WEBVTT 00:00.736 --> 00:02.014 - Hey, good morning Marines. 00:02.014 --> 00:03.452 ^Colonel "Bull" Rahe here. 00:03.452 --> 00:04.472 ^I'm your assistant wing commander 00:04.472 --> 00:06.231 ^for second Marine aircraft wing. 00:06.231 --> 00:08.892 ^Today, I have "Twitch" Vailario. 00:08.892 --> 00:12.309 ^He is the skipper of VMAT-203, The Hawks. 00:13.072 --> 00:15.390 They train world-class Marines here, 00:15.390 --> 00:17.808 down in the hanger deck, out in the flight line, 00:17.808 --> 00:19.058 and in the air. 00:19.203 --> 00:20.644 Twitch, over to you. 00:20.644 --> 00:22.126 - Alright Sir, I've got one minute. 00:22.126 --> 00:23.760 Is that right? - One minute. 00:23.760 --> 00:27.597 - First of all, I'm also former Major John Rahe's student 00:27.597 --> 00:29.724 when I was a student here, so if anyone accuses me 00:29.724 --> 00:32.174 of being a rough stick, this is my inspiration 00:32.174 --> 00:34.938 for everything being an above-average attack Hawk. 00:34.938 --> 00:35.771 - Thanks Twitch. - You're welcome Sir. 00:35.771 --> 00:37.913 What we do here is we take Naval Aviators 00:37.913 --> 00:39.356 when they graduate from Flight school 00:39.356 --> 00:43.106 and we get 52 weeks to turn them into Marine attack pilots. 00:43.106 --> 00:45.822 Teach them how to fly the jet, and then teach them 00:45.822 --> 00:48.034 the core mission skills that we have here 00:48.034 --> 00:51.274 in close air support, interdiction, reconnaissance. 00:51.274 --> 00:54.402 And then we also will take them down to Boge 00:54.402 --> 00:57.036 and we will do field carrier landing practice 00:57.036 --> 00:58.953 at fort operating base. 00:59.094 --> 01:00.932 So we're gonna put them through pretty much 01:00.932 --> 01:02.851 the full gamut of everything they can experience 01:02.851 --> 01:05.164 at the fleet, and we deliver to the fleet 01:05.164 --> 01:07.312 hopefully the most highly talented and trained 01:07.312 --> 01:09.397 attack pilots that we can give. 01:09.397 --> 01:11.399 And simultaneous to that, downstairs we got about 01:11.399 --> 01:15.497 350 Marines that make it happen, and over 32 airplanes here. 01:15.497 --> 01:16.804 So there's a lot going on. 01:16.804 --> 01:18.091 There are no off days here. 01:18.091 --> 01:19.823 We are generally working five days a week, 01:19.823 --> 01:22.320 every single week with very, very little time off. 01:22.320 --> 01:23.858 (plane engine) 01:23.858 --> 01:26.144 We are currently located here and we are singularly 01:26.144 --> 01:29.645 and solely focused on taking the basic Naval aviators 01:29.645 --> 01:33.436 and turning them into basic Marine attack pilots. 01:33.436 --> 01:35.250 - Hey Twitch, I want to thank you for your time today. 01:35.250 --> 01:38.534 That was an outstanding overview of what you do here, 01:38.534 --> 01:41.589 and I know you train world-class Marines, like I said. 01:41.589 --> 01:43.232 Whether it's downstairs or upstairs 01:43.232 --> 01:45.196 or in the air, or on the ground. 01:45.196 --> 01:49.363 Tune in tomorrow for if you want to know more abut Carrier. 01:51.042 --> 01:55.209 For this week, this is your Wingman, Colonel "Bull" Rahe.