Original subtitles

every fighter pilot wants a good

oldfashioned dog

fight we haven't graduated yet like

trying to keep yourself in the

game it's the big mesh we want to go out

we want to succeed Bart reports under

attack by an enemy hind we get word over

the radio there's a hind out in the

objective

area said n we got to go right now we're

spinning this is the last chance will he

like either Make It or Break It Around

gun 61 one away 30

seconds we arrive at the merge and we go

left to left and we both start honking

on G and we seeing the vapors coming off

the upside of the Wings

shot

a

there's an old saying talk is cheap

action that's what

matters what you do in the sky defines

who you are in the

end this is the last week of the Marine

Corps Premier weapon School known as

WTI and what these Pilots do in their

final days when the lights are brightest

will Define their

legacy as the class faces the most

intense and complex Evolutions yet they

can also see the Finish Line ahead but

it will require all they have and more

to get

[Music]

there in the final week of action at

Yuma a combat Evolution dubbed a aw3

puts the F-18 students and the Cobra

students shoulder toosh

shoulder F-18 student Spritz and Cobra

student spaz are Miss leaders for their

respective

divisions their mission strike four

targets deep in enemy

territory and in this non-live fire

event instead of fighting an adversary

simulating a foreign country they're

fighting American

forces for aw3 the Twist on it was that

I was now the person trying to figure

out how to tackle the problem it's a

little bit of a Twist because I was

using blue blue equipment I was using

actual f-35s and actual f-18s so I

decided to look at myself in a mirror

and say if I was trying to defend these

targets what would I do then I was able

to figure out what am I going to do to

explore those gaps in their coverage to

get in strike the targets and then get

out in this Evolution the highly

Advanced and classified f-35s joined The

Fray flying on both sides and battling

one another as they do the plan is for

two waves of attacks first F-18 students

uncle and arms will lead an effort to

take out as many of the surface to- a

missile systems says they can then the

cobras can come in with air cover from

Spritz and nemire to strike Targets in

an urban complex dubbed yodaville

aw3 by Rolling is not super huge we're

going down low trying to shoot in some

anti-radiation missiles so we're just

kind of like in a helping roll at that

point after the first wave of attacks

uncle and Imes at the f-35s head back to

refuel there was still one surface air

missile system that was online and this

was like a pretty high-end surface air

threat so we can't just go like flying

right past it it's going to shoot

everybody out of the sky so we needed

specific ordinance and a lot of

ordinance to kind of overwhelm this

system to take it out the f-35s Finish

refueling and once they do they want to

rush back out to attack the last Target

on their

own but Spritz steps in and makes a call

ordering them to hold until the full

Strike Force is refueled and can head

out

together Spritz did a really nice job

calling all stop and so he called them

like no negative wait for latch to get

back into the fight with all of their

air to surf surface missiles as well and

we're going to overwhelm this thing with

everything that we got as soon as the

f18s got back on station he called the

play for everybody 99 roll call

Black

s

b black 61 Min forces met Striker

pushing set to

25 everyone kind of broke the huddle

britz Neer Meer and myself went down low

at 1,000 ft all the way into the target

area we were flying in a low altitude

environment in order to get very close

to the Target area before we'd look to

pop up and deliver our ordinance L

attack L 61

popping as we employed we got our bomb

off met Mission success and the once

again attempted to get below the radar

Horizon 61 one you are

dead and we actually got shot and died

by a simulated surface to air threat

just before we Dro below the radar

Horizon damn all right gav let's pick up

a vector North and get out of the

fight it was a pretty Bittersweet

scenario to know that we were so close

to having a nearly perfect nearly

exceptional flight to know that we died

at the very end right after we met

Mission

success those sprits and neire were

taken out their attack run has opened

the way for spaz and the cobras to

strike the final targets with easy and

the remaining Jets providing air

cover the jet guys were fantastic they

backed me up and had full coverage of me

the entire time so I didn't have to get

shot down by a different jet which would

have been very

