would be the

difference between life and death the

hindes roaming around looking to hunt

some helicopters if he chooses to hunt

us we'll make him regret that

decision it's starting off you know sort

of like a air policing action think

about something maybe over Taiwan or

Eastern Europe right now eventually at

some point for student training it's

going to escalate things are going to

get spicy uh people are going to get

shot

at hey they got it team two got

it I don't know where what I'm doing

here I'm playing it Tres this happens

like you put guys like a high stress

scenario where like they're hit with a

couple of problems dudes will start

getting frustrated themselves not

everyone makes it through here this a

pretty demanding program there's

definitely some

[Music]

concern

when the best Marine pilots are invited

to the weapons and tactics instructor

course known as WTI they have a chance

to distinguish themselves as the elite

of the elite combat exercises known as

Evolutions are their opportunity to show

up and show out the F-18 students have

already gotten their first chance to

make a mark but now it's the Cobra's

turn they're less than 1 hour away from

their first evolution known as assault

support tactics 1 in those crucial

moments just before they take flight you

can see in their eyes just what's on the

[Music]

line

how you feeling today sir I'm feeling

good I think they got a good plan it's

one of those events where uh daytime

lights are still on for them get to find

out how it's going to go so they they

made their plan they get to go execute

it real time got um live oport out there

so there's Real Enemy Vehicles move

around the

desert so we get to see how they do

against

them as1 May or be the first or second

time any of these guys have ever

employed in a tactical scenario against

live enemy Vehicles it's a relatively

small insert and extract they know the

gig before they go out there they know

what it's going to look like and as long

as their plan is solid they should go

out and execute it with minimal injects

that are going to throw it

off during this session of WTI there are

six Cobra students invited to Yuma and

so far all stand shoulder-to-shoulder

none distinguishing themselves from the

pack just

yet for CarX every flight is a chance to

make his case to Rise Above the Rest

even if he's relegated to a supporting

role on this upcoming

Mission today I'm uh house 01 I'm the uh

Rescue Mission

Commander basically part of the whole

mission we want to have people ready to

you know rescue our guys when aircraft

get shot shot

down in this Evolution the cobras will

face off against an adversary helicopter

known as the hind a Russian combat

helicopter straight out of the

movies the hind roaming around looking

to hunt some helicopters if he chooses

to hunt us we'll make him regret that

decision that's the number one thing

we're looking out for is other aircraft

that pose a

threat

the hind is flown by a retired Air Force

pilot John JT

TDY to the students he is known simply

as

Ivan Ivan is a living breathing bad guy

you never know when he's going to show

up and start shooting you it forces you

to be on your toes and be ready to go

into

action during the evolution the Cobra

students must deal with Ivan while

carrying out their mission to provide

air support for helicopters transporting

a ground force to an area known as

combat

Village as the instructor like I have

the event list I know what is and what

isn't going to happen roughly the the

right times but there's still some free

play aspect to it I know around this

time we're going to probably see a hind

flowing through and then it's up to the

students how do they want to handle

it the mission begins as routinely as

any air operation

can

but as they approach a nearby mountain

range the team spots Ivan and the enemy

hind2 T 10:00

low CarMax who has hoped for an

opportunity to shine gets his

chance 02

engaged out 01 free visual T

hooking the moves in to attack the

ground force that the cobras are tasked

to escort and

protect H2 breaking left in

three CarX and the cobras must respond

quickly to defend against the hindes

attack 01 in

position with all eyes on carax he locks

on to the enemy

hind one gun

on I saw him we got a good solution with

our

[Music]

gun I terminate East for kill

removal that ends the

engagement Ivan is defeated with a

simulated shot and carax has made his

name

known I was happy with that performance

I'm not doing poorly so that's

positive when you fly among the best

it's easy to doubt if you belong but

after his showing in the the evolution

known as

as1 CarX knows more than ever that he's

among the very best in his Cobra

class I have an idea that I might have

figured something out I think I realized

you want to provide solutions to people

not just problems that you notice

because you have situational awareness

I'm realizing kind of what it takes to

be the best if you

will all Pilots here aim to prove

they're the best

but the WTI program is about the unit

Above All Else showcasing individual

talent to service the larger

goal it's a lesson the cobras are

learning firsthand and one the Hues have

in mind as they head out for their first

evolution

teamwork is everything when it comes to

the Huey we going to double check it all

right we'll do that today huy student

tinkle will have a big opportunity to

make his Mark working alongside crew

chief instructor Master Sergeant Daniel

bason the relationship between the front

and the back is extremely important

Pilots are generally officers crew

chiefs are mostly

enlisted trust is huge I don't have

controls in my hand in the back so when

we're pointing the nose of the aircraft

at the ground I'm 100% trusting them not

to crash and they really count on us to

defend the aircraft and take care of the

aircraft mechanically as well so having

a good relationship and understanding

each other and knowing each other helps

us work through a very Dynamic

[Music]

