WEBVTT

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- [Lance Hilsted] We spent a week with two tank crews

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from Charlie 164 Armor.

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- [Sergeant] I think they've done an amazing job.

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I am proud of those guys.

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Very proud.

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- Just getting ready preparing for the shot,

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to get a shot to go to the Sullivan Cup.

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I have learned probably more in these last few weeks

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than any other training exercise I've done combined.

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- We met Team Cannonarchy

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(tank fires)

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and Team Count Trackula

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(tank fires)

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and they went head to head for six weeks.

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- I'm gettin' the chance to represent

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the entire division.

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(tank fires)

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I'm really grateful for the opportunity.

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It's really humbling.

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- Competition brings out excellence.

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- That's driving us.

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We're driving them.

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It's all in the spirit of competition

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to make a better team.

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- [Lance Hilsted] These guys want to be the best.

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- I'm ready.

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I've been waiting for this moment.

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- [Lance Hilsted] But in the end, only one team

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gets to go to the Sullivan Cup.

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(upbeat music)

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- [Lance Hilsted] They've wrapped their head around this.

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- We're gettin' an opportunity here to show

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that we're the best in the world.

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- You get to play in the big boy platform.

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- [Man] This is the Super Bowl of tanks.

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(tank firing)

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- [Lance Hilsted] They want this.

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^- This isn't your mama's table six qualification.

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^This is a test to get after

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the best tank crew in the United States Army.

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We're gonna push everybody to limits.

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We're gonna make it physically demanding.

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We're gonna test your cognitive skills

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when you get out on the sticks exercises,

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to make sure you know how to do the basic functions

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it takes to be a tanker.

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(tank fires)

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And then we're gonna make sure you can come out here

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and hit what you shoot at.

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(tank fires)

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- [Radio] All the way.

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- Sergeant Fauntleroy's crew was picked

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^to represent the 3rd ID.

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^The way the Sullivan Cup works,

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^is you show up, they issue you a tank,

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and you use it to compete in a series of events for points.

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^- So the only points you care about are

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^to get into the top four.

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^After that, nobody cares about your points

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^because the shoot off is the only thing that matters.

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The shoot off determines who is the Sullivan Cup winner.

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- So take us through the competition

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and briefly the different stations,

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what they do and how to get to that last phase.

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(announcement chatter)

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- [Poisson] Well, first day of competition,

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which they call Day Zero, was Sunday.

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That was the Armor Crewman Proficiency Test.

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(grunting)

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^- It starts off with ammunition lift.

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^To get 100 points, you need to do it 45 times

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and I only can do it 36.

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(spectators yelling)

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- [Corona] Track block shuffle was 20 meters.

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You take 10 track blocks and move them back and forth.

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Then you have a cable drag for 15 meters.

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You drag the cable, pick it up, and you just run back.

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You have a road wheel roll for 240 meters,

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basically a baseball diamond.

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And you finish off with a one mile run.

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- [Poisson] Then they posted the

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second-best crew score,

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so we finished in second place.

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The mounted stick sling comprised

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of a land navigation course,

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and there were five stations

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within the land navigation course.

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- [Man] Your time begins now.

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- [Poisson] The first station was their start point.

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And that was prepare for combat.

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They prepped their vehicle, got ready,

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and then they moved out and OC followed them.

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(tanks rumbling)

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- [Lance Milsted] And then, things got interesting.

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(engine sputtering)

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- And the tanker's down.

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- Their tank broke down.

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^- As we started our movement,

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^once we got up here to this intersection,

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^we was doing a little tactical pod

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^just to make sure our bearings were good.

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Sometimes with certain problems that the tank may run into,

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it will self-abort itself.

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Pretty much like a self-preservation if you will.

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- Essentially, it was the tank's

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check engine light coming on.

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- Yeah, this is where the fault showed up again.

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It's not showin' up.

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There it goes, it's back.

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- [Lance Milsted] So they did some trouble shooting.

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- I think we good.

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- [Lance Milsted] And eventually they had to pull over

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and just wait for another tank.

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- These aren't their tanks.

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They literally jumped on this tank a couple hours ago,

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so tanks break down.

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It is what it is.

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- Hey, grab the 50.

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- [Lance Milsted] They eventually had to transfer

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all their gear and they got back to work.

