{"version":"1.0.0","segments":[{"startTime":0.13,"endTime":2.262,"body":"When we went into Iraq, a lot of people say it"},{"startTime":2.276,"endTime":4.762,"body":"was the largest scale urban warfare since World War II."},{"startTime":4.846,"endTime":8.022,"body":"So the objective was Mosul, but there was a"},{"startTime":8.036,"endTime":11.382,"body":"lot of towns and pockets of ISIS along the"},{"startTime":11.396,"endTime":17.09,"body":"way that we had to deal with Bert mission."},{"startTime":17.15,"endTime":19.21,"body":"It's his job to tell pilots which"},{"startTime":19.26,"endTime":20.986,"body":"targets to take out and where."},{"startTime":21.048,"endTime":24.178,"body":"Plus, elite members of special operations forces in the"},{"startTime":24.204,"endTime":27.566,"body":"world as trained and lethal as any Navy Seal."},{"startTime":27.638,"endTime":29.83,"body":"Yet most people have never even heard of them."},{"startTime":29.94,"endTime":30.706,"body":"They are the US."},{"startTime":30.768,"endTime":32.89,"body":"Air Force combat controllers."},{"startTime":49.21,"endTime":51.702,"body":"Welcome to heroes behind headlines."},{"startTime":51.846,"endTime":54.246,"body":"I'm your host, Ralph Pazulo."},{"startTime":54.438,"endTime":56.078,"body":"Our guest today is Air"},{"startTime":56.104,"endTime":58.85,"body":"Force Combat Controller Josh Apple."},{"startTime":59.35,"endTime":63.038,"body":"At age 28, while managing a successful business in"},{"startTime":63.064,"endTime":67.014,"body":"Florida, josh felt a calling to join the military"},{"startTime":67.182,"endTime":69.95,"body":"and serve his country on the front lines of"},{"startTime":70.0,"endTime":73.01,"body":"wars raging in Afghanistan and Iraq."},{"startTime":73.57,"endTime":75.842,"body":"His initial interest was in becoming a"},{"startTime":75.856,"endTime":78.77,"body":"Navy Seal or joining army special Forces."},{"startTime":79.09,"endTime":81.714,"body":"But the more he learned about Air Force combat"},{"startTime":81.762,"endTime":85.538,"body":"controllers and how they provide combat air support to"},{"startTime":85.564,"endTime":89.078,"body":"special operators on missions all over the globe, the"},{"startTime":89.104,"endTime":90.95,"body":"more drawn to them he became."},{"startTime":91.63,"endTime":94.562,"body":"Today, Josh is going to talk about the rigorous training"},{"startTime":94.636,"endTime":98.022,"body":"path he followed to become an Air Force combat controller"},{"startTime":98.166,"endTime":101.138,"body":"and the role he played in the pivotal battle of"},{"startTime":101.164,"endTime":105.842,"body":"Mosul in Iraq and rescuing CNN reporter Arwa Damon and"},{"startTime":105.856,"endTime":108.99,"body":"her cameraman during the heat of the battle from ISIS"},{"startTime":109.05,"endTime":111.71,"body":"fighters who are trying to take them hostage."},{"startTime":112.03,"endTime":115.794,"body":"We're very honored to welcome air Force combat controller"},{"startTime":115.902,"endTime":119.93,"body":"Josh Apple is today's hero behind the Headlines."},{"startTime":128.449,"endTime":130.16,"body":"So background on me."},{"startTime":130.61,"endTime":135.27,"body":"My dad was a GM for Sam's Club in Dallas,"},{"startTime":136.31,"endTime":139.686,"body":"and he was a hard working guy and still had"},{"startTime":139.688,"endTime":141.86,"body":"a lot of good values into me growing up."},{"startTime":142.37,"endTime":145.086,"body":"Didn't really have anybody in my side of"},{"startTime":145.088,"endTime":147.582,"body":"the family that was in the military, but"},{"startTime":147.656,"endTime":150.138,"body":"at a young age, always gravitated towards it."},{"startTime":150.224,"endTime":152.526,"body":"I think a lot of young boys, GI."},{"startTime":152.588,"endTime":156.75,"body":"Joe kind of was the show to watch, things like that."},{"startTime":156.8,"endTime":159.946,"body":"So I was about six years old whenever we moved"},{"startTime":159.958,"endTime":163.578,"body":"to Pensacola, Florida, for the first time, which Pensacola is"},{"startTime":163.604,"endTime":167.06,"body":"kind of known as the cradle of naval aviation. Yes."},{"startTime":168.05,"endTime":169.674,"body":"So I can remember as a young"},{"startTime":169.712,"endTime":172.014,"body":"kid, my dad taking me there."},{"startTime":172.052,"endTime":173.242,"body":"That was one of my favorite places"},{"startTime":173.266,"endTime":175.998,"body":"to go, seeing all the displays, all"},{"startTime":176.024,"endTime":178.53,"body":"the aircraft, learning about the different wars."},{"startTime":178.91,"endTime":181.35,"body":"So it really kind of took off at that young age."},{"startTime":181.4,"endTime":183.45,"body":"And I can even remember as a kid."},{"startTime":183.5,"endTime":186.078,"body":"I love going into the gift shop that they"},{"startTime":186.104,"endTime":189.298,"body":"had there and they had all the different models."},{"startTime":189.334,"endTime":192.498,"body":"So I started getting into airplane model building and just I"},{"startTime":192.524,"endTime":195.342,"body":"loved aviation, but I also loved the ground side of the"},{"startTime":195.356,"endTime":200.0,"body":"house for the military for a really long time."},{"startTime":201.35,"endTime":204.034,"body":"But anyways, back and forth."},{"startTime":204.082,"endTime":206.91,"body":"My dad got transferred back to Dallas at one point."},{"startTime":206.96,"endTime":208.554,"body":"We lived there for a couple more years"},{"startTime":208.652,"endTime":211.662,"body":"and then got transferred back to Pensacola and"},{"startTime":211.676,"endTime":213.33,"body":"then he kind of set up roots there."},{"startTime":213.44,"endTime":216.498,"body":"He was kind of tired of the corporate structure, so"},{"startTime":216.524,"endTime":219.018,"body":"to speak, and wanted to kind of do his own"},{"startTime":219.044,"endTime":222.342,"body":"thing, so he bought an independent grocery store down here"},{"startTime":222.356,"endTime":226.04,"body":"in pensacola and started running a business."},{"startTime":226.85,"endTime":228.978,"body":"And so I kind of got to grow up in that business."},{"startTime":229.064,"endTime":231.378,"body":"I kind of got cast into the fire, so"},{"startTime":231.404,"endTime":236.178,"body":"to speak, bagging groceries, mopping floors, all of that."},{"startTime":236.264,"endTime":240.402,"body":"So over the years, I remember whenever I"},{"startTime":240.416,"endTime":241.986,"body":"was a senior in high school, I went"},{"startTime":241.988,"endTime":244.482,"body":"to east hill christian private school."},{"startTime":244.676,"endTime":247.938,"body":"We had a marine recruiter come in my senior year,"},{"startTime":247.964,"endTime":249.834,"body":"and he made the pitch, man, he made it sound"},{"startTime":249.872,"endTime":253.47,"body":"good, and I was really interested at that time."},{"startTime":253.52,"endTime":257.778,"body":"I strongly consider joining the marines, but I kind of wanted"},{"startTime":257.803,"endTime":259.938,"body":"to go to college, get some of those things under my"},{"startTime":259.964,"endTime":263.686,"body":"belt, so just kind of put it on the back burner."},{"startTime":263.758,"endTime":269.418,"body":"But always had tremendous respect for the military, for the"},{"startTime":269.444,"endTime":272.36,"body":"guys that had gone before me, so to speak."},{"startTime":274.37,"endTime":277.11,"body":"I won't say it died on the vine for a little while,"},{"startTime":277.16,"endTime":280.266,"body":"but I got more and more involved in my dad's business."},{"startTime":280.328,"endTime":283.626,"body":"As I was going to college, I started managing it."},{"startTime":283.748,"endTime":285.51,"body":"I met my wife there, actually."},{"startTime":285.68,"endTime":288.102,"body":"She worked for my dad for a while,"},{"startTime":288.296,"endTime":291.2,"body":"so I was now married, had a son."},{"startTime":291.53,"endTime":293.958,"body":"Everybody expected me to take over the family"},{"startTime":293.984,"endTime":296.13,"body":"business, and it was a great place."},{"startTime":296.18,"endTime":297.97,"body":"I learned a lot of life lessons."},{"startTime":298.15,"endTime":300.966,"body":"FlashForward I'm now about 28."},{"startTime":301.028,"endTime":303.498,"body":"Everybody just kind of anticipates me taking over"},{"startTime":303.524,"endTime":306.318,"body":"to the family business, and I really started"},{"startTime":306.404,"endTime":310.47,"body":"having some regrets for not joining the military."},{"startTime":311.69,"endTime":314.3,"body":"I had two really good friends."},{"startTime":314.99,"endTime":316.614,"body":"One of them that I kind of grew up with."},{"startTime":316.652,"endTime":318.498,"body":"We kind of went to the same church and stuff like"},{"startTime":318.524,"endTime":320.382,"body":"that, and he went on to be a green beret, and"},{"startTime":320.396,"endTime":323.658,"body":"he's got an amazing story, and I always just looked at"},{"startTime":323.684,"endTime":327.154,"body":"him as a guy that he carried himself differently."