environment today we'll present a very

Dynamic environment as the Hui team

participates in an evolution dubbed the

Department of State

[Music]

raid but I think they're ingressing over

this twostory right here Department of

State raid is a US Consulate evacuation

Mission we try to create a scenario for

the students that is a realistic mission

that showcases kind of the Exquisite

ability of the huy to be able to do

assault support into a small space at

our disposal through the um complex we

have dece Village which has a building

top that is rid to land a huie my other

instructor major slot wart put

significant amount of time in putting

the correct players who are external

support to make this super realistic

training for the students okay listen I

have at our disposal was a actual

operational Socom unit the Department of

State was available to us to be able to

train as well as the MSD or mobile

security Detachment Personnel who are

real world people doing real world

things right right now who are coming

out to actually get training as well I'm

going to take this and we get some radio

checks with you yeah this is kind of our

first opportunity to really see how the

students are going to do in in major

Evolutions there's a lot of things that

they haven't been exposed to uh and

they're learning as they

go my role is to try to make it as

realistic as possible I have a sheet of

rough timelines that I want certain

things to happen and then kind of let

the students work through the problem

sets and they will just trly reward

themselves or hurt themselves throughout

the

evolution rewarding themselves or

hurting themselves will depend on how

they deal with an everchanging real

world scenario much of the outcome rest

on the shoulders of the huie student

called Chopper he's been tasked with

leading the

operation I knew day one that we were

going to do a Department of State raid

and that my name was on there to be the

lead student for it I've never done

anything like this so planning and then

briefing clearly is super

important we have an embassy potentially

being overrun with Department of State

people inside that need to be evacuated

the plan is to do a rooftop insert of a

team of seals one at a time first one

comes in as soon as they're off the

second one's in right behind them seals

can take over from there clear the

embassy and then secure the people there

a lot of stuff going on at once in a

pretty small area little nervous going

into it but once you get in the aircraft

nerves just kind of go away and

adrenaline takes

over as Chopper takes the lead tinkle is

close behind the team will need to be

quick and precise as they drop the Seal

team at the

[Applause]

embassy to simulate the hostile

environment they confront in a real

world situation a marine unit acts as an

angry mob of locals on the

[Applause]

ground Personnel in the courtyard just

outside the northern side of the MC not

confirming whether they arm or not

defently increase movement outside the

gate WTI is all about pushing the

student Pilots forcing them to react to

the unexpected in an effort to Rattle

them the angry mob is ordered to become

increasingly more

[Music]

hostile D4 copy 99 D4 established

overhead

below

I show you come on come

upstairs the huie students are dealing

with a fast changing scenario the team

decides to utilize a ch-53 transport

helicopter to drop a ground force of

Marines outside of town to distract the

mob and establish a perimeter so the

Hues can make their

move

metal 41 continue establish overhead

1500

ft by doing that the red team got very

focused on what was happening with the

53s that landed and evacuated the

embassy nearly

immediately armed Personnel just left

the compound going North toward the

land 2

continue with a hostile Force distracted

all eyes turn to Chopper the student

Mission leader who has an extremely

tight window to land and insert the

first team of Navy

SEALs the rooftop main Mount Landing

there's very high amount of

responsibility

if you don't set yourself up right

you're going to mess it up 300 M out and

then you're going to have to wave off

well now that's minutes that it's going

to take to go all the way back around so

that's a lot of time that the enemy has

to get ready grab their guns come out

and we'll shoot you so the biggest thing

going through my head is Don't It

Up The Landing requires a steady hand

and firm command and of the Huey an

opportunity for Chopper to show his

stuff down

one he manages to nail The Landing but

the job's only half done now he must

hold the aircraft steady while the seals

make their

exit at that point you're kind of like a

fulcrum the helicopter can kind of just

go back and forth so you got to really

be careful with the power management or

else you're going to have a helicopter

that's shaking back and forth as people

are trying to jump off of

it Chopper delivers the seals to the

rooftop with Precision he's delivered

and set the bar with a clean

performance now it's fellow student

tinkle's turn as he lines up his UI for

the second

Landing as Chopper is Up and Away I am

right behind them and and ready to put

my skids on the rooftop and I was just

like what what the heck am I doing this

is pretty

awesome though his adrenaline is pumping

tinkle hole steady matching Chopper's

performance and successfully deploying

the Seal

[Music]