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- They dealt with the little three hour hiccup

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and then they moved on.

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They got to their net station which was maintenance.

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They had to break and replace a two block section of track.

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They got beat on time on that one.

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They still got 60 points 'cause they were doing pretty well.

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They found all the rest of their land nav points

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and it got really late.

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It was about 2000, 2030 by the time they got

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to the medical sticks lane.

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- Just run over there.

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- [Tanker] Black six, black six, white three.

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- No pulse, he's not breathing

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and he's showing no signs of life.

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- They executed, got 88 points on that.

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Did really well.

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Went up to Station Five,

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which is again at the cantonment area

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and they did vehicle ID and that was pretty rough,

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but it kicked the fourth station right in the seat.

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It was occupy a BP.

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Did really well and they got 100 points

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on their land nav as well.

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- [Lance Milsted] At the end of the day,

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they had 811 out of 1000 points.

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Going into the gunnery, they were in 10th place

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out of 16 crews.

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The digital multipurpose range complex at Fort Benning

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is impressive and it'll test any tanker.

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- This is not like any other range that I've ever been on.

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It's not a bowling alley.

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It is not flat terrain.

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So it's forcing these crews

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and it forces our future leaders

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to completely expand everything that they know

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about tank gunnery.

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- Gunnery is one of the crew's strengths

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and this is where all that degraded training

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at Fort Stewart hopefully would pay off.

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- [Announcer] Your family members perform.

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If at any point during the day--

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(radio chatter)

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- Right now, they'll do the PC Tank, RPG Team degraded mode.

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Then they'll do their call for fire.

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Who you'll have comin' up right now

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as you see approaching the BP is 164 Armor.

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So if we have any 164 Armor fans right here,

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there you go.

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Your chance to cheer for 'em.

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(radio chatter)

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(tank rumbles)

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(tank fires)

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(radio chatter)

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- [Tanker] And breech fire to Charlie two one three

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be advised that we have destroyed one tank

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and we have a round stuck in the tube at this time.

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- I overheard you talking about 164.

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What is it you said about that?

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- They're having mechanical issues.

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They took em back to the room.

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- Nothing they could fix out there?

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- No.

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- So our crews out there,

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they got one round off and now they've had a malfunction.

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What we don't know is if they're gonna be given an alibi,

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which means if it was a fault that was

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something they couldn't prevent,

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they'll give em an alibi and this won't count against them.

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If it's something that they caused,

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it counts against them.

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So, not a great start to the gunnery,

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but it's what happens.

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It's part of being a tanker,

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and I think what they learn through all the training

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is that you gotta be able to adapt to this.

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So we're waiting to find out what's gonna happen.

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This was yet another setback,

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but our guys put their time to good use

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to make sure they were ready if they get another shot.

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- Yeah, the mound is gone.

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- Try it again.

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- So we got good news today.

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Our team found out they got an alibi

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and that means that when the round got stuck in the breech,

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it was determined that it wasn't the crew's fault.

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So that means that they got to start fresh

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and they went out and they shot really well.

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Took second place outta all the teams,

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and that's kinda like breathing new life into them.

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So we're here now at 10 o'clock,

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and our crew is actually out on the range

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doing a night fire.

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We also heard you guys took second in the day run.

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- Second highest score in the day run.

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- Yeah, yeah.

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- You did a good run in the night?

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- Could have been better.

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If I had just trusted my TC more.

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I couldn't identify a truck and troop target,

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but he could, so...

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It is what it is, I mean.

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- I think Corona is beating himself up a little bit.

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Their last engagement was,

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they fired off some flares to simulate

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that they're being fired on, and he didn't see em.

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And they're in it to win it.

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They're working through the challenges, you know.

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And tomorrow's the last day to give it their all

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and see where the cards lay after that.

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(tank fires)

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- Think about the crew that wins this thing.

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When they go home and they turn around and say,

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"You know what, we won this.

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"And this is how we did it."

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- No way.

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- [Soldier] They got bumped down?

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- No, no, no.

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They're in third place, man.

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- [Soldier] Third place?

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- Yeah, they came up from tenth to third.

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They got second best last night.

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Wow.

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- Back on the map.

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Back on the map.

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- [Lance Milsted] Heard the good news, man.

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- [Fauntleroy] Yes, we're here.

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- Yeah.