},{"startTime":327.322,"endTime":329.286,"body":"The way that he saw the world was a"},{"startTime":329.288,"endTime":330.822,"body":"lot different than I saw the world, and that"},{"startTime":330.836,"endTime":333.414,"body":"was something that I wanted to experience."},{"startTime":333.512,"endTime":336.462,"body":"So I kind of started sneaking in, looking at"},{"startTime":336.476,"endTime":340.006,"body":"the recruiter sites for different jobs in the military."},{"startTime":340.078,"endTime":343.098,"body":"And the wife, I brought it up to her,"},{"startTime":343.124,"endTime":346.914,"body":"and she was not real enthused about me thinking"},{"startTime":346.952,"endTime":349.114,"body":"about doing that, because we had trajectory."},{"startTime":349.162,"endTime":351.57,"body":"My son was just a couple of years old"},{"startTime":351.62,"endTime":355.17,"body":"at the time, and we had a good life."},{"startTime":355.28,"endTime":357.02,"body":"We had a good thing going."},{"startTime":357.71,"endTime":359.442,"body":"But, man, it just kept kind of way in"},{"startTime":359.456,"endTime":362.442,"body":"heavier and heavier on me, and finally kind of"},{"startTime":362.456,"endTime":364.734,"body":"the straw that broke the camel's back."},{"startTime":364.892,"endTime":366.054,"body":"My wife and I had been pretty"},{"startTime":366.092,"endTime":367.954,"body":"involved in a church in pensacola."},{"startTime":368.062,"endTime":371.326,"body":"So anyways, during this church service, I had kind of gotten"},{"startTime":371.338,"endTime":373.986,"body":"to a point where I was like, man, I don't know"},{"startTime":373.988,"endTime":375.642,"body":"if this military thing is going to work out for me."},{"startTime":375.656,"endTime":376.354,"body":"I've got a career."},{"startTime":376.402,"endTime":377.622,"body":"I've got a family now."},{"startTime":377.756,"endTime":380.014,"body":"I've got all these things going on. I'm older."},{"startTime":380.122,"endTime":381.5,"body":"I'm 28 now."},{"startTime":382.55,"endTime":385.122,"body":"And so just didn't really know if it was for me."},{"startTime":385.136,"endTime":386.614,"body":"There was just kind of too many obstacles"},{"startTime":386.662,"endTime":389.346,"body":"in the way and too many things that"},{"startTime":389.408,"endTime":391.23,"body":"were going to keep me from doing it."},{"startTime":391.4,"endTime":394.434,"body":"And so in this church service, I knew the pastor pretty"},{"startTime":394.472,"endTime":397.962,"body":"well at this time, and he started talking about how if"},{"startTime":397.976,"endTime":400.774,"body":"we feel like we're called to do something, but we're systematically"},{"startTime":400.822,"endTime":404.082,"body":"making up excuses for why we can't do it, we may"},{"startTime":404.096,"endTime":406.16,"body":"be getting in the way of doing something great."},{"startTime":407.39,"endTime":409.52,"body":"And I remember that hit me really hard."},{"startTime":410.03,"endTime":413.322,"body":"It made me feel pretty small, to be honest."},{"startTime":413.396,"endTime":415.578,"body":"Like, you know, I think I can do"},{"startTime":415.604,"endTime":416.778,"body":"this, and I want to do it."},{"startTime":416.804,"endTime":418.47,"body":"And furthermore, I want to go into"},{"startTime":418.52,"endTime":420.39,"body":"some sort of special operations career field."},{"startTime":420.44,"endTime":422.06,"body":"I really want to challenge myself."},{"startTime":423.41,"endTime":425.598,"body":"So I kind of made the decision that day that"},{"startTime":425.624,"endTime":428.0,"body":"I was going to at least start pursuing it."},{"startTime":428.45,"endTime":430.242,"body":"And so I started doing research on"},{"startTime":430.256,"endTime":431.478,"body":"the different career fields out there."},{"startTime":431.504,"endTime":433.822,"body":"And I remember buying a book went to Barnes"},{"startTime":433.846,"endTime":435.462,"body":"and Noble and I bought a book called American"},{"startTime":435.536,"endTime":438.39,"body":"Heroes and Special Operations by Oliver North."},{"startTime":439.31,"endTime":441.342,"body":"And it was really cool because it has"},{"startTime":441.416,"endTime":443.922,"body":"these little vignettes of all the different special"},{"startTime":443.996,"endTime":447.826,"body":"operations career fields, green Berets, Seals."},{"startTime":447.898,"endTime":451.014,"body":"And there was a couple about combat controllers, some"},{"startTime":451.052,"endTime":453.382,"body":"sweat guys, some of the special warfare boat teams."},{"startTime":453.406,"endTime":454.762,"body":"Yeah, because people usually don't"},{"startTime":454.786,"endTime":457.458,"body":"think of combat controllers. No."},{"startTime":457.604,"endTime":458.986,"body":"Special operators."},{"startTime":459.118,"endTime":461.262,"body":"Yeah, I had never really heard about them,"},{"startTime":461.276,"endTime":463.482,"body":"but I got to reading the stories, and"},{"startTime":463.496,"endTime":465.658,"body":"I was like, man, this is pretty incredible."},{"startTime":465.694,"endTime":467.238,"body":"This is kind of a cool sound of job."},{"startTime":467.324,"endTime":468.38,"body":"Yes, they're key."},{"startTime":470.57,"endTime":472.962,"body":"I reached out to my Seal buddy and my"},{"startTime":472.976,"endTime":475.818,"body":"Green Beret buddy and kind of asked them, and"},{"startTime":475.844,"endTime":477.694,"body":"both of them kind of gave me their pitch."},{"startTime":477.862,"endTime":480.094,"body":"One of them wanted me to go be a Green Beret,"},{"startTime":480.142,"endTime":482.722,"body":"and one of them wanted me to go be a Seal."},{"startTime":482.806,"endTime":484.854,"body":"And they both sounded pretty cool."},{"startTime":485.012,"endTime":487.762,"body":"And obviously those career fields"},{"startTime":487.786,"endTime":490.086,"body":"are kind of legendary, right? Absolutely."},{"startTime":490.268,"endTime":492.714,"body":"It's very difficult not to hear about"},{"startTime":492.752,"endTime":494.31,"body":"those guys or think about those guys"},{"startTime":494.36,"endTime":496.522,"body":"when we think about American Special Operations."},{"startTime":496.606,"endTime":499.302,"body":"So I asked them both. I said, well, do you guys"},{"startTime":499.316,"endTime":500.89,"body":"know anything about combat controllers?"},{"startTime":500.95,"endTime":504.378,"body":"And, oh, yeah, man, we had those guys attached to us."},{"startTime":504.404,"endTime":506.482,"body":"And oh, man, they were incredible."},{"startTime":506.566,"endTime":509.142,"body":"And they remembered the names of the guys."},{"startTime":509.216,"endTime":512.202,"body":"They remembered situations where maybe they"},{"startTime":512.216,"endTime":513.669,"body":"had bailed them out of trouble."},{"startTime":513.85,"endTime":517.134,"body":"And so I said, well, I'm really leaning towards that."},{"startTime":517.172,"endTime":518.861,"body":"And my Green Beret buddy, he told me, he"},{"startTime":518.876,"endTime":520.337,"body":"said, man, I'd love to talk you into being"},{"startTime":520.364,"endTime":522.738,"body":"a Green Beret, but he's like, I actually think"},{"startTime":522.764,"endTime":524.97,"body":"you would do really good as a combat controller."},{"startTime":527.15,"endTime":528.98,"body":"That kind of started it off."},{"startTime":529.91,"endTime":533.098,"body":"And I went to a recruiter, the Air Force"},{"startTime":533.134,"endTime":535.938,"body":"recruiter in Pensacola, and the door was locked and"},{"startTime":535.964,"endTime":537.978,"body":"they had a sign on the front, and it"},{"startTime":538.004,"endTime":540.99,"body":"said basically by appointment only kind of thing."},{"startTime":541.16,"endTime":542.418,"body":"So I took down the number, I"},{"startTime":542.444,"endTime":544.22,"body":"called, and I left a message."},{"startTime":544.67,"endTime":546.942,"body":"A couple of days later, the recruiter called me back, and"},{"startTime":546.956,"endTime":549.274,"body":"I told him, I said, hey, my name is Josh."},{"startTime":549.322,"endTime":550.086,"body":"Live in the area."},{"startTime":550.148,"endTime":552.546,"body":"I'm really interested in the combat Control program."},{"startTime":552.608,"endTime":554.118,"body":"And he kind of laughed, and he was like, yeah,"},{"startTime":554.144,"endTime":560.48,"body":"you and everybody else, kind of thing, which was fair."},{"startTime":561.29,"endTime":565.278,"body":"And so he said, well, how old are you? I said, I'm 28."},{"startTime":565.304,"endTime":566.694,"body":"And he goes, well, the age cut off is"},{"startTime":566.732,"endTime":568.89,"body":"28 to join the Air Force right now."},{"startTime":568.94,"endTime":571.182,"body":"And I said, well, is there"},{"startTime":571.196,"endTime":572.358,"body":"anything we can do about that?"},{"startTime":572.384,"endTime":575.266,"body":"And he's like, man, there's a lot of paperwork."