Original subtitles

[Music]

this is where we're really gearing

up we're hitting like the hard and heavy

stuff this is where like the rubber

meets the

road we'll either see him kind of pull

himself out of his nose

dive or we'll see him continue to second

guess himself and

falter

there's three football fields in the

darkness when these dudes are going into

a hostile situation to try and capture

kill Beyond jacked up so bad decision

and I got nailed on

it the hu is a hot rod it's pretty

awesome the stakes go significantly

higher because we're shooting live

ordinance

now that does weigh on me whenever I

pull the trigger where are people at on

the ground

he Splash right on

it

[Music]

when the most elite combat pilots in

America arrive at the Marine Corp

weapons and tactics instructor course

known as WTI they have the opportunity

to prove their medal to demonstrate that

they are the very best so far the pilots

have made it through half of the

four-week flight phase and each is

solidifying their reputation as the heat

begins to intensify so will the missions

they face in the home stretch there are

are only a few opportunities left to

plant a flag and earn that coveted

invitation to return as a WTI

instructor throughout their time in Yuma

it can feel like the pilots are on a

roller coaster if they fail it seems

like rock bottom but if they succeed

they're on top of the world as the F-18

students returned from their second

large Evolution emotions are running

High we ended up being two circle with

his F5 and finally got the kill up high

right now F-18 students Spritz and nire

are feeling Invincible after landing an

air-to-air kill in their latest test for

nto it's the rebound he needed after

faltering out of the

gate when the doubts of my capability or

my potential performance started to to

settle into mind it really fueled me to

perform better to keep fighting through

and to keep working hard and show that I

did indeed deserve to be here we've hit

the halfway point and we got to push

through the third and fourth quarter to

come out Victorious at the end of the

game after every evolution Pilots

usually do a quick meeting to break down

their performance ahead of the formal

debrief I wasn't sure why I was like I

am I confused like why are you hanging

out down south but but as the team

huddles up today Mission leader uncle is

absent after he was shot down in the

exercise Uncle questioned his place in

the program and asked not to be filmed

as he dealt with the moment at

hand is Uncle along his way out probably

I don't think so I think what other

things from the brief you have I think

it's kind of like the spare game plan

how we would run like a swap game plan

if we needed it who is the priorities to

fly so we talked about main control but

that's about it everybody has good

events and everybody has bad events some

people respond to those individual

events differently right and he he was

hot I think that he just felt that it

didn't go the way he planned it and so I

think he was beating himself up a little

bit and I think that he was holding

himself to a high standard but I

appreciate somebody that does hold

themselves to high standard recognizes

when they need their space and it says

hey I need to go intern this for a

little bit think about what just

happened and I will come back tomorrow

and be a more lethal asset to fight with

and work with sweet it's a wrap all

right time

beers WTI is a Relentless garlet that

can break even the best pilots in the

country the adversary division pushes

the students to the absolute Brin

and Boards the adversary commanding

officer knows just how uncle is

feeling you just feel like you can't do

anything right because you're not told

hey you did a great job on this like

your strike plan was awesome you're just

told what you messed up and then you

have to immediately pivot and go right

into a new Mission and so it takes a

huge amount of mental and emotional

endurance to push through to the next

event

everyone has their own way of coping

with disappointment and for Uncle that's

always been a phone call to his

father again I kind of ran the whole

like jet flows for this my dad is kind

of a huge role model in my

life he flew for the Navy so I call him

I just give him kind of a debrief on the

flight and especially after something

that bad uh again they gave me like the

fighter lead for this one and just kind

of punted it it's usually that's like

how I get over it we just kind of like

decompress talk about how things went

and I just had absolutely no idea what

was going on so yeah it was uh just kind

of a mess but he gets it he's been

through it he's kind of seen it all kind

of being like this same thing happened

to me you get past it yeah ready ready

to be ready to be out of this place and

get this over with to be

honest this is where like the rubber

meets the road we will either see him

kind of pull himself out of his nose

dive or we'll we'll see him continue to

falter and kind of like second guess

himself and that's like really where we

have to step in as instructors and be

like hey man you're here for a reason

anyway so we'll see but I think he'll

pull it out I think he'll get there but

we'll

see yeah thanks much appreciated

[Music]

