WEBVTT

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(majestic music)

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(jet engines whining)

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- It's a toss-up.

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There's a lot of great squadrons up here.

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We're all getting some
really good training.

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But I wouldn't be surprised
if either the Green Mountains

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or the Tomcatters come out on top.

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- This afternoon the F-18 wanted
to kick some American butt.

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Our airplane beats all these airplanes.

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Think it's gonna be a good day.

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- Basically, our job is jamming.

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- The F-16 is absolutely the
best fighter in the world.

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- This was an exercise that
we started about 10 years ago

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doing these things, and we
call them fighter meets.

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We named this one Maple Leaf,

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and this was Maple Leaf '99.

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And it was beyond our wildest expectations

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as far as what we got out of it.

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The enthusiasm, the
training, the teamwork,

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the whole thing came together
better than we anticipated.

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(anticipatory music)

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Our maintainers performed
outstandingly this weekend.

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They really pulled together and made this

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a total team effort.

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They were able to work
and show what these other

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organizations that came in
here, the Navy, the Canadians,

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the other Air Force F-15's,
they all brought maintenance

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people in here, and all the
comments I heard from all those,

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all the other people,
or all of our visitors,

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was that it was just outstanding.

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The enthusiasm, the professionalism,

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was just unbelievable to them.

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(jet engines whining)

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Well, you know, the the
crew chief pulls the chocks

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and gives you that last salute,

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you're taxiing down to
the end of the runway,

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think about a lot of things.

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We've got basically
running the whole mission

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through your mind.

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(jet engines whining)

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Takeoff is pretty important,

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wanna make sure the jet's ready.

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But then you've got about
10 minutes to think about

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what you're gonna do once
you hit the airspace.

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You've got a pretty good plan sorted out

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with the other flight members.

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Normally we'll get about
four or five good engagements

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lasting about four or five minutes each.

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So for about 20, 25
minutes worth of pretty

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high-intensity flying.

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(jet engines roaring)

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(energetic music)

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When you make a kill call in the air,

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you're sure that it's a good call.

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- [Pilot] Track and kill
hornet, diving nose low,

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18,000 western man.

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- [Pilot] Roger that, man, terminate.

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- [Pilot] We're talking about
26,000 working for the guns.

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- It is pretty intense

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It's where a lot of your
training takes over.

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The airplane does not
want to be on the ground.

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The airplane wants to fly.

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It's designed to fly.

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It's not designed to land.

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(jet engines whining)

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(dramatic music)

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- Fun this weekend.

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I had a good time.

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- I think it's just an
outstanding weekend.

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It was my first big exercise at Vermont

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since I joined the
Guard, and I got nothing

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but positive feedback
from all the other people

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that were here, saying
they'd like to have it

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every few months instead of
every six or eight years,

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like they say they're gonna have it.

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So I'd like to see
everybody come back sooner.

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(optimistic music)

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- I don't ever worry about this guy

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'cause I (mumbles) when I'm shooting him.

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(pilots talking indistinctly)

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- A lot of planning and a lot of work

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went into this exercise.

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It's something that we'd
like to do every year.

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Every time we do something like this,

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the unit comes together,
the teamwork is outstanding,

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the enthusiasm's outstanding,

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the community gets a lot out of it,

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everybody loves to see the airplanes here.

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Pilots get a lot of
great training out of it,

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that's the ultimate goal.

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I think it's a win-win for everybody,

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and it's something that
we'd like to keep going.

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We just need to remember what it's like

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and this feeling we had
after this exercise,

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and we'll continue having
more of these in the future.

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("Viva Las Vegas" by ZZ Top)

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- As a traditional Guardsman,
being here at Red Flag

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has just been outstanding because

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the training that we
get here, the two weeks,

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is more than we get in a
full year there in Burlington

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flying an eight turn eight here.

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There's so much flying
going on at the maintenance

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aspect of things, being a crew chief,

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it's just been outstanding here.

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The training that's
involved in these two weeks

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trying to keep the jets
flying for the pilots.

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♪ Lady luck please let the dice stay hot ♪

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♪ Let me shoot a seven ♪

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- We're working with a lot
of systems on the aircraft,

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and there's a lot of new
systems that we're working with,

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so we're here trying to
learn some new things

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with these systems, as
well as, just basically

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keep the planes flying for the pilots,

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and make sure that they're ready to go.

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♪ Viva ♪

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- It's a very intense flying schedule,

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so we have to do everything
we can to be able

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to turn the airplanes for the next go,

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and really make sure that they're ready

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so the pilots can get out there

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and get all the training that
they need here at Red Flag.

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- As a weapons loader for the 158th,

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primarily our job is to
load conventional weapons

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on this aircraft, which at the time,

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is not capable of dropping
the so-called smart bombs

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that everybody hears about.

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- We've got some traditional
Guardsmen out here

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that are getting some very good training,

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very realistic training that's
really gonna help us out

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and put us over the
top, keep us number one.

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(electric guitar playing solo)

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- Everybody's pulled together as a team,

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just did wonderful work.

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(majestic music)

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(stamp clicking)

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(jet engines whining)

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(Airmen chatting indistinctly)

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(jet engines whining)

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(Airmen chatting indistinctly)

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(dramatic music)

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(men chatting indistinctly)

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- [Man] Whoo!

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(jet engine whining)

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- Whoo!

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(jet roaring)

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(flute playing "America the Beautiful")

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(Airmen chatting indistinctly)