unfortunate armed and rifle

one the timing lined up really well the

way that as a group the jack guys went

through their initial plan and then how

we fell in good

track they made sure that they covered

us we had good CMS between each other

and we had very clear Triggers on how it

was going to go stand

by ultimately we were able to do our

mission we made it all the way there we

struck our targets and then we made a

home it's Mission success for the f18s

and cobras and even though Spritz and

nemire were shot down in the end Spritz

seems confident it won't affect

evaluation of their performance or hurt

their chances to earn an invitation back

as WTI

instructors we had Mission success we

struck all four targets I think we got

our bombs off before we died so I think

that's the good news so at least it

wasn't all in vain but overall I would

say it went pretty well we'll see what

the replay says I definitely saw like

some some big boy decisions being made

they did a nice job quarterbacking

though uh coming up with a game plan

that was a mission success overall win

the boys definitely needed it now having

turned this corner hopefully they can

like kind of ride this trajectory out

through FX and we can get the W and get

these guys home with a patch but it's

looking good so

far

I think we overall as a group did really

well Jets hit their to Jets hit their

targets our guys all hit the targets

again so if anything's left there it's

definitely not

anymore they say that slow and steady

wins the race well spaz has been just

that steady all the way through today

might have provided the punctuation she

needed to establish her as the best of

the best best and earn an invitation

back as a WTI

instructor you guys were pretty much

right in trail and at that same time uh

latch was executing their second attacks

they got effects on the first two dpis

and they came around for re attacks on

the second two you put your best foot

forward for certain events because if

you're thinking somebody may or may not

be able to hack it in that role you

don't want to derail the training for

everybody else so we put spaz in that

role cuz we knew she could plan take

information and come up with a creative

solution overall looking get over

timeline and I had final retired around

2143 for all Venom that were operating

in yodaville good

see today was a huge win for spaz but as

always there's little time to celebrate

WTI concludes in only a few days and the

cobras and huis must turn attention to

their final mission just around the

corner

7 weeks of grueling training have pushed

the pilots to their

Brink but nothing will compare to what

comes

next one final evolution incorporating

every type of aircraft on base each

doing everything they've learned during

their time in Yuma it's known as

finx

last one so that's a good thing ready

for it be

over during

finex the f18s will be providing air

cover for the cobras while they in turn

provide assault support for a ground

force the Hues they'll be spread out to

three different locations to set up

bases transport troops and provide

assault

support there's like 27 missions ongoing

simultaneously and not the biggest range

space in the

world the challenging aspect is the fact

that you are integrating in a very very

short amount of time with every other

department you are having to make a plan

that is executable that accomplishes the

mission but it's that integration in the

very short amount of time that creates

the greatest challenge in my opinion of

[Music]

finex before we get out to the plan can

you pull up a copy of the dsum training

rules on your tablet so we can go over

it with

everybody this is the last chance for

students to prove themselves worthy not

only of graduating but more importantly

being invited back as a WTI instructor

I'm going to be going out to the north

objective area area we're going to work

on setting up multiple expeditionary

Advanced bases and then continuously

moving them farther

north this is the last chance will he

like either Make It or Break It I'm

flying with zika for the last one he's a

department head that last impression is

the standing impression hopefully don't

mess it up too bad oh

yeah oh yeah while Chopper hopes for a

clean flight fellow Huey student tinkle

looks to reestablish himself as the best

of the best his major misstep in week

two of flight phase led to a harsh

debrief that debrief will stay top of

mine mostly because tinkle will be

flying with instructor Wolf the man who

leveled the

criticism there going to be a really big

mission and I was looking forward to

some extent like almost redeem myself a

little bit see you guys

later

[Music]