look every day a WTI comes with its own

challenges some days it's just basic

training and simulators others it's the

largest of evolutions and the days just

seem to bleed one into the next as the

pilots receive their New Missions go

through their pre-flight rituals and

then head back up into the air and then

despite that grind they must execute

Perfection at all

times and because of that emotions can

flip on a dime the UI students are

finding out just how quickly things can

turn

after executing the Department of State

raid to perfection in week one they were

riding high but today that's ancient

history after a major misstep in their

latest

[Music]

Mission plunging fire and we were the

first on in a row like down the line D

we were all

absolutely smoke dude we just saw him

coming in like he was like yeah we uh

just killed

everybody Huey students Chopper and Bush

Hog are trying to make sense of what

just

happened during this latest Mission they

were thrown a curveball when they

arrived at the forward arming and

refueling

Point surprised when they get there

there is the socom unit that they

trained with during Department of State

who walks up to them and lets them know

that they have a mission that needs to

be executed in two hours for the extract

like pretty much landed more or less the

same spots um basically they dropped a

mission on us to go insert these seals

into a small town to go in and capture a

high value

individual in this surprise Mission bush

hog was the lead Huey carrying the seals

while fellow huy student tinkle provided

air cover as the postflight Deep brief

begins three members of the Seal team

are present but their identities are

obscured for their protection so I

landed probably 30 m short like didn't

push right into the zone and then two

and three I think were a little bit far

behind me so like we didn't get you

close enough to the building and

obviously like you can speak to it but

like that kind of screws up you guys are

now split apart and then you also have

to travel farther

so by putting the seals in the wrong

place or even putting them at the wrong

angle to where they're intending to go

you can throw off their entire and

prevent them from being able to execute

with like the speed and violence that

ultimately will make them

successful there's three football fields

and the darkness when these dudes are

going into a hostile situation to try

and capture kill Target like

unsatisfactory plus did he say land to

the east of the building in the middle

of the desert no he said off to the

Northeast that's what they were

expecting and you put him in the wrong

cardinal direction at three football

fields

away the instructors don't mince words

leveling harsh criticism and bushhog

isn't the only one in the crosshairs and

tinkle why did you why did you hold him

why did you hold wolf tinkle delayed a

rescue aircraft called a cherry picker

from coming in Major Kyle Olen call sign

wolf cannot believe tinkle made the call

he did you stopped the cherry picker

from coming in grabbing the the casualty

cuz you needed to relay hlz brief over

to a fellow Deuce player and you did

that over a fires net I did all right

like Beyond jacked

up Kramer's being super polite about

this but dude that is straight

unsat As the instructor wolf levels this

criticism it may not be totally clear

what he means when he says unsat it it

means unsatisfactory and quite frankly

it's one of the worst critiques a pilot

can receive tinkle didn't prioritize

correctly on the mission a call that

could have cost lives in battle holding

a cavac platform because you have to

give an LZ brief to another person

inside your element

bananas not not Kosher like absolutely

unsat so bad decision and I got nailed

on it pretty hard it was lesson learned

and uh one that I'll take take forward

definitely after

this the dbrief at that heart of a level

especially when it becomes emotional

when mistakes would equate to death in

real life or ourselves dying it is

important to make sure that they

understand each one of those daytime

flight was pretty good uh nighttime

flight had a lot of learning points um

but got some lessons learned taken

forward for them I would would imagine

it was the low Point having been an

instructor for six other WTI this

historically is almost always the low

point and we design it that

way after this nighttime flight both

tinkle and Bush Hog see their stocks

drop a clear step backward if they hope

to distinguish themselves as the

[Music]