team what they did there is not easy

they were in and out quick which is uh

Paramount cuz it was daytime so overall

solid from those two

Roger as the seals clear the embassy the

mission is a success a good start for

the Huey Pilots vying to prove their

medal and distinguish themselves among

the class but there's no time to

celebrate as the Team Heads back to base

for their post Evolution

debrief in execution they did very well

but certainly a lot of things to clean

up there's always 10 seconds that you

can impr improve seconds matter and even

one or two seconds sometimes would be

the difference between life and death

today for Department of State Evolution

we weren't perfect but we were certainly

passing now we'll see exactly how they

react going forward cuz the rest of this

week will ramp up significantly for

them

every day at

WTI every evolution says something about

each pilot in the program with their

first major test in the books both

Chopper and tinkle have set a high bar

impressing everyone on the flight line

unfortunately for F18 student neam

things haven't gone to plan a critical

timing error during his first evolution

means he has to rebound fast not an easy

feat with a mounting pressure

Every Day brings a new

opportunity but those chances are

already

[Music]

dwindling when you talk make sure you

know what you're talking about yeah yeah

said some dumb things that uh there's

critical moment right so like there's

critical times when like the one com

call needs to be correct right for

timing or for spacing or for

deconfliction if you miss that critical

time it's it can have huge ramifications

right so got to nail it when the uh the

time's right nail it the first time

really what it is get it right the first

time get it right every time if you can

right as the F-18 students wrap up week

two of their flight phase there's no

time to dwell on past performance they

must prepare right away for their next

Evolution known as

aa2 it's a complicated Mission with

realworld implications one that could

offer for a shot at Redemption for

nire aw2 is a defensive counter a

mission the whole thing starts off as

we're supporting a UN resolution no fly

zone we're enforcing this no fly zone

over this notional country but there are

bad guys that keep flying into it so we

have to go in and ask them to kindly

leave otherwise they'll be engaged or

intercepted or

whatever it's starting off you know sort

of like a air policing action kind of

think about something maybe over Taiwan

or Eastern Europe right

now eventually at some point for student

training it's going to escalate things

are going to get spicy uh people are

going to get shot at could be a good guy

could be a bad guy and then uh we have

to respond appropriately uh in kind and

start shooting back but only using like

the amount of force necessary in order

to like accomplish the

mission little worried about this one I

was the fighter lead for this so I

supposed to be coordinating all like the

fighters and their

execution we'll see

uncle's job specifically is to dope out

exactly when we're going to have

fighters on station you know how many

fighters we need to have in the lane at

what time and when do we think the bad

guys are going to like initiate like

their full-up strike operation do we

have like all the force postures set to

defend ourselves against that

strike there's a lot of red ER that the

um staff has scheduled for

them probably more redder than they've

ever seen in any other training Mission

before this year we had

36 red aircraft maybe more and we will

constantly throw aircraft at them

forcing them to defend their protected

asset over and over and over again while

they are also trying to manage the fuel

time distance problem and have the

appropriate number of aircraft within

the airspace to continue to defend the

protected asset with an appropriate

number of missiles every evolution is a

chance to distinguish a pilot among the

field and on this one F-18 student Uncle

plays a key role in its

execution just lot of airplanes little

piece of Sky you got like 7 hours

essentially to plan it yesterday and

brief all of it

and yeah enough to enough to make you

nervous yeah easy and the other

instructors will always be watching and

evaluating it all these guys will'll see

um I think I think sprit

was seeing the big issues in Mission

planning yesterday so that's good NE I

didn't see him much yesterday in Mission

planning cuz he was working on like all

the internal like Mission load stuff and

everything so we'll see how that goes I

think together I think they'll do all

right we'll see how like the team

overall does I think they can do better

and we just got to get him there all

right we'll see you guys in like 6

hours yeah you ready Uncle that's the Lu

got there

guys

whether uncle is ready or not a big

moment awaits in the next

Evolution though the plan is clear on

paper he's got to keep us cool in the

air he'll be monitored closely by

harambe as they Patrol the no fly zone

over the next few

hours on this Mission fellow students

Spritz and ner are in the supporting

role but nidam meer has little room for

error this time around the instructors

are eager to see if he can bounce back

on this air policing

[Music]

Mission throughout the evolution

adversary planes including v22 Osprey

simulating bad guys repeatedly break

into the no-fly zone an effort to Rattle

and provoke the F-18

[Music]

students FL 61 commit Group Rock

11585 boogey low

slow the first Tas that we had was to

intercept a low-flying aircraft which

ended up being a tilt rotor transport

helicopter lap 61 T 1 H rotor aircraft

Rock

11585 we were able to detect them and we

told them they were flying in a no fly

zone you have violated a un mandated no

fly zone turn immediately or you won't

be

[Applause]

