WEBVTT

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^- [Narrator] Early Sunday morning,

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^aircrew from the 192nd Airlift Squadron

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^and support assets from the 152nd Medical and Operations

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intel units boarded a Chinook helicopter

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bound for Dog Valley to conduct combat survival training.

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- [Reporter] Eerily, the training fell on the anniversary

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of the infamous Extortion 17 mission,

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when the United States military experienced

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an enormous loss of special operations personnel

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when the same type of helicopter

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was shot down by Taliban fighters.

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- [Narrator] Both of these events, Extortion 17

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and combat survival training are sobering reminders

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of the very real possibility of a military member

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to find themselves downed behind enemy lines.

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As a survivor of this, your only blessing will be

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running from the enemy.

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- [Reporter] Yet, the military provides a built-in,

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up to plead ace of spades for all members

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of the potential of facing this dark and dire situation.

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SB80-A Combat Survival,

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or SERE training,

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is the first in a number of schools to prepare

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Air Force air crews, special operations,

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or direct support personnel in understanding survival

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in a non-permissive environment.

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It also helps you understand the limits of yourself,

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and the will to survive, and above all,

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to return with honor.

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Making it through and graduating does mean the end

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because skillsets like these are perishable

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and not at the forefront of everyday Air Force training.

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(pulsing dramatic music)

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- [Narrator] As the heat of the day crept in,

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students returned to their starting point

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and were able to get some good morale

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in the form of a hot meal from Brother's Barbecue.

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With renewed energy, students were again introduced

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by the 152nd medics to austere field care

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and ditch medicine techniques

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to keep themselves and their wing man alive until rescue.

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Thunderheads rolled in to muffle the sound

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of the Chinook rotors as it passed low and landed,

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signaling the end of the training.

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- [Reporter] The students began the procession

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to the loading zone, but they would leave this valley

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different than when they came.

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American airmen, empowered, self-sufficiency

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and self-reliant to meet the worst-case scenario.

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Survival in the (mumbling).

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(pulsing dramatic music)