},{"startTime":575.338,"endTime":576.246,"body":"There's a lot of this."},{"startTime":576.308,"endTime":579.738,"body":"And to his credit, I think a lot of people"},{"startTime":579.884,"endTime":582.018,"body":"say they want to go into these career fields, but"},{"startTime":582.044,"endTime":584.742,"body":"maybe they don't count the full measure, right?"},{"startTime":584.876,"endTime":586.21,"body":"They don't know what it entails."},{"startTime":586.27,"endTime":587.48,"body":"Yeah, correct."},{"startTime":588.05,"endTime":589.638,"body":"So at this time, I was doing a lot of"},{"startTime":589.664,"endTime":592.722,"body":"research on it, found out I was going to have"},{"startTime":592.736,"endTime":596.382,"body":"to go to dive school and considered myself as a"},{"startTime":596.516,"endTime":599.754,"body":"brave floridian that grew up in the water and out"},{"startTime":599.792,"endTime":602.058,"body":"there that, oh, man, I'm a good swimmer, and come"},{"startTime":602.084,"endTime":604.878,"body":"to find out that swimming laps and swimming underwater is"},{"startTime":604.904,"endTime":606.99,"body":"completely different than just not drowning."},{"startTime":609.75,"endTime":612.706,"body":"So I remember anyways, I don't want to get out of"},{"startTime":612.708,"endTime":615.214,"body":"order here, but that's kind of where I was at."},{"startTime":615.252,"endTime":616.74,"body":"And he kind of was like, well,"},{"startTime":617.25,"endTime":619.174,"body":"let me talk to a few people."},{"startTime":619.212,"endTime":620.326,"body":"I'll give you a call back, see what"},{"startTime":620.328,"endTime":621.85,"body":"we'd have to do kind of thing."},{"startTime":622.02,"endTime":624.182,"body":"I got real serious about training and swimming"},{"startTime":624.206,"endTime":626.114,"body":"in the pool, and so I started catching"},{"startTime":626.162,"endTime":627.806,"body":"a little bit of traction with the recruiter."},{"startTime":627.878,"endTime":629.726,"body":"I think he saw that I was serious,"},{"startTime":629.918,"endTime":632.11,"body":"and he came to me one day."},{"startTime":632.28,"endTime":634.042,"body":"I went to his office one day, and he closed the"},{"startTime":634.056,"endTime":636.206,"body":"door, and he said, all right, here's the deal, buddy."},{"startTime":636.398,"endTime":640.822,"body":"He said at the time, they had what they"},{"startTime":640.836,"endTime":643.426,"body":"call these Iron Man standards for the recruiting guys."},{"startTime":643.488,"endTime":645.79,"body":"And they said that if you can run so fast,"},{"startTime":645.84,"endTime":649.834,"body":"swim so fast, do your calisthenics to this level, and"},{"startTime":649.932,"endTime":653.282,"body":"also score over a certain percentage on the azvab, you've"},{"startTime":653.306,"endTime":658.826,"body":"got a very high rate of percentage of being successful."},{"startTime":658.958,"endTime":660.526,"body":"And so they said they had never had a"},{"startTime":660.528,"endTime":663.022,"body":"guy from our recruiting office make those standards before."},{"startTime":663.096,"endTime":664.81,"body":"And I was right there."},{"startTime":664.92,"endTime":668.374,"body":"Basically, they said that as long as you can meet"},{"startTime":668.412,"endTime":671.554,"body":"these standards and you'll draft a letter to the six"},{"startTime":671.592,"endTime":673.222,"body":"in our chain of command and tell them why you"},{"startTime":673.236,"endTime":676.234,"body":"want to be a combat controller and why it's basically"},{"startTime":676.392,"endTime":678.638,"body":"more or less worth our time to take some risk"},{"startTime":678.674,"endTime":681.73,"body":"on you as an older guy to join this pipeline,"},{"startTime":682.35,"endTime":684.54,"body":"then we think we can make this happen."},{"startTime":685.41,"endTime":687.022,"body":"So my next pass test, I"},{"startTime":687.036,"endTime":688.886,"body":"did make those iron man standards."},{"startTime":689.018,"endTime":692.47,"body":"I did score pretty high on the Azweb test,"},{"startTime":692.52,"endTime":696.202,"body":"and so they basically told me at that time,"},{"startTime":696.276,"endTime":697.994,"body":"hey, man, we're going to get you a contract."},{"startTime":698.042,"endTime":699.878,"body":"V Six is signed off on your exception,"},{"startTime":699.914,"endTime":703.618,"body":"a policy letter for age, and we're just"},{"startTime":703.644,"endTime":705.178,"body":"waiting for a contract to come up."},{"startTime":705.264,"endTime":706.39,"body":"In the midst of this."},{"startTime":706.5,"endTime":708.91,"body":"My family was super, super supportive of it,"},{"startTime":709.02,"endTime":710.94,"body":"but to everybody else, I was crazy."},{"startTime":712.47,"endTime":715.246,"body":"Well, why in the world would you give up this great"},{"startTime":715.308,"endTime":718.558,"body":"gig and being home with your family every night to go"},{"startTime":718.584,"endTime":720.562,"body":"out and join a career field that you've only got a"},{"startTime":720.576,"endTime":723.298,"body":"10% chance of making it, and then if you do make"},{"startTime":723.324,"endTime":727.75,"body":"it, be put in some dangerous situations and possibly be killed."},{"startTime":729.03,"endTime":731.22,"body":"And I wasn't naive about that."},{"startTime":731.73,"endTime":734.974,"body":"I didn't have any delusions of grandeur that it was"},{"startTime":735.012,"endTime":738.394,"body":"going to be an easy road, but I just really"},{"startTime":738.432,"endTime":740.22,"body":"felt like I was supposed to do it."},{"startTime":742.41,"endTime":744.434,"body":"When Josh walked into the Air Force"},{"startTime":744.482,"endTime":747.254,"body":"Recruiter's office, he was not the eager"},{"startTime":747.302,"endTime":749.94,"body":"teenager the recruiters were used to seeing."},{"startTime":750.57,"endTime":753.53,"body":"Instead, he was a 28 year old successful"},{"startTime":753.59,"endTime":756.72,"body":"business owner with a wife and young son."},{"startTime":757.23,"endTime":760.334,"body":"His goal, like that of many other enlisties,"},{"startTime":760.502,"endTime":763.55,"body":"was to become an Air Force combat controller"},{"startTime":763.73,"endTime":767.294,"body":"attached to a Special operations team like Seal"},{"startTime":767.342,"endTime":770.03,"body":"Teams, Special Forces, or Delta."},{"startTime":770.21,"endTime":773.314,"body":"He'd heard that these highly specialized airmen were"},{"startTime":773.352,"endTime":775.814,"body":"trained in a wide range of skills, including"},{"startTime":775.862,"endTime":780.166,"body":"scuba, parachuting and snowmobiling, as well as being"},{"startTime":780.228,"endTime":783.31,"body":"FAA certified air traffic controllers."},{"startTime":783.75,"endTime":786.826,"body":"Because air combat controllers had to deploy into"},{"startTime":786.888,"endTime":791.374,"body":"battle zones alongside other special operations teams to"},{"startTime":791.412,"endTime":793.918,"body":"provide critical air support, that was often the"},{"startTime":793.944,"endTime":795.926,"body":"margin between life and death."},{"startTime":796.118,"endTime":799.198,"body":"The nearly two year long training Josh had to"},{"startTime":799.224,"endTime":802.666,"body":"endure was among the most rigorous in the US."},{"startTime":802.728,"endTime":807.24,"body":"Military, with a wash out rate of 90% to 95%."},{"startTime":809.01,"endTime":809.962,"body":"You know, if you look at it"},{"startTime":809.976,"endTime":813.782,"body":"from really, the Combat Control Foundational mission,"},{"startTime":813.926,"endTime":816.67,"body":"what it was was airfield seizures."},{"startTime":817.47,"endTime":819.838,"body":"There's a fantastic book called The First to"},{"startTime":819.864,"endTime":822.382,"body":"Jump by Jerome Priestler, and he kind of"},{"startTime":822.396,"endTime":826.258,"body":"talks about how combat control was set into"},{"startTime":826.284,"endTime":828.61,"body":"motion with the pathfinders of World War II."},{"startTime":829.65,"endTime":832.018,"body":"But yes, the majority of what we"},{"startTime":832.044,"endTime":834.878,"body":"were doing, especially in Afghanistan, was attaching"},{"startTime":834.914,"endTime":837.386,"body":"as a JTAC Joint Terminal Attack Controller."},{"startTime":837.518,"endTime":840.358,"body":"So you had to be able to do air"},{"startTime":840.384,"endTime":844.574,"body":"traffic control, land helicopters, maybe land fixed wing assets"},{"startTime":844.742,"endTime":847.786,"body":"on Austere airfields, on top of bringing all of"},{"startTime":847.788,"endTime":850.102,"body":"the close air support capability to that team."},{"startTime":850.176,"endTime":852.13,"body":"Because if you think about it in the terms of"},{"startTime":852.3,"endTime":856.906,"body":"special operations, with an ODA plus myself, plus maybe a"},{"startTime":856.908,"endTime":860.71,"body":"couple of other enablers, it's a pretty small team and"},{"startTime":860.76,"endTime":862.99,"body":"some of the fights that you could find yourself in."