engaged they're not responding to the

radio com so you have to go join up on

them and now you're doing everything you

can to slow down and not flush out in

front of them while they're trying to do

everything that they can to you know

shake you off their tail and so you're

in this awesome back and forth fight

going up through canyons and valleys

trying to maintain correlation line of

sight and custody of this track and

still maintain an offensive posture

while still being always cognizant of

the Rules of Engagement and the ultimate

escalation of force what are the

implications if I shoot what are the

implications if I don't

shoot La 61 ospre turning

East all goes to plan as Spritz and

nemire rise to the occasion successfully

chasing the enemy Osprey out of the

no-fly zone we able turn them around and

have them egress back to their uh side

of the line while that was

simultaneously happening our structure

pilot was dog fighting with an

F5 nothing in air combat goes 100% to

plan and during this Evolution the

instructors throw the students a big

curveball they escalate the situation by

declaring that enemies have opened fire

quickly transforming this peaceful

Patrol Mission into an allout War

FL 62 single group hosle smoke in the

air

defensive as Uncle joins the fight he

quickly sees his mission plan has begun

to

unravel I showed up in the lane and it

was just mass chaos Sal 61 Target single

Group Rock 1 95 23,000 hostile BGE plot

latch 62 5 and

F L 62 Salem 61 status low high

I uh kind of just like g-locked or like

froze on the radio when I checked in

because there's just there's so much C

going on I got my wingman I can't even

tell him what to do so I can't

comprehend what to do it was kind of a

mess the allocation of assets became an

issue when they didn't have enough

people in the lane at one given time to

handle the air picture that was coming

which was by Design from my from from

Red those guys specifically planned to

have overloading assets at one specific

time because they saw vulnerabilities in

the tanker

plan the evolution is nothing like it

appeared on paper and then another

unexpected turn Salem 61 singer 11

bearing 360 defending

[Music]

South a simulated shot from a surface to

air missile system from adversary Ground

Forces hey they got it team two got it

uncle and NES take a direct

hit S 61 you are

dead kill we were feeling pretty

discouraged we were that guy who got

shot down

99er 11

active they were uh flying around inside

of a Mez a missile engagement Zone that

they didn't realize it was there we just

didn't get any word that it had popped

up or was active at the time so they got

tagged by a surface air missile and sent

home

the simulated death of Uncle and Armes

is a devastating blow to the operation

but it's also an

opportunity for spritz and nemire to

rise to the occas and distinguish

themselves among the

class we now know there's a missile

system in the north cuz our good friends

uncle and IMS have now found that out

the hard way for us so we're stiff

arming the missile threat to the north

we're in the lane to the South and all

of a sudden the push comes

sniper one

targeted

99er tackle Roe in effect L Bonsai

Target middle group two target sub group

at that point we start hooking and

jabbing we did go to a merge with an F5

and started turning with an

F5 it's probably clear by now that the

Marines have their own way of

communicating it's a language all their

own when Spritz refers to aemerge up

here what he means is that two planes

will pass each other in the same piece

of sky like cars going opposite

directions on a highway before moving

into an offensive position to deliver a

kill shot it's always good to turn with

those guys and go from that Beyond

visual range fight into that actual dog

fight

Arena sniper engaged left two Circle CL

61 anchored Rock 1

127,000

[Music]

sniper one you are dead sniper one goty

kill we killed him yeah we got

[Music]

him Spritz and perhaps more importantly

nidam Meer bounce back big time with a

confirmed kill it's as positive an

outcome as they could have hoped for

after a chaotic Mission but for fellow

F-18 hopeful Uncle there's no real

upside the mission's left him feeling as

lost as he's ever been I got frustrated

that did not go very well

[Music]

yeah things didn't go super sweet the

plan wasn't super fantastic uh on how it

worked out we got out of the jet I could

tell like he was pretty upset with

himself uh probably upset with everybody

a little bit just in the force package

in

general I don't know what I'm doing here

I'm play it TR just uh struggling I

don't know coms are a mess I could have

figure out what was going on half the

time this happens like you put guys like

in a high stress scenario where like

they're used to winning all the time

because they're very good at what they

do but if they're hit with a couple of

problems that they can't solve or

they're athletic atticism in the jet

can't get them out of a jam because the

planning was poor dudes will start

getting frustrated with themselves we

were rolling around in the dirt with an

osprey at the start of it oh yeah we

were having fun falling an ospre through

these valleys down low and iding

them everyone here in Yuma aims to

rewrite the record books to redefine

Elite and stand out from the

rest but right now in the wake of a

failed Mission uncle is questioning if

he'll even grab

not everyone makes it through here this

a pretty demanding

program there's definitely some concern

I don't know maybe I'm maybe I'm not

leaving here at the end or leaving early

at that so

yeah things are heating up out here the

the pilots engage in Evolutions one

after the next each combat exercise

ahead will grow larger in scale and even

more dangerous testing the students in

ways they cannot fully imagine almost

Midway through the daunting Gauntlet of

WTI Pilots like Spritz and Chopper

tinkle and spaz are distinguishing

themselves among the rest others like

Uncle see their dreams quickly fading

the life of a combat pilot is lived in

milliseconds and that's the one Saving

Grace for them all one millisecond can

change

everything

[Applause]