shouldn't we have all the

essay in the Cobra division two students

have separated from the rest as the

course has

intensified spaz and

CarX while spaz delivered big in the

last

evolution CarX has given the role of air

Mission Commander for finex the stakes

couldn't be higher ultimately what that

requires that I know where everybody's

going what they're doing how many people

they're taking and then I roll people to

different places it's a big

responsibility it is daunting and

especially when you're so close to being

done you kind of just want to be done

and you know ride off into the sunset

but that wasn't the case for me 201 82 I

got put on to to be the escort flight

lead so basically I was responsible for

protecting either ospre ch 53s Hues

whoever's going in and then basically

still just supporting the guys on Deck

when they get there it was really unique

being able to work with everyone

everyone wants to win everyone wants it

to go well so it was less nerves it was

more just excitement to do it cuz it's

the Big M like we want to go out we want

to succeed we want to do well and

everyone playing wants to win all right

I'm heading

out everyone knows that finex is the big

mission and what means for reputation

and graduation but for the F-18 students

staying on point isn't as easy as it

sounds

exed I'm super tired

yeah everyone thinks graduation is 2

days off so you're kind of trying to

keep yourself in the game we haven't

graduated yet and still got to go out

and execute and do these pretty you know

complex Evolutions I think that all of

the the uh the adversary aircrafter F5s

from the 401 guys and we'll see if they

can um see if they can keep up yeah I'm

not so sure we got a Top Gun grb right

here so he's done this once or twice

yeah every fighter pilot like wants to

go to the merge and have a good

oldfashioned dog fight you know getting

enclos and

personal merge is where both aircraft

arrive at the same piece of sky and a

very close proximity to each other and

now you are both turning as hard as the

aircraft will allow you to turn to try

to gain a a angular advantage to employ

a weapon that you have to win caffeine

caffeine is good I I held off on the

five outter energies until the last

couple days I didn't take any 5 out

energies until it's past few days it's

probably the most fun that we have in

the jet that would obviously be a great

way to end it is to end it the merge you

know with a guns kill on an

F5 so kids are pretty tired by now cuz

it's been a long course so uh it's just

keeping your head in the game and

sticking it out to the Finish Line you

know

really this is a moving defensive

counter

a there's a bunch of helicopters and

Marines on the deck that are moving

forward in the battle space and then

moving back and the whole time we just

have to provide kind of that persistent

air coverage so they can have that

freedom of maneuver think localized air

superiority is what we call it so we're

going to own the sky for 45 minutes to 3

hours all

right

[Music]

feeling good it's a nice day today good

day to go flying you know everyone's

starting to start up the f35s are

taxiing out so we're ready to

rock

as finex Begins the students will have

to contend as usual with the adversary

Squadron but today F5s aren't the only

adversary aircraft they'll

face everybody focuses on hey where are

the

fighters and they forget about the

attack helicopters that are out there

that can do a lot of damage and know by

the way it's easy to forget about them

when you're planning and oh by the way

they can be pretty tough to see and get

really close and personal to shoot down

assault aircraft and and create quite a

bit of Havoc JT does a phenomenal job of

being that player in the

problem that's right JT AKA Ivan will be

joining the fry in a Russian combat

helicopter called the

hind as the students contend against

Ivan and everything else in the kitchen

sink F sees the opportunity she's been

waiting for I've been wanting to fight

Ivan the entire class that was my only

goal of leaving this class like prefer

finex the one thing I didn't get to do

venom11 L shark bull reports under

attack by an enemy

hind we're sitting there getting ready

to launch we get word over the radio

that guess what there's a hind out in

the objective area it's just attacked

our guys to the north that we were going

to

support I was so excited said n we got

to go right now we're spinning

spaz without hesitation called for the

aircraft to spin up and she's like I'm

calling it we're launching why she

impresses so much

sometimes spaz she's got a plan we're

hunting our way through the terrain

looking for

Ivan

[Music]

and lo and behold spaz found

Ivan guns Fox two Ian gun gun right

right I actually was the first one to

find

him

Onan we were able to get the jump on him

happen to see him coming around

terrain We Roll out and immediately went

nose to nose with

him he's coming right

around got some Flex gun on

it Ivan's no more Ivan you are dead kill

or move

north he said yeah you guys killed

me we just hear splash one Ivan and was

like nice hell yeah don't got to worry

about

that due to spaz's desire and push the

threat and not let it push us around and

her decisiveness led to a pretty

successful engagement which was fun to

see that was my highlight of fex for me

was actually getting to go fight Ivan so

it was really cool to beat him spaz did

what she set out to do killing Ivan

during finx is a strong statement so

close to graduation the kind of

statement that draws attention with

everyone watching

but in the skies above the cobras the

air-to-air fight is still

raging sniper 5 redeploy North

Lane that's that's great so Reco in the

Tactical training range facility kind of

directing me what to do sniper 5 comrade

Target North group sniper 5 targeted it

just so happened that the Manning of the

aircraft on station was such that we

were able to overwhelm him sniper 5

North group retire retarget groups in

the open in the vicinity of site

50 I heard oh the brick wall is down

which means there's no top cover for the

guys and we're

like we bust her back over there when we

finally do get there there's two bad

guys that are 5 miles from what we call

the mission fail

line red strike package

pushing if they get there they're going

to drop bombs on all your friends on the

ground box three

threat we shoot him now I hope it gets

there in

time

kill it was like a split second thing

where we cleaned them up right before

they were going to like Drop bombs on on

all of our

friends

reset a big win for us personally it

always feels good to get some kills in

the air to air Arena not die and

ultimately have a good last event so

ending on a high note was really

nice F-18 students uncle and I'm scored

their kills with long range

missiles an incredible feat in their

final

test but for fellow f8 pilot Spritz a

nemire the long range fight is about to

get a whole lot

closer what do you know it here come

more Fighters that we need to take

out snipers

[Music]