best after a tough night it's a new day

and a new week in Yuma it's week three

of flight phase and the students here

are about to face their most challenging

Evolutions yet but on the flight line

some things never change huy crew chief

Danny bason has been in the back of a

huey for the past 20 years and there's

nothing new about Danny's pre flight

checks for most of that time he's

carried a good luck charm by his side

named Leila

so Leila's my dashboard hoola girl up

here so there was a elementary school

that sent care packages out to us on our

rack and then some of the care packages

had these little hoola girls in them so

we just threw them on the dash of the

Hue and flew around with them and she's

been flying ever since so never home

leave home without her she stays up here

on the dashboard I carry velcro just in

case the aircraft and fly and doesn't

have it so I can add it up there I get

uncomfortable when she's not with me

even when things are going real bad look

up there Ila on the dashboard and she's

dancing around and

smiling you can't not

smile today Lila better be ready to

bounce around on the

dashboard because it's time for the

first major live fire mission that

incorporates both the huys and the Cobra

combat

helicopters the evolution is known as

assault support tactics 2 or

or

[Music]

A2 so left gun right gun two rocket pods

and got

expend the stakes go significantly

higher because we're shooting live

ordinance now when you have live Rockets

live Guns live artillery the complexity

goes up a significant

amount things are going in a lot of

different spots we were doing a Sim

anous insert into two different

objectives so ospr we're doing inserts

53s we doing inserts we are placing

artillery batteries out

there additionally we've got artillery

and mortars and the little birds doing

close air

support and it's a really good exercise

to integrate all of

that this moment provides a big

opportunity for huy and Cobra students

to up their game in more complicated

scenarios for huie student Chopper it's

a chance to build more momentum and

distinguish himself from the pack he's

excelled of late perhaps because he will

not forget one JV mistake made at an

earlier live fire

event before the as started had an event

basically employed the wrong weapon

system off the

aircraft he shots a unguided rocket when

he meant to shoot a guided

rocket I made a mistake it was on me I

own it and you know I I deserve to down

that flight so

[Music]

100% Today mistakes like that could have

life or death

consequences Chopper is hellbent on

Redemption and he's not the only

one huie students Story Time bush hog

and tinkle are out to make everyone

forget the brutal debrief they received

after their last

[Music]