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So today you just gotta go do what you do.

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- Yeah, we got three engagements.

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Three engagements to solidify our position in the top four.

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And it's game on.

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- I know you're excited,

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but having followed you guys, we're stoked.

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You know going into the final gunnery,

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they were confident, they were focused,

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you know, barring any major malfunction,

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they should make the top four.

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- Looking at that, I don't have any affirmative

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things to say about why you missed those targets.

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- [Lance Milsted] If you're good at reading

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facial expressions,

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their faces speak volumes.

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- We're seconds from when you moved up to be engaged,

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getting a doubtful left.

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Over on target two at 14, they backed down at 16.

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- [Lance Milsted] Phrases like "doubtful left"

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and "over" or "short" are not what a tanker wants to hear

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in an AAR.

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- [Nigren] You got an over on target three.

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- [Lance Milsted] It means they missed.

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- [Nigren] Points on the first engagement.

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Zero and zero on the next two engagements,

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they've given you a total for the day of fifty points.

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- [Lance Milsted] And that's out of a possible 300.

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- [Nigren] I'm gonna put you guys on a little break.

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- Sergeant First Class Matt Nigren

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delivered the news with as much encouragement as he could.

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The wait now was to see if they'd go home.

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- Shouldn't have missed.

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- No news is good news right now.

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We're waiting on two more crews to finish their AARs

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and the final scores to come in,

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to notify you on the points.

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That's how tight this competition's getting.

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- What's the field lookin' like?

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- I can't say.

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I'm just gonna tell you no news right now is good news

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because that means we're not sending you

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out the door right now.

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- Alright, we are back at the hotel

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and we are waiting for news.

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Today was a crazy day.

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It was a roller coaster ride.

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When we arrived this morning,

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our guys that we knew were in tenth place,

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and it's actually on the way out that

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we were checking the Facebook site

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and found out that because of their night gunnery,

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they had moved to third place.

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So the last phase was today,

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and that was their last day gunnery

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and they did not do well.

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So we're just waitin' to hear,

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you know, whether they make the top four.

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Cause the top four is where they need to be

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to be able to compete in the gunnery tomorrow

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and if we don't hear tonight,

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then we'll just find out--
(cell phone dings)

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Wait a minute.

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They said they might text us tonight,

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so gimme a sec.

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This could be it.

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(exhales)

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- I think everybody who is still in the army

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has an obligation to make sure that we continue to be

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adaptive, innovative, and continue to strive for excellence.

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So if we can instill that in our junior ranks,

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and the soldiers that are coming through this competition,

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think about that's 16 crews that now can go home

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to 16 different places and talk about

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what it takes to be the best here.

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- So there was a tie for fourth place,

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which means five crews went to the shoot off,

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and our guys, they missed it by one shot.

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- I have a better picture of exactly what we need to do

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to truly become more proficient army crewmen.

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- We're a bad tank crew.

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I learned that we're better than we thought we were.

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- [Lance Milsted] Really this competition is about

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seeding excellence or planting the seeds of excellence

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in the tank community.

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- A great honor to come down here and compete for the best

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^and I'll be back in two years.

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^I'm gonna win in two years.

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^That's what I'm taking out of it.

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^Motivation to come back.

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- It's a great experience.

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I mean in my eyes, it's a once in a lifetime thing.

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^I mean, it's not every day that you're gonna go somewhere

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^and have a best tank competition

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^and your name just so happens to pop up.

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- Any team that goes is exposed to the training,

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and all these other great tank crews in the competition

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that make them better tankers as a whole.

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Yeah you have a winner.

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But everybody that comes is better for it.

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- It helped our resilience a lot overall.

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It helped my resilience a lot.

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I'm a pretty resilient person before this,

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but this made me even stronger with this competition.

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- Well, I was honored to be in a position

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to give the best of the best a run for their money.

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I was honored to be in a position where

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the best of the best were like,

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"Oh, man, we gotta watch out for those guys from 3rd ID."

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- When you tell stories like this,

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you always hope your team is gonna win

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and our guys didn't.

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But I wouldn't have it any other way

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because what we saw is a level of resiliency

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and that these guys, no matter what,

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they kept running hard after their goal.

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I mean, that's what it's about.

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It's about not quitting,

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it's about perseverance,

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and they showed us the best of that.