push FL 61 Bondi North

group lat 61 c 1 12:00 3 mil

level sniper one c one left 11 3 mil 10

high our goal is always to make it to

emerge and if you can get to emerge then

you really get to go back to what you're

good at which is dog fighting and we can

win in some way shape or

form latch 61 anchored Rock

13560 engaged

Spritz NE just have to kill and clean up

this Bandit before he either kills them

or blows through and starts attacking

everything that we're trying to protect

they get in there he's at 40,000 ft get

themselves all the way up to the Moon

there we arrive at the merge and we go

left to left and we both start pulling

honking on

G they merge with the guy they end up

taking the fight

downhill and we seeing the vapors coming

off the upside of the Wings the g-forces

are starting to pull down on us and I

don't think Gavin expected it see I

think he was a little bit you know

pulled down into his seat and I start

hearing some grunting and some noises

back there as he's trying to keep the

blood flowing in his

body pull like 6 and a half G's going

downhill and F5 is H pretty

rough and all of a sudden we're turning

with this

F5 shot five

L 61 fox 3 threat

group L 61 kill threat group and we get

the final shot and the

kill it was great to see that they

recognize like this is time to like go

to the merge put the knife in the teeth

and let's get after it and they did

that I think it was a good finish uh to

the course recognizing like when to go

in and guns a blazing L 62

biger L 61 to

retire it is what it is if I was out

there it wouldn't have lost

but last one's done it was fun we uh

kicked some butt beat up some F5s they

didn't know what they were doing so

pretty much Spritz dominated them he's a

bfm king he's

good A little bit of Club action oh

that's if we end up giving you your

patch I don't know we'll see yeah we'll

see uh you guys hold on this F very glad

to have that over with I'll be honest

yeah mission accomplished so did you

pass or what yeah I guess I'll take it

we'll just keep lowering our standards

until I can meet up it's good it's a

long one it's the last one though so

feels good to have that one

though for Huey student tinkle the road

to the Finish was bumpy at times but he

did finish strong and earned redemption

in the eyes of his instructor wolf

nothing but Improvement and that's what

we want to see of all of our guys so uh

tinkle's right where he needs to be on

glide slope he's going to be a good

senior instructor to go back to the

fleet and uh and work on his guys in a

similar

fashion shutting down being done was

just kind of nice 7 weeks has officially

gone away feels like I just checked in

here yesterday time travel is legitimate

when you're here I'm not going to

believe it until they actually give me a

patch so until that point I'm not going

to I'm not going to trust it until I can

put it on my actual

flight it feels good almost just like a

sense of accomplishment and then just

relief at that same

point the journey to this moment comes

with a lot of emotion and Analysis but

for chapper this isn't the time for

reflection I'll say you got to wait till

the end right so graduation isn't

tomorrow we wait I'll wait till then

till I got my final

feelings the pilots of WTI have endured

a gauntlet few ever face they put their

lives on the line push the very

boundaries of their abilities and

reached the end of this grueling

program following the finx debrief

there's no doubt they've earned a moment

to

celebrate but despite the achievement it

remains to be seen who has passed muster

and earned the WTI patch at

graduation and who will receive the top

honor an invitation to return as a WTI

instructor thank you for taking time out

of your busy schedules to come here and

to rec recognize the hard work and

achievement of the fleet's newest

weapons and tactics

instructors over the past 7 weeks these

WTI have been put through a grueling

course to ensure their success as

instructors for their units preparing

them for the full range of military

operations to the graduates

congratulations on earning your patch

and your designation as a weapons and

tactics

instructor

everybody's expected to struggle here

but when you walk across the stage

you've graduated and you now are a

weapons and tax instructor so it's a

pretty good feeling to work all the way

through and get to that point Captain

McKenzie

space it feels good it's a goal I had

for 4 years and I finally got

it now it's can I continue to live up to

the expectation that comes with that

there is an instantaneous believe as

soon as someone sees that patch that you

know what you're talking about and so

the rest of my time is going to be

living up to that standard just wanting

to drive that forward and make sure that

every person who comes after me is

better than me otherwise I'm not doing

my job Captain Piper

failor I was happy with how I performed

I left it all on the table it weighs

heavy on me heavier than I thought it

would knowing you're the standard Bearer

it's a big