mission we went up to the north and

inserted a team team to listening and

observation post and the moment we lift

uh we're now supporting them with our

rockets and our

guns it was cool to land and then

immediately transition into that close

air support

role tingle and the huei students

support the ground troops using the

impressive Arsenal on board and it's

truly something to

behold the hu is a hot rod it's pretty

awesome the rotorhead can just take a

lot of G which helps when you get in

close to a

Target we can carry a bunch of different

weapon systems so 2.75 in rockets for

the forward firing ordinance with all

kinds of different Warheads laser guided

Rockets

apkws on the right side we'll have the

minigun so the gal 17 minigun shoots a

762 x 51 mm bullets at

3,000 is rounds a minute which is about

50 rounds a second the impact it has on

a target's

awesome and then on the left side

normally we'll have the gal 21 which is

a 50 caliber machine

gun that shoots about 1,00 rounds a

minute what's your favorite min Minun

for sure hands down and 50 cow guys can

fight me for

it we can shoot in front of us we can

shoot behind us so it gives us a lot of

flexibility on where we can fly the

aircraft to attack a

Target so we'll say as low as we can uh

sometimes as low as 10

ft and then pop up to a couple hundred

feet point nose at the Target and then

Engage The

Target interacting first with

gun and then committing the nose to the

ground to produce rockets on the target

for more destructive and suppressive

effect and then pull off as low as

possible and then just kind of repeat

that and then being able to take two

Hues and then mutually support each

other by being able to provide fires

when one is pulling off to the Target

and its survivability as well it's a

very delicate dance it's a dance the Hui

students relish the opportunity to

perform and show what they can do so far

during as2 all have had their chance

except for

Chopper I got constantly retasked to go

do different

stuff I got tasked to go all the way out

to this place to do a mission that I was

told to go do but it would had already

been covered so it was almost like a

waste of

time while Chopper itches to get into

the action only a few miles

away the Cobra team spins up and takes

to the air to join the as2

evolution right away Cobra student spaz

gets the chance that has eluded

Chopper I was just dash2 I was just

there for the ride and to do whatever my

Elite aircraft wanted me to do and we

just went up north and basically

facilitated an

insert and then we stayed on station and

basically we're just providing Fires for

them

I got to shoot some missiles so that's

always a good time so I thought that

event went very

well though spaz is the type of pilot

who prefers to be in the lead in this

Mission she's tasked with a backup role

and makes the most of it fellow Cobra

student carix was also scheduled a play

backup today but he here at WTI one

thing is certain you should always

expect a

curveball I flew with Whipple and I was

Dash to to another student shortly

thereafter I got past the lead and I

wasn't expecting it so that was kind of

a gut punch people say like not my plan

not my problem well here at WTI it is

your plan regardless of whether or not

you actually briefed

it CarX is now the lead aircraft and

though he was than expecting it he knows

opportunities like this are huge it's a

moment to prove he is the elite of the

elite you can't sandbag you can't just

sit in the back and expect for things to

go right you have to actively

participate track what the hell's going

on and then execute

properly executing properly means that

CarMax has to decide when and if it's

time to pull the trigger with live

ammunition these are judgment calls he

takes very seriously and believes Define

him as a

pilot that does weigh on me whenever I

pull the trigger I have to look to see

where are people at on the ground are

there human beings on the ground okay I

know where they're at I see the target I

am

arming AR all right fire one ready and

it's very very deliberate for every

single aspect prior to the missile

coming off the

aircraft

Splash right on

it the evolution goes to plan and is

mostly uneventful always a good thing

with live fire carax makes the most of

his unexpected lead role leaving spaz

still looking for an opening to stand

out meanwhile across the base the Huey

students return and prepare for their

postflight

debrief keep

going hang out with us while we close up

shop Huey instructor slot flew with the

team today and the crew earns High marks

overall but just a couple of Pilots earn

direct praise overall uh story time did

a pretty good job today his Dash two was

Bush Hog and Bush uh Bush did a pretty

good job as well stepping up when they

needed

to story for huie student Chopper the

frustration is mounting during the

mission he had no moment to shine or

make his Mark and now to make matters

worse he has to hear story time story

about a record breaking missile shot he

landed we're not we AP 8.2 click record

8.1

wasal when Story Time tells Chopper that

he hit an APK at 8.2 clicks it's

probably not totally clear what he means

well an APK is an advanced Precision

kill weapon system one that usually has

a range between 1 and 5 km Story Time

hit his Target from 8.2 clicks or 8.2 km

and impressive distance to say the

least uh that one was pretty cool that's

by far the Fest one I've ever shot so it

was pretty

awesome how many do you guys shoot two

one from 8.2 one from like 5 and a

half so

far Chopper has been standing out

amongst the uee students but now story

time has emerged as a real Challenger in

the race to prove Pro who is best and

earn that coveted invite back to be a

WTI instructor it will all come down to

the fourth and final week for the huie

students

[Music]