},{"startTime":863.04,"endTime":866.146,"body":"Yeah, airpower was absolutely critical. Yes."},{"startTime":866.268,"endTime":870.002,"body":"I mean, I've spoken to lots of Special Forces,"},{"startTime":870.086,"endTime":876.118,"body":"Seals, Delta Force, and they all talk about the"},{"startTime":876.144,"endTime":879.718,"body":"air controllers and how they saved their ass so"},{"startTime":879.744,"endTime":882.974,"body":"many times, like they would be in impossible situations"},{"startTime":883.082,"endTime":885.826,"body":"in firefights, and if it wasn't for that guy"},{"startTime":886.008,"endTime":891.794,"body":"with the headset, with all the computers usually wasn't"},{"startTime":891.842,"endTime":897.24,"body":"as ripped and crazy as they were."},{"startTime":898.29,"endTime":899.974,"body":"They would have never made it out of there."},{"startTime":900.012,"endTime":902.002,"body":"And sometimes they were like, I don't know how the"},{"startTime":902.016,"endTime":906.158,"body":"hell they did it because there was no room, planes"},{"startTime":906.194,"endTime":908.58,"body":"were coming in over our heads and so on."},{"startTime":909.45,"endTime":911.002,"body":"Can you tell I'm not ripped from here?"},{"startTime":911.016,"endTime":911.722,"body":"Is that what you're saying?"},{"startTime":911.796,"endTime":913.678,"body":"No, I'm not saying that at all."},{"startTime":913.764,"endTime":914.938,"body":"I'm not saying that at all."},{"startTime":914.964,"endTime":917.59,"body":"But they're always like, oh yeah, that little"},{"startTime":917.64,"endTime":921.9,"body":"guy on the computer with the headsets that"},{"startTime":922.35,"endTime":924.238,"body":"we never paid any attention to them."},{"startTime":924.264,"endTime":929.338,"body":"And then suddenly it's like, oh my God, get"},{"startTime":929.364,"endTime":931.498,"body":"us out of here, bring in air support."},{"startTime":931.584,"endTime":934.08,"body":"And he's doing all his stuff."},{"startTime":934.41,"endTime":935.354,"body":"Coordination."},{"startTime":935.462,"endTime":938.458,"body":"Yeah, there is no rhyme or reason I"},{"startTime":938.484,"endTime":940.87,"body":"found that to how the guys look."},{"startTime":940.92,"endTime":944.302,"body":"I remember day one on the selections lined up on the"},{"startTime":944.316,"endTime":946.522,"body":"pool deck and there was a guy next to me that"},{"startTime":946.536,"endTime":948.562,"body":"looked like a Calvin Klein model and the guy next to"},{"startTime":948.576,"endTime":950.626,"body":"me on this side looks like a Calvin Klein model and"},{"startTime":950.628,"endTime":952.75,"body":"I'm like, Maybe I'm in the wrong spot."},{"startTime":954.57,"endTime":957.058,"body":"But we've had short guys,"},{"startTime":957.144,"endTime":959.76,"body":"huge guys, everything in between."},{"startTime":960.27,"endTime":965.7,"body":"But yeah, the core capability, it's so cool over the years to"},{"startTime":966.33,"endTime":969.658,"body":"work with all the teams that I have and have guys come"},{"startTime":969.684,"endTime":971.194,"body":"up to me and say, oh, did you know this guy?"},{"startTime":971.232,"endTime":973.006,"body":"He was RCC during this time."},{"startTime":973.068,"endTime":975.278,"body":"And you're kind of standing on the shoulders"},{"startTime":975.314,"endTime":977.662,"body":"of giants at that point because that's a"},{"startTime":977.736,"endTime":979.162,"body":"long if you think about it."},{"startTime":979.176,"endTime":982.762,"body":"It's a long relationship building exercise to be able to"},{"startTime":982.776,"endTime":985.198,"body":"go to an ODA that's been together for a long"},{"startTime":985.224,"endTime":986.962,"body":"time or a Seal Platinum that's been together for a"},{"startTime":986.976,"endTime":992.134,"body":"long time and for them to trust you within that"},{"startTime":992.172,"endTime":995.938,"body":"organization and to go out with those guys. I loved it."},{"startTime":995.964,"endTime":997.238,"body":"I always thought that was one of the coolest"},{"startTime":997.274,"endTime":999.322,"body":"parts of the job, is that you better be"},{"startTime":999.336,"endTime":1002.18,"body":"ready to prove yourself every single time."},{"startTime":1002.51,"endTime":1007.674,"body":"And it's interesting that the role of the air"},{"startTime":1007.712,"endTime":1013.074,"body":"controller has changed so much and especially, I guess,"},{"startTime":1013.112,"endTime":1018.54,"body":"since just before the war on terror started."},{"startTime":1019.05,"endTime":1020.82,"body":"We really didn't know."},{"startTime":1022.69,"endTime":1025.094,"body":"The first time I heard about the"},{"startTime":1025.132,"endTime":1028.142,"body":"importance of air controllers was Afghanistan when"},{"startTime":1028.156,"endTime":1030.026,"body":"they first went in there in 2001."},{"startTime":1030.088,"endTime":1034.574,"body":"And these guys with all this equipment calling in B"},{"startTime":1034.612,"endTime":1038.089,"body":"52 strikes and I'm like, what are you talking about?"},{"startTime":1038.14,"endTime":1042.041,"body":"You have a guy with you who's like lighting up targets"},{"startTime":1042.066,"endTime":1046.502,"body":"from the ground and B 52s are locking in on it"},{"startTime":1046.516,"endTime":1051.146,"body":"and they're like, yeah, so can you talk about that a"},{"startTime":1051.148,"endTime":1054.52,"body":"little bit, how the role has changed over time?"},{"startTime":1054.91,"endTime":1055.814,"body":"Yeah, absolutely."},{"startTime":1055.972,"endTime":1057.28,"body":"You're exactly right."},{"startTime":1058.09,"endTime":1062.38,"body":"Afghanistan especially, we had had that capability before"},{"startTime":1063.67,"endTime":1066.314,"body":"for close air support, but at the time"},{"startTime":1066.352,"endTime":1069.822,"body":"it was called an Etac, not a JTAK."},{"startTime":1069.966,"endTime":1072.902,"body":"And so if you think about those early days in"},{"startTime":1072.916,"endTime":1077.358,"body":"Afghanistan, you have the horse soldiers, mass Sergeant Bart Decker,"},{"startTime":1077.394,"endTime":1079.91,"body":"who was on the cover of Time magazine."},{"startTime":1080.71,"endTime":1084.078,"body":"All of those kind of TTPs and principles"},{"startTime":1084.114,"endTime":1087.398,"body":"were put into play during that time."},{"startTime":1087.544,"endTime":1090.074,"body":"And it was really just the ingenuity and the"},{"startTime":1090.172,"endTime":1094.622,"body":"creative application of what they were trying to do"},{"startTime":1094.696,"endTime":1101.498,"body":"that stood up what the JTAG program became and"},{"startTime":1101.524,"endTime":1104.378,"body":"how it could utterly turn the tide of a"},{"startTime":1104.404,"endTime":1107.466,"body":"battle, especially in a place like Afghanistan."},{"startTime":1107.538,"endTime":1108.16,"body":"Absolutely."},{"startTime":1110.05,"endTime":1112.334,"body":"The first phase of the war in"},{"startTime":1112.372,"endTime":1116.186,"body":"2001 was basically won by air support."},{"startTime":1116.308,"endTime":1118.718,"body":"There were very few people on the ground and"},{"startTime":1118.744,"endTime":1121.958,"body":"it was just these guys, special Forces team with"},{"startTime":1121.984,"endTime":1126.074,"body":"an air controller attached, calling in air strikes, basically,"},{"startTime":1126.172,"endTime":1128.55,"body":"on Taliban and Al Qaeda targets."},{"startTime":1128.67,"endTime":1132.254,"body":"Yeah, I love reading up on that stuff."},{"startTime":1132.292,"endTime":1134.74,"body":"I think it's really cool. Yeah."},{"startTime":1135.73,"endTime":1139.454,"body":"So Josh, there must be a lot of"},{"startTime":1139.492,"endTime":1143.234,"body":"technical training aside from the physical stuff, which"},{"startTime":1143.272,"endTime":1145.982,"body":"you nail the technical side of."},{"startTime":1145.996,"endTime":1147.65,"body":"It must be pretty intense."},{"startTime":1148.99,"endTime":1149.92,"body":"It is."},{"startTime":1150.25,"endTime":1154.49,"body":"The Air Traffic Control School at the time was the"},{"startTime":1154.66,"endTime":1157.55,"body":"first place that we went to after our initial selection."},{"startTime":1158.41,"endTime":1163.17,"body":"And you report to the Combat Control Cadre instructors"},{"startTime":1163.23,"endTime":1165.362,"body":"for the first couple of hours of every morning."},{"startTime":1165.496,"endTime":1167.054,"body":"So you're doing your PT, your"},{"startTime":1167.092,"endTime":1169.72,"body":"beach runs, all of those things."},{"startTime":1170.23,"endTime":1172.058,"body":"Then you come back and you get changed real quick."},{"startTime":1172.084,"endTime":1174.282,"body":"And then you have to go through Air Force Air Traffic"},{"startTime":1174.306,"endTime":1176.81,"body":"Control School because that was one of the core skills."