responsibility I would like to come back

as an instructor if they choose to have

me

yeah in the Cobra division major Nelms

believes both carix and spaz prove their

medal and both deserve the honor of an

invitation to return as WTI instructors

I think both of them have the right

personality and the right mindset to to

do well here I would consider absolutely

coming back the opportunities you get

here are second to none basically you're

at the Leading Edge of coming up with

what the fleet's going to continue to do

so that would be a really unique

opportunity Captain Andrew

Hitchens in the Huey division all

students will graduate and earn their

patch it's a testament to this class and

the instructors who led them it's a huge

sense of accomplishment to make sure

that a full class makes it through we've

had some that that they haven't and you

never enjoy sending people home but you

also need to make sure that that patch

means something when people wear it on

their shoulder that it's not watered

down and that the people who graduate

graduate because they should be

graduating Captain Eric

shinkle the things that have always set

tinkle apart his thoughtfulness his

maturity and ability to learn and think

through problem sets s Theo part here

Captain John Wilkins it's a great honor

to be able to wear that patch it's like

the Pinnacle of qualifications and your

skill and competency as a pilot while

the Huey class earns High Praise across

the board the pilot who stood out Above

the Rest was clear to the

instructors Chopper showed us that he

was punching above his weight when it

came to what we expected based on

qualifications and pre-certifications

that he had and what he was actually

able to

accomplish coming here it's by far been

the best Marine Corps training that I've

ever got nothing else even really

Compares our next graduates are from the

Tac Air Department under the leadership

of Lieutenant Colonel

BR after a course filled with Peaks and

valleys it's the Moment of Truth for the

F-18 Tactical Air

students Uncle i'ms Spritz need Meer

they took a bit of a dive there as we

started flight phase things were not

going super

great but about halfway through they

showed an improving Trend and by the end

of it no doubt in my mind everyone

deserves the WTI patch and and and go

back to their squadrons and hold that

position as a training

officer Captain Gavin

Jernigan it is a good feeling to become

a WTI graduate and know that you

achieved one of the highest

qualifications possible Captain John

bomb it feels great it also feels very

relieving to not have to wake up at 6:00

tomorrow morning I intend to sleep in

looking back on everything that we did

it's like wow that was kind of for a

while but ultimately it feels good and I

know that I learned a lot and I'm

looking forward to like taking that back

and hopefully Force feeding it to other

people Captain Thomas

Lauderdale despite some struggles

decided to let me press on you know I

guess it's kind of on me now to go pay

that

forward 224 the Bengals they're the f8

squad that's been supporting us and I'm

going to go back and be the training

officer for them so yeah moving

on Captain William

Odell I had a certain standard that I

set for myself of my expectations of

what I wanted and that was the threshold

that I wanted to achieve this is the top

1% of the top

1% please join me in congratulating

these new weapons and tactics

instructors

[Music]

[Applause]

though all F18 students graduated the

honor of being invited back as WTI

instructors is reserved for Just

Two based off of the way they see things

and their mission planning we ended up

giving ask back to spr Spritz as well as

Uncle even though he was down on himself

and struggling sometimes it's good to

see that because it means like they

actually care about what they're doing

so the staff in unison we all decided

like we liked what we saw out of the two

of them so we gave them the ask back to

be instructors with us here at the

course in the distant future so we'll

see we'll see if they want to come back

and and

hang ultimately the goal is to get

invited back to be an instructor because

that means that not only did you Excel

as an individual they recognized your

instructional capacity to and teach the

next group of highle instructors you

need some sort of credibility in order

to be an instructor of instructors I

think that that is ultimately the

crowning achievement right

[Music]

there very few of us will ever get the

chance to achieve true

greatness but we all know what it looks

like when we see it don't

we these combat Pilots have clearly

reached those Heights graduating from

this weapon school is a moment that no

Marine pilot will ever

forget it's more than just a patch it's

an achievement a real achievement and

the beginning of something much greater

so maybe next time you hear someone talk

about fighter pilots you won't just

think of a movie huh instead maybe

you'll think of this WTI class and the

real feat that they achieved when we

were all

[Music]

watching

[Applause]

[Music]