8.2 have a dollar

right as week three of wti's flight

phase draws to a close

the Hui students have a moment to catch

their breath but for the f-18s and

cobras the time is now for perhaps the

most unique Evolution the course has to

offer it's

called anti-air Warfare

3 for this Evolution the f-18s partner

with the cobras to attack targets

defended by surfac to a missiles while

f-35s provide air cover

but this time there's a Twist they won't

be facing a simulated foreign defense

instead they'll face American assets and

American strategy it means they must now

assess our own equipment and find its

weaknesses as the old saying goes steel

sharpens

steel yeah should be a good one hell

yeah so for aw3 the Twist on it was that

I was the red and I was now the person

trying to figure out how to tackle the

problem for our scenario we had to

strike four primary targets embedded

deep within enemy territory and it was

protected by this pretty robust surfaced

air missile infrastructure I'm the

mission Commander so I'm the one that

had to decide how to get in there strike

those four targets and then get out of

there knock on wood nobody's Jets breaks

and we're we're all in the place we need

to be at the time we need to be

there uh it'll be

interesting lately things have been a

little too interesting for Uncle he's

coming off his worst performance yet but

after regrouping on a call with his dad

he's ready to turn the

page you're only as good as your last

flight there's kind of too much to focus

on you can't really dwell on stuff I

love that about flying like it's one of

my favorite things about this job is uh

you know kind of once you're strapped in

and going nothing else can affect you

and you kind of you're like force just

put it all out of your mind I think

that's kind of the key

there as uncle and his fellow F-18

students prepare to go on the attack

they must be ready for one other new

element in the operation the integration

of attack helicopters with them that

means flying alongside spaz and the

other

cobras aw3 is the one time the Cobra

shop really integrates with the jet guys

it's us trying to do a mission while

also they're fighting an air War

and then it's building Tac Air and

building cobras that go over to the red

side where now the enemy attacking from

the East and we planted as such trying

to attack Targets in the vicinity of

Yuma real life kill removal so we're

taken out of the fight you cycle out and

you don't get to have any more effect

and your day is over spaz here uh put

together a plan that hopefully doesn't

get us all killed and uh if she's

successful in that then I think we might

come back with the

win over the past few combat exercises

Cobra student spaz has been tasked with

backup roles seeing CarX get more

chances to shine but not this time today

she's the strike lead and confident to

say the least we're going to ideally win

the war and then we're going to come

home and tell task force Talon that they

lost and that'll be a good day but we're

going to try not to get shot in the

process in this situation we act as the

adversary ER so we're the bad guys and

we're trying to blow up their targets

and the good guys are trying to make

sure that we can't do that so you're

trying to think through what would I do

if I was in their shoes and they're

doing the exact same thing this is one

of the main events that we have in the

Cobra shop so I wanted to go well but

the only way that works is if we have a

good relationship with the jet guys

because if they're not above me I'm

going to get shot down cuz I'm pretty

easy to get

targeted the thing a helic bring to the

fight is they have a ton of ordinance

but they're

slow I see what you did

there at WTI Pilots work in their own

silos most of the time so an exercise

like this is a chance to assess those

from other Specialties it can also be a

chance to see an old friend like for

spaz and need Meer I've known Gavin

since College we both went to the

academy together how high comp are you

about this inel about your immobility of

the vehicles very great we actually were

friends at the Naval Academy for all

four years we spent a lot of time

studying and working together he has not

changed at all he is still just this

good-hearted hardworking person and it

was really cool to see him here I think

that uh we have a good plan we' thought

through this pretty thoroughly and I

think that there's multiple ways to win

so I'm pretty happy about

that

as the mission Begins the f18s leave in

separate waves it's harambe backing up

and evaluating uncle and arms after that

it's easy backing up and watching over

Spritz and

nemire that's a solid game plan there's

an F-35 sweep that's going to attract

some red air and then after that there

is a 4 warship of f18s that are going to

go out and try and take down some of the

surface a missile systems then

everyone's going to come back and get

refueled rearmed and launched back out

while that all happens Spritz neire and

myself are going to man The Station

together with some helicopters maybe

there's an opportunity where the enemy

lets their guard down and we can just

slip in strike the targets and get out I

was pretty impressed with Spritz putting

himself in that position it put him in a

very good spot in the mission timing to

be airboard when like critical decisions

need to be made which is exactly what

you want to see kind of out of a mission

commander in this crucial Evolution

Spritz is making a case that he should

be invited back as a WTI instructor when

it's all said and done but he shouldn't

cash that check just yet all will

ratchet up another level on this

exercise and as the last days of WTI

[Music]

unfold this this is where we're really

gearing up and like we're hitting like

the hard and heavy stuff either this is

going to go really well and that'll be

good and it'll be the W that they need

or it's going to go really poorly and

like now we're going to have to start

making large corrections to get them

where they need to be we'll see how we

do

to establish yourself as a top combat

pilot it requires skill confidence and

absolute calm to stay in the moment and

execute no matter what

happens throughout the course so far

each student has endured both highs and

lows been rattled and rebounded but now

is the time for them to make their final

statement will Spritz and the F-18

students get the job done will spaz

plant a flag as Mission leader of the

cobers before it's all said and done one

last evolution stands between them all

and that WTI patch there's one last

mission to make a mark As The Very Best

of this year's

class

[Music]

[Applause]

he