WEBVTT

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- Terminal area employment

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is where we engage the
enemy in the objective area.

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It's where we use our 50 cals

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to dissuade or destroy
any target or threat

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that might jeopardize the
safety of our aircraft,

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our friendlies, or the survivors.

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- The challenge for our aircrew

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is to rapidly and
effectively make decisions

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on which threat they need to engage first,

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and in what way, so they can choose

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the appropriate attack pattern
to mitigate that threat.

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(guns firing)

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The most recent terminal employment phase

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of the 55th RQS completed was
with trackless moving targets.

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Those targets are essentially robots

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that have three-dimensional
scorable targets

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on top of a carriage vehicle,

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and they're able to move
independently on a gunnery range.

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All other ranges that
we have available to use

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are either static targets,
or they are towed,

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or on tracks so they
become very predictable

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in their movements, and
they're only one-dimensional,

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in terms of the direction
they can move, if at all.

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- So, one major training event is,

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to shooting at moving targets,

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is the realism and the pressure

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that comes from engaging a
target that is actively moving

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towards our survivors.

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It forces us, as a crew, to
quickly formulate our plans

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and adjust accordingly to
neutralize the target swiftly.

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- The real life combat
readiness improvements

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that we saw from this
are pretty significant.

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Our enemies and our adversaries
are thinking, breathing,

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calculating, and for us to best prepare

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to defeat them in combat,

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we have to give realistic
prep presentations

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here in training.

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The target sets that we
normally have available to us

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out on the range are good,

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in terms of building
some initial proficiency

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with weapons employment,

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but it doesn't challenge the aircrew,

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in terms of their decision
making, flight discipline,

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and actually presenting them

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with a more realistic combat scenario.

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So, to, in order to achieve
that higher-end training

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and greater fidelity of prep presentation,

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we have to go to something
like a trackless moving target.

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- This training has benefited me

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by providing me the opportunity
to develop my skills

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and be able to put effective
rounds on targets faster

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so I can engage the target
and bring the survivor home.

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