},{"startTime":1177.25,"endTime":1178.382,"body":"And we lost a lot of"},{"startTime":1178.396,"endTime":1180.914,"body":"guys just from the academics there."},{"startTime":1181.012,"endTime":1183.53,"body":"Not only the physical stuff, but the academics"},{"startTime":1184.45,"endTime":1185.774,"body":"for everything that we had to do."},{"startTime":1185.812,"endTime":1187.65,"body":"So, I mean, just right out of the gate"},{"startTime":1187.77,"endTime":1191.262,"body":"you're there working on becoming a licensed air traffic"},{"startTime":1191.286,"endTime":1193.54,"body":"controller for the first three and a half months."},{"startTime":1194.41,"endTime":1196.922,"body":"And that even under itself is kind of"},{"startTime":1196.936,"endTime":1199.96,"body":"a different language to try and learn."},{"startTime":1200.59,"endTime":1201.99,"body":"But yes, a lot of technical"},{"startTime":1202.05,"endTime":1206.03,"body":"skills manning different weapons systems."},{"startTime":1207.19,"endTime":1209.98,"body":"How do we coordinate air and ground power?"},{"startTime":1210.85,"endTime":1212.86,"body":"It's a very lengthy process."},{"startTime":1213.37,"endTime":1215.414,"body":"And then on top of all of that, your"},{"startTime":1215.452,"endTime":1219.122,"body":"Joint Terminal Attack Controller rating actually normally comes later."},{"startTime":1219.196,"endTime":1222.674,"body":"You have to go to your unit and then from"},{"startTime":1222.712,"endTime":1227.838,"body":"there they decide to get you trained up and decide"},{"startTime":1227.874,"endTime":1231.998,"body":"if you are a good fit for the JTAC program. Right."},{"startTime":1232.084,"endTime":1233.378,"body":"So first you learn how to"},{"startTime":1233.404,"endTime":1236.98,"body":"be an air traffic controller, correct? Yeah."},{"startTime":1237.49,"endTime":1241.326,"body":"And is that because if you take over an airfield,"},{"startTime":1241.458,"endTime":1244.926,"body":"you have to fly guys like you in to immediately"},{"startTime":1244.998,"endTime":1249.182,"body":"start coordinating landings and take offs and so on?"},{"startTime":1249.316,"endTime":1250.118,"body":"Correct? Yeah."},{"startTime":1250.144,"endTime":1252.642,"body":"So I think you look at Granada,"},{"startTime":1252.666,"endTime":1255.146,"body":"that's a perfect historical example of this."},{"startTime":1255.328,"endTime":1258.278,"body":"You could have guys jump in to"},{"startTime":1258.304,"endTime":1259.638,"body":"take over and secure the airfield."},{"startTime":1259.674,"endTime":1261.098,"body":"And then the next step is you've got to"},{"startTime":1261.124,"endTime":1264.362,"body":"bring in all of the airpower behind it."},{"startTime":1264.436,"endTime":1268.958,"body":"The refueling capabilities, the equipment, all"},{"startTime":1268.984,"endTime":1271.094,"body":"the communications, all of those things"},{"startTime":1271.132,"endTime":1272.51,"body":"have to come in afterwards."},{"startTime":1274.51,"endTime":1277.386,"body":"That is and still remains one of our legacy missions."},{"startTime":1277.518,"endTime":1281.57,"body":"So you're able to do both that and deploy with"},{"startTime":1281.68,"endTime":1285.986,"body":"the Special Operations team on the ground that's correct."},{"startTime":1286.048,"endTime":1286.274,"body":"Yeah."},{"startTime":1286.312,"endTime":1289.418,"body":"So some of the core Special Tactics missions, if you"},{"startTime":1289.444,"endTime":1292.334,"body":"look at them as what they call global access, which"},{"startTime":1292.372,"endTime":1298.6,"body":"would be airfield seizure operations, assault zone operations, and then"},{"startTime":1299.05,"endTime":1301.422,"body":"on top of that, and you kind of get formed"},{"startTime":1301.446,"endTime":1303.662,"body":"into two different categories a lot of the times."},{"startTime":1303.796,"endTime":1305.682,"body":"And so sometimes you'll be doing that mission"},{"startTime":1305.706,"endTime":1308.802,"body":"as a combat controller, and then the JTAG"},{"startTime":1308.826,"endTime":1310.262,"body":"mission is the one that's gotten a little"},{"startTime":1310.276,"endTime":1313.118,"body":"more press and that is getting attached to"},{"startTime":1313.144,"endTime":1316.43,"body":"another soft unit and deploying with those guys."},{"startTime":1316.54,"endTime":1318.582,"body":"And your primary role is delivering"},{"startTime":1318.606,"endTime":1320.102,"body":"close air support on the battery. Okay."},{"startTime":1320.176,"endTime":1324.05,"body":"So is that a whole other phase of training? It is."},{"startTime":1324.1,"endTime":1325.442,"body":"That's a whole another school"},{"startTime":1325.516,"endTime":1328.9,"body":"and qualification to go through. Wow."},{"startTime":1329.83,"endTime":1331.48,"body":"How long does that last?"},{"startTime":1332.05,"endTime":1334.12,"body":"It's largely dependent on the individual."},{"startTime":1334.81,"endTime":1337.874,"body":"Normally a JTAC initial qualification course"},{"startTime":1337.912,"endTime":1339.16,"body":"is about a month long."},{"startTime":1339.91,"endTime":1341.438,"body":"And then once you make it through that, then"},{"startTime":1341.464,"endTime":1344.09,"body":"you have to work on basically your mission readiness."},{"startTime":1344.95,"endTime":1347.834,"body":"And so you're going to be doing a lot"},{"startTime":1347.872,"endTime":1352.518,"body":"of working with close air support aircraft, strike aircraft,"},{"startTime":1352.554,"endTime":1356.44,"body":"your rotary wing aircraft, artillery, things like that."},{"startTime":1357.73,"endTime":1360.41,"body":"You've got to understand the capability"},{"startTime":1360.85,"endTime":1363.842,"body":"of each kind of aircraft, right? That's correct."},{"startTime":1363.916,"endTime":1365.85,"body":"And what kind of conditions"},{"startTime":1365.91,"endTime":1369.4,"body":"they can deliver effective support."},{"startTime":1370.03,"endTime":1371.57,"body":"Right, absolutely."},{"startTime":1371.74,"endTime":1373.95,"body":"There's a lot of technical knowledge"},{"startTime":1374.01,"endTime":1376.466,"body":"that you have to have. Yeah, absolutely."},{"startTime":1376.588,"endTime":1381.734,"body":"So from even the airframe capability itself, down to"},{"startTime":1381.772,"endTime":1386.258,"body":"what they bring in sensor suites and what they"},{"startTime":1386.284,"endTime":1389.498,"body":"bring in their communication suite, and then obviously the"},{"startTime":1389.524,"endTime":1392.81,"body":"weaponeering, having to know the vast array of different"},{"startTime":1392.86,"endTime":1395.282,"body":"types of air to ground munitions that can be"},{"startTime":1395.296,"endTime":1398.634,"body":"deployed and then knowing how to use those effectively"},{"startTime":1398.682,"endTime":1402.22,"body":"against specific target sets. Wow. Amazing."},{"startTime":1403.93,"endTime":1408.47,"body":"Okay, so when do you first deploy?"},{"startTime":1409.57,"endTime":1410.978,"body":"Am I missing something?"},{"startTime":1411.124,"endTime":1414.614,"body":"If I'm skipping something, please just jump in."},{"startTime":1414.712,"endTime":1420.17,"body":"But when do you first deploy and how does that happen?"},{"startTime":1420.34,"endTime":1422.86,"body":"What is the process there? Sure."},{"startTime":1423.43,"endTime":1426.446,"body":"So I graduated the Special Tactics Training"},{"startTime":1426.508,"endTime":1430.158,"body":"Schoolhouse towards the end of 2014, November"},{"startTime":1430.254,"endTime":1433.082,"body":"2014, and my first duty station was"},{"startTime":1433.096,"endTime":1435.77,"body":"the 23rd Special Tactics Squadron in Hurlburg."},{"startTime":1436.39,"endTime":1440.81,"body":"So I reported to the team and they were"},{"startTime":1440.86,"endTime":1443.486,"body":"in the process of their pre deployment spin up."},{"startTime":1443.608,"endTime":1446.702,"body":"So at the time, initially I was told that I"},{"startTime":1446.716,"endTime":1448.478,"body":"was not going to be deploying, that they were going"},{"startTime":1448.504,"endTime":1451.85,"body":"to send me to start working on my JTAC rating."},{"startTime":1452.65,"endTime":1455.102,"body":"That quickly changed because somebody wasn't going"},{"startTime":1455.116,"endTime":1456.33,"body":"to be able to make the deployment."},{"startTime":1456.39,"endTime":1460.322,"body":"So I actually got selected to be on one of"},{"startTime":1460.336,"endTime":1465.194,"body":"those combat control teams to go into Afghanistan and be"},{"startTime":1465.232,"endTime":1468.71,"body":"working more the traditional combat control legacy mission."},{"startTime":1469.21,"endTime":1471.386,"body":"So run an airfields and things like that."},{"startTime":1471.448,"endTime":1475.038,"body":"So I deployed March of 2015 to Afghanistan"},{"startTime":1475.074,"endTime":1477.326,"body":"for the first time in that role. Okay."},{"startTime":1477.508,"endTime":1480.23,"body":"Did you get an opportunity to run"},{"startTime":1480.34,"endTime":1484.19,"body":"an airstrip or work at a base? I did."},{"startTime":1484.3,"endTime":1487.358,"body":"We were predominantly staged out of Bagram at the"},{"startTime":1487.384,"endTime":1489.82,"body":"time, but we were bouncing all over the country."},{"startTime":1490.39,"endTime":1492.182,"body":"One of the big things that was going down at"},{"startTime":1492.196,"endTime":1495.434,"body":"that time was the Kundus area was under attack."},{"startTime":1495.532,"endTime":1498.434,"body":"And so they flushed a couple of different"},{"startTime":1498.472,"endTime":1501.722,"body":"ODAS up there to reinforce and support."},{"startTime":1501.916,"endTime":1506.298,"body":"And then I myself and my team leader were both chosen"},{"startTime":1506.334,"endTime":1510.498,"body":"to go up there to act as the kind of airfield"},{"startTime":1510.534,"endTime":1513.254,"body":"liaisons to help run the airfield and things like that."},{"startTime":1513.292,"endTime":1515.318,"body":"So it was cool because it was my"},{"startTime":1515.344,"endTime":1518.462,"body":"first opportunity to integrate with the ODAS, kind"},{"startTime":1518.476,"endTime":1519.938,"body":"of start shooting with them and everything."},{"startTime":1520.024,"endTime":1523.202,"body":"And it's so funny because a lot of"},{"startTime":1523.216,"endTime":1524.558,"body":"people don't know that there's kind of those"},{"startTime":1524.584,"endTime":1526.722,"body":"two different vision sets for combat controllers."},{"startTime":1526.746,"endTime":1529.818,"body":"So they would always just refer to me as a JTAK."},{"startTime":1529.854,"endTime":1531.326,"body":"And I said, well, technically I'm not a"},{"startTime":1531.328,"endTime":1534.438,"body":"JTAK yet, and scratching their head and confusing,"},{"startTime":1534.474,"endTime":1536.442,"body":"but, well, yeah, but she talked to airplanes."},{"startTime":1536.466,"endTime":1537.4,"body":"I'm like, yeah."},{"startTime":1538.27,"endTime":1540.158,"body":"So we kind of had to work through that."},{"startTime":1540.184,"endTime":1541.682,"body":"But it was an awesome time."},{"startTime":1541.876,"endTime":1542.978,"body":"I got to work with my team"},{"startTime":1543.004,"endTime":1545.39,"body":"leader, who was a well established JTAC."},{"startTime":1545.83,"endTime":1548.418,"body":"And so we were already going through exercises."},{"startTime":1548.454,"endTime":1550.038,"body":"He was kind of teaching me the lingo"},{"startTime":1550.074,"endTime":1551.222,"body":"because that's what I wanted to be."},{"startTime":1551.236,"endTime":1553.36,"body":"I wanted to go and deploy with"},{"startTime":1554.77,"endTime":1556.97,"body":"a team and provide that capability."},{"startTime":1557.41,"endTime":1560.26,"body":"Okay, and when did you get that first opportunity?"},{"startTime":1560.95,"endTime":1563.562,"body":"So I came back from that deployment"},{"startTime":1563.646,"endTime":1566.5,"body":"and immediately went into the JTAG program."},{"startTime":1568.75,"endTime":1572.534,"body":"Joint Terminal Attack Controller, or JTAC is"},{"startTime":1572.572,"endTime":1574.082,"body":"the term used in the US."},{"startTime":1574.156,"endTime":1577.454,"body":"Armed Forces and other militaries around the world for"},{"startTime":1577.492,"endTime":1581.114,"body":"a qualified service member who directs the action of"},{"startTime":1581.152,"endTime":1585.29,"body":"combat aircraft engaged in close air support and other"},{"startTime":1585.34,"endTime":1588.28,"body":"offensive air operations from a forward position."},{"startTime":1589.03,"endTime":1592.826,"body":"In 2016, when Josh had completed his training"},{"startTime":1592.888,"endTime":1595.622,"body":"and was ready to deploy, he expected to"},{"startTime":1595.636,"endTime":1598.326,"body":"go to Afghanistan to support a Special Forces"},{"startTime":1598.398,"endTime":1601.24,"body":"A team on commando missions there."},{"startTime":1601.63,"endTime":1603.834,"body":"But he was sent instead to Iraq"},{"startTime":1603.942,"endTime":1605.63,"body":"to work with Iraqi and US."},{"startTime":1605.68,"endTime":1608.594,"body":"Special operation units that were gearing up"},{"startTime":1608.632,"endTime":1611.15,"body":"to liberate the northern city of Mosul."},{"startTime":1611.59,"endTime":1615.026,"body":"Two years earlier, Iraq's second most populous city"},{"startTime":1615.088,"endTime":1620.154,"body":"had fallen to approximately 10 ISIS militants, largely"},{"startTime":1620.202,"endTime":1623.678,"body":"because of the Sunni population's deep distrust of"},{"startTime":1623.704,"endTime":1626.44,"body":"the primarily Shia Iraqi government."},{"startTime":1627.37,"endTime":1630.374,"body":"Since then, Mosul had become the center of"},{"startTime":1630.412,"endTime":1633.75,"body":"ISIS expansion into northern Iraq and Syria."},{"startTime":1633.87,"endTime":1637.518,"body":"In September 2016, when Josh arrived"},{"startTime":1637.554,"endTime":1640.046,"body":"in Iraq, a coalition of U. S."},{"startTime":1640.108,"endTime":1643.974,"body":"Special operators and Iraqi forces were preparing"},{"startTime":1644.022,"endTime":1646.73,"body":"to drive ISIS out of Mosul."},{"startTime":1647.53,"endTime":1651.146,"body":"Two years earlier, Iraq's second most populous city"},{"startTime":1651.208,"endTime":1655.974,"body":"had fallen to approximately 1000 ISIS fighters, largely"},{"startTime":1656.022,"endTime":1659.378,"body":"because of the Sunni population deep distrust of"},{"startTime":1659.404,"endTime":1662.2,"body":"the primarily Shia Iraqi government."},{"startTime":1663.31,"endTime":1666.134,"body":"Since then, Mosul had become the center of"},{"startTime":1666.172,"endTime":1669.41,"body":"ISIS expansion into northern Iraq and Syria."},{"startTime":1669.79,"endTime":1673.254,"body":"In September 2012, when Josh arrived"},{"startTime":1673.302,"endTime":1675.47,"body":"in Iraq, a coalition of US."},{"startTime":1675.52,"endTime":1679.218,"body":"Special operators and Iraqi forces made up of Iraqi"},{"startTime":1679.254,"endTime":1685.866,"body":"security forces, the ISF Popular Mobilization Forces and Peshmerga"},{"startTime":1685.938,"endTime":1690.138,"body":"and Kurdist Freedom Party fighters from Kurdistan were preparing"},{"startTime":1690.174,"endTime":1692.51,"body":"to drive ISIS out of Mosul."},{"startTime":1695.39,"endTime":1699.018,"body":"So a lot of times, very similar to how the"},{"startTime":1699.044,"endTime":1704.562,"body":"ODAS are there to provide either a Ta, A-T-A or"},{"startTime":1704.576,"endTime":1708.282,"body":"a Tip AAA mission, train, advise, train, advise, assist, or"},{"startTime":1708.296,"endTime":1712.15,"body":"train, advise, assist a company with their Afghan counterparts."},{"startTime":1712.21,"endTime":1716.482,"body":"This was very similar makeup in Iraq."},{"startTime":1716.626,"endTime":1718.318,"body":"So we had some Seal platoons"},{"startTime":1718.354,"endTime":1720.79,"body":"that were supporting the Kurdish Peshmerga."},{"startTime":1720.91,"endTime":1723.898,"body":"We had some Seal platoons that were supporting"},{"startTime":1723.934,"endTime":1726.39,"body":"some of the different Afghan army counterparts."},{"startTime":1727.01,"endTime":1729.502,"body":"And then the platoon that I was assigned"},{"startTime":1729.526,"endTime":1735.178,"body":"to specifically was supporting the Iraqi Isof counterterrorism."},{"startTime":1735.274,"endTime":1736.76,"body":"And what were they like? Service."},{"startTime":1737.87,"endTime":1740.806,"body":"We moved in when we were initially"},{"startTime":1740.998,"endTime":1744.066,"body":"set up was Camp Spiker, Iraq. Okay."},{"startTime":1744.188,"endTime":1748.258,"body":"That was once a massive airfield, a massive spread."},{"startTime":1748.354,"endTime":1749.154,"body":"And where is that?"},{"startTime":1749.192,"endTime":1752.338,"body":"In the Kurdish area or more down south."},{"startTime":1752.374,"endTime":1753.79,"body":"So it is closer to Crit."},{"startTime":1753.85,"endTime":1754.954,"body":"And it was bare bones."},{"startTime":1755.002,"endTime":1757.014,"body":"I mean, it looked like a ghost town in there."},{"startTime":1757.052,"endTime":1760.062,"body":"You had the Iraqi counterterrorism service that was kind"},{"startTime":1760.076,"endTime":1763.062,"body":"of gearing up, and then we had to kind"},{"startTime":1763.076,"endTime":1766.674,"body":"of set up the base camp, everything like that."},{"startTime":1766.772,"endTime":1771.318,"body":"It was lean living in those early days, but our"},{"startTime":1771.344,"endTime":1775.758,"body":"mission was training, advise, assist, and then a company as"},{"startTime":1775.784,"endTime":1780.474,"body":"well, because it was a completely different fight than what"},{"startTime":1780.512,"endTime":1783.762,"body":"most people were used to at the time, where you"},{"startTime":1783.776,"endTime":1787.134,"body":"would go into maybe a small village in Afghanistan with"},{"startTime":1787.172,"endTime":1791.562,"body":"your ODA plus your 30 to 40 Afghan commandos and"},{"startTime":1791.576,"endTime":1792.742,"body":"do a village clearance."},{"startTime":1792.886,"endTime":1795.282,"body":"This was flat forward line of"},{"startTime":1795.296,"endTime":1798.57,"body":"troops, warfare like, big maneuver elements."},{"startTime":1799.43,"endTime":1801.26,"body":"And the Isoft guys were great."},{"startTime":1802.01,"endTime":1803.97,"body":"They were aggressive."},{"startTime":1805.79,"endTime":1809.802,"body":"There seemed to be a level of patriotism and"},{"startTime":1809.996,"endTime":1813.03,"body":"disdain for what ISIS had done to their country."},{"startTime":1813.14,"endTime":1816.03,"body":"And, man, they were motivated. That's great."},{"startTime":1816.2,"endTime":1817.64,"body":"We are welcomed in."},{"startTime":1817.97,"endTime":1822.08,"body":"I don't think the American people hear that enough."},{"startTime":1822.47,"endTime":1822.834,"body":"Yeah."},{"startTime":1822.872,"endTime":1825.822,"body":"The level of dedication that a lot of"},{"startTime":1825.836,"endTime":1828.798,"body":"the local troops bring to the fight. Yeah."},{"startTime":1828.824,"endTime":1831.978,"body":"And Isofth was a unique entity, and I didn't learn"},{"startTime":1832.004,"endTime":1833.43,"body":"a lot of these things until it was in country,"},{"startTime":1833.48,"endTime":1835.714,"body":"but they're kind of rock stars in Iraq."},{"startTime":1835.882,"endTime":1840.03,"body":"They've got music videos and stuff like that. Wow."},{"startTime":1840.2,"endTime":1841.098,"body":"You can Google it."},{"startTime":1841.124,"endTime":1842.682,"body":"I remember looking it up, and I got"},{"startTime":1842.696,"endTime":1845.934,"body":"these Isofth guys dancing around these music videos."},{"startTime":1846.092,"endTime":1850.866,"body":"And they're all us trained at the time? Yes and no."},{"startTime":1850.928,"endTime":1851.478,"body":"Okay."},{"startTime":1851.624,"endTime":1854.262,"body":"Obviously we had our guys that were working with them and"},{"startTime":1854.276,"endTime":1858.874,"body":"training them, but this was kind of the big initiative whenever"},{"startTime":1858.922,"endTime":1861.522,"body":"NATO and everybody decided that they were going to go in"},{"startTime":1861.536,"endTime":1863.36,"body":"and we were going to push ISIS out."},{"startTime":1864.47,"endTime":1868.95,"body":"So it was a very large scale endeavor."},{"startTime":1869.45,"endTime":1871.102,"body":"There was Canadian software."},{"startTime":1871.186,"endTime":1874.698,"body":"There was not only the"},{"startTime":1874.784,"endTime":1876.31,"body":"local populace and their fighters."},{"startTime":1876.37,"endTime":1878.36,"body":"You had French guys."},{"startTime":1879.23,"endTime":1881.37,"body":"I mean, you had people from all"},{"startTime":1881.42,"endTime":1884.01,"body":"over that joined in to help out. Wow."},{"startTime":1884.06,"endTime":1886.438,"body":"So a lot of coordination involved."},{"startTime":1886.594,"endTime":1887.674,"body":"A lot of coordination."},{"startTime":1887.722,"endTime":1890.622,"body":"And, you know, the way I had to start wrapping my"},{"startTime":1890.636,"endTime":1892.818,"body":"mind around it was, okay, hey, these are my guys."},{"startTime":1892.964,"endTime":1894.522,"body":"We come up with our portion of the"},{"startTime":1894.536,"endTime":1896.48,"body":"plan that fits into the bigger plan."},{"startTime":1897.11,"endTime":1900.462,"body":"And then myself specifically as a JTAC and."},{"startTime":1900.476,"endTime":1902.202,"body":"A combat controller, I had to start looking at how"},{"startTime":1902.216,"endTime":1906.07,"body":"can I specifically help and support these guys, because airpower"},{"startTime":1906.13,"endTime":1909.738,"body":"played a very large role in this battle as well."},{"startTime":1909.764,"endTime":1911.202,"body":"A lot of people don't realize I mean, this was"},{"startTime":1911.216,"endTime":1916.198,"body":"the biggest offensive since 2003 when we went into Iraq."},{"startTime":1916.294,"endTime":1919.422,"body":"The United States went into Iraq, and a lot"},{"startTime":1919.436,"endTime":1921.822,"body":"of people say it was the biggest or the"},{"startTime":1921.836,"endTime":1924.27,"body":"largest scale urban warfare since World War II."},{"startTime":1925.19,"endTime":1928.482,"body":"So the objective was mosul, but there was a"},{"startTime":1928.496,"endTime":1931.842,"body":"lot of towns and pockets of ISIS along the"},{"startTime":1931.856,"endTime":1933.5,"body":"way that we had to deal with."},{"startTime":1934.43,"endTime":1936.74,"body":"So it was a wild time."},{"startTime":1937.19,"endTime":1941.322,"body":"I had to learn a lot really quickly because we kind"},{"startTime":1941.336,"endTime":1944.91,"body":"of just anticipated that it was going to be Afghanistan like"},{"startTime":1945.02,"endTime":1949.078,"body":"in the airspace picture, but there was a lot of teams"},{"startTime":1949.114,"endTime":1951.03,"body":"that were going to be converging in at the same place"},{"startTime":1951.08,"endTime":1954.462,"body":"at the same time, so it required a lot of detail"},{"startTime":1954.536,"endTime":1956.766,"body":"coordination to get it right, I bet."},{"startTime":1956.828,"endTime":1959.358,"body":"And the fact that you have different countries in"},{"startTime":1959.384,"endTime":1963.054,"body":"there as well, are you working with them?"},{"startTime":1963.092,"endTime":1964.638,"body":"I mean, you have to coordinate with them"},{"startTime":1964.664,"endTime":1967.194,"body":"to a certain extent because they probably had"},{"startTime":1967.232,"endTime":1973.338,"body":"air assets in theater as well, right? Exactly. Yeah."},{"startTime":1973.484,"endTime":1975.75,"body":"The British had put up some typhoons."},{"startTime":1976.73,"endTime":1979.99,"body":"We had air assets from all different countries."},{"startTime":1980.05,"endTime":1984.15,"body":"Belgian aircraft, French aircraft."},{"startTime":1985.31,"endTime":1987.438,"body":"There was a whole bunch that were being thrown into"},{"startTime":1987.464,"endTime":1991.29,"body":"the mix, so you never really knew, if you're going"},{"startTime":1991.34,"endTime":1994.278,"body":"out, who was going to be tasked to support you."},{"startTime":1994.424,"endTime":1995.814,"body":"So sometimes you had us."},{"startTime":1995.852,"endTime":1998.202,"body":"Aircraft, sometimes you had different NATO aircraft that"},{"startTime":1998.216,"endTime":2001.01,"body":"were supporting you, and you're able to communicate"},{"startTime":2001.69,"endTime":2004.802,"body":"with all of them easily or not."},{"startTime":2004.876,"endTime":2007.54,"body":"I would imagine that's pretty difficult."},{"startTime":2008.35,"endTime":2011.26,"body":"Easily is the right word."},{"startTime":2012.37,"endTime":2013.3,"body":"Got it."},{"startTime":2013.81,"endTime":2016.494,"body":"Well, everybody has the same common language."},{"startTime":2016.602,"endTime":2020.63,"body":"It's kind of English is the common language for ATC."},{"startTime":2021.37,"endTime":2024.674,"body":"So yes, in that regard, it was just some"},{"startTime":2024.712,"endTime":2026.978,"body":"differences in how the aircraft were employed and some"},{"startTime":2027.004,"endTime":2031.254,"body":"TTPs and things like that, but surprisingly, it wasn't"},{"startTime":2031.302,"endTime":2032.594,"body":"as difficult as you would think."},{"startTime":2032.632,"endTime":2035.678,"body":"Some aircraft, just because of the thick accents and"},{"startTime":2035.704,"endTime":2038.2,"body":"things like that, became rather difficult to work with."},{"startTime":2039.07,"endTime":2042.39,"body":"But luckily, most of the time we had American assets."},{"startTime":2042.51,"endTime":2043.18,"body":"Okay."},{"startTime":2043.81,"endTime":2045.002,"body":"For our guys anyway."},{"startTime":2045.076,"endTime":2050.714,"body":"Okay, josh, before we get into specific battles that"},{"startTime":2050.812,"endTime":2053.641,"body":"you were involved in, if you could talk a"},{"startTime":2053.656,"endTime":2057.76,"body":"little bit about how you do your job and"},{"startTime":2059.23,"endTime":2062.09,"body":"when you go into the battlefield, what are you"},{"startTime":2062.139,"endTime":2064.429,"body":"bringing with you in terms of equipment?"},{"startTime":2065.77,"endTime":2069.641,"body":"So from the preparation phase for me, when I'm"},{"startTime":2069.666,"endTime":2073.025,"body":"always most interested in and kind of our role"},{"startTime":2073.217,"endTime":2076.01,"body":"is bringing together air and ground players."},{"startTime":2076.63,"endTime":2080.838,"body":"If the ground Seal platoon wants to, they're"},{"startTime":2080.873,"endTime":2082.658,"body":"obviously working day in and day out with"},{"startTime":2082.684,"endTime":2084.52,"body":"the Isoft guys at this time."},{"startTime":2085.09,"endTime":2089.222,"body":"They would develop a joint plan, and then we"},{"startTime":2089.235,"endTime":2091.634,"body":"would get together and they would say, okay, this"},{"startTime":2091.672,"endTime":2093.158,"body":"is where we're going to go, or this is"},{"startTime":2093.184,"endTime":2095.199,"body":"the town that we're going to go."},{"startTime":2095.71,"endTime":2098.62,"body":"Liberate we're going to go clear it."},{"startTime":2099.79,"endTime":2101.822,"body":"It then became my job to figure out"},{"startTime":2101.836,"endTime":2103.982,"body":"how to work our assets into it."},{"startTime":2104.176,"endTime":2106.634,"body":"A big part of my job, and you'll hear from"},{"startTime":2106.672,"endTime":2108.662,"body":"a lot of our guys, is we're sitting there and"},{"startTime":2108.676,"endTime":2111.362,"body":"we're thinking about all the different contingencies, okay, if I"},{"startTime":2111.376,"endTime":2114.53,"body":"get this type of aircraft, how best can they support?"},{"startTime":2114.7,"endTime":2117.398,"body":"Not only that, how can I utilize those assets, not"},{"startTime":2117.424,"endTime":2119.754,"body":"just in the strike role, but as a reconnaissance role?"},{"startTime":2119.862,"endTime":2121.83,"body":"Now I have extra eyes in the sky."},{"startTime":2121.95,"endTime":2124.01,"body":"That's my early alert network."},{"startTime":2124.81,"endTime":2126.458,"body":"So you go to ground just kind of"},{"startTime":2126.484,"endTime":2129.294,"body":"really making sure that you understand the ground"},{"startTime":2129.342,"endTime":2132.638,"body":"tactical plan, but then also being able to"},{"startTime":2132.664,"endTime":2135.098,"body":"translate that to the airplayers to make sure"},{"startTime":2135.124,"endTime":2138.674,"body":"that everything is integrated as seamlessly as possible."},{"startTime":2138.772,"endTime":2141.64,"body":"And that was kind of how I approached those problems."},{"startTime":2142.45,"endTime":2145.538,"body":"In terms of equipment, you got the"},{"startTime":2145.564,"endTime":2147.314,"body":"standard loadout that you would probably see"},{"startTime":2147.352,"endTime":2149.466,"body":"most ground special operations forces."},{"startTime":2149.538,"endTime":2154.298,"body":"So primary weapon, I often carried a M 203"},{"startTime":2154.384,"endTime":2159.882,"body":"grenade launcher with smoke rounds and Http rounds."},{"startTime":2160.026,"endTime":2162.158,"body":"So if I needed to, if an aircraft was having"},{"startTime":2162.184,"endTime":2163.898,"body":"a hard time getting talked on the target, I could"},{"startTime":2163.924,"endTime":2167.38,"body":"utilize the smoke grenades to help dial them in."},{"startTime":2167.89,"endTime":2169.658,"body":"DualCom is kind of a standard."},{"startTime":2169.744,"endTime":2171.078,"body":"I would have two different radios."},{"startTime":2171.114,"endTime":2173.138,"body":"One I could communicate to the ground party and one"},{"startTime":2173.164,"endTime":2175.54,"body":"that I was communicating to the air players with."},{"startTime":2176.23,"endTime":2179.774,"body":"I would normally have a SATCOM capability as well."},{"startTime":2179.932,"endTime":2182.44,"body":"So communications was a huge piece."},{"startTime":2183.13,"endTime":2185.586,"body":"Essential, absolutely essential."},{"startTime":2185.778,"endTime":2188.738,"body":"Battle tracking, that's probably one of the"},{"startTime":2188.764,"endTime":2191.886,"body":"biggest, and especially my battle tracking."},{"startTime":2191.958,"endTime":2196.238,"body":"Josh so whenever we would go in, you have to think"},{"startTime":2196.264,"endTime":2200.498,"body":"about as I'm leaning forward and thinking about the application of"},{"startTime":2200.524,"endTime":2202.526,"body":"air power, I need to know where every single one of"},{"startTime":2202.528,"endTime":2205.502,"body":"my guys are at any given time, because that is one"},{"startTime":2205.516,"endTime":2210.354,"body":"of the worst fears of a JTAK is fratricide."},{"startTime":2210.522,"endTime":2212.222,"body":"At no point do you want to get"},{"startTime":2212.236,"endTime":2214.36,"body":"these munitions too close to your guys."},{"startTime":2214.87,"endTime":2218.346,"body":"Sometimes it's unavoidable, but you have mitigation"},{"startTime":2218.418,"endTime":2221.018,"body":"measures that you put in place to"},{"startTime":2221.044,"endTime":2222.554,"body":"make sure that that doesn't happen."},{"startTime":2222.652,"endTime":2225.638,"body":"And so that was one of the huge ones, is trying"},{"startTime":2225.664,"endTime":2228.878,"body":"to keep track of where all the Isoft guys, where all"},{"startTime":2228.904,"endTime":2234.098,"body":"the Seals calling out, and knowing where any civilians may be,"},{"startTime":2234.184,"endTime":2238.67,"body":"because it was absolutely a mission of mine."},{"startTime":2239.35,"endTime":2242.378,"body":"Most all of our guys, you never want to"},{"startTime":2242.404,"endTime":2245.87,"body":"put anybody in harm's way that doesn't deserve it."},{"startTime":2245.92,"endTime":2248.51,"body":"And ISIS was vicious with that."},{"startTime":2248.56,"endTime":2250.838,"body":"They would use human shields, they"},{"startTime":2250.864,"endTime":2253.418,"body":"would bring civilians into the fight."},{"startTime":2253.564,"endTime":2256.494,"body":"And so we had to be really deliberate."},{"startTime":2256.542,"endTime":2259.118,"body":"And it became incumbent upon me to be able"},{"startTime":2259.144,"endTime":2262.13,"body":"to weapon, hearer, and pick things that were not"},{"startTime":2262.18,"endTime":2266.238,"body":"going to do any unnecessary harm to any civilian"},{"startTime":2266.274,"endTime":2269.294,"body":"populace, and especially my guys as well."},{"startTime":2269.452,"endTime":2272.74,"body":"Josh how do you track that in practical terms?"},{"startTime":2274.57,"endTime":2277.374,"body":"A lot of our old school guys, they have maps"},{"startTime":2277.422,"endTime":2280.446,"body":"and markers, and they were just going and tracking."},{"startTime":2280.578,"endTime":2282.878,"body":"Wow, everybody has their own so you're on the"},{"startTime":2282.904,"endTime":2284.934,"body":"phone, you're on the headset, you got your sat"},{"startTime":2284.982,"endTime":2289.394,"body":"phone, and you're looking at a map. Correct."},{"startTime":2289.552,"endTime":2292.098,"body":"A lot of times we call them gridded reference graphics."},{"startTime":2292.254,"endTime":2293.526,"body":"It was going to be a layout"},{"startTime":2293.598,"endTime":2296.27,"body":"of everywhere we were going, overhead imagery."},{"startTime":2296.77,"endTime":2300.302,"body":"And then we also had a couple of different apparatuses that"},{"startTime":2300.436,"endTime":2302.98,"body":"basically would look like a small phone or a small computer"},{"startTime":2303.55,"endTime":2306.498,"body":"that allowed us to battle track a lot easier."},{"startTime":2306.654,"endTime":2308.858,"body":"You can lean on those devices to make sure"},{"startTime":2308.884,"endTime":2313.67,"body":"you knew where you guys were, calculate distances, final"},{"startTime":2313.72,"endTime":2315.782,"body":"attack headings and things like that, so that you"},{"startTime":2315.796,"endTime":2320.346,"body":"could mitigate any risk to friendlies on the ground"},{"startTime":2320.538,"endTime":2322.494,"body":"should you need to deliver airpower."},{"startTime":2322.662,"endTime":2327.386,"body":"Wow, that's a lot of responsibility. It was."},{"startTime":2327.448,"endTime":2329.618,"body":"And I tell people, I don't know if I was"},{"startTime":2329.644,"endTime":2331.238,"body":"the greatest at the job, but I know I was"},{"startTime":2331.264,"endTime":2334.07,"body":"effective at it, and I took it very seriously."},{"startTime":2334.99,"endTime":2337.922,"body":"I have to yeah, split second, right?"},{"startTime":2337.996,"endTime":2340.878,"body":"You're making split second decisions"},{"startTime":2340.914,"endTime":2341.75,"body":"one after the other."},{"startTime":2341.8,"endTime":2344.26,"body":"I would imagine you are, and"},{"startTime":2345.31,"endTime":2346.926,"body":"you're working together with the pilots."},{"startTime":2346.998,"endTime":2348.578,"body":"And then on top of that, I"},{"startTime":2348.604,"endTime":2350.382,"body":"worked for the Seal platoon leader."},{"startTime":2350.466,"endTime":2352.31,"body":"He was the Ground Force commander."},{"startTime":2353.05,"endTime":2355.674,"body":"So you kind of had this triangle, this trifecta,"},{"startTime":2355.722,"endTime":2358.958,"body":"where I could make recommendations on how to best"},{"startTime":2359.044,"endTime":2361.96,"body":"solve the air to ground problem that we needed."},{"startTime":2362.65,"endTime":2364.91,"body":"And luckily, I had a lot of trust"},{"startTime":2364.96,"endTime":2366.506,"body":"built up with those guys at that point."},{"startTime":2366.568,"endTime":2368.62,"body":"So that kind of expedites the process."},{"startTime":2369.55,"endTime":2372.462,"body":"And when you have the pilots, the platoon"},{"startTime":2372.486,"endTime":2375.074,"body":"leader, or the ground force commander and yourself"},{"startTime":2375.172,"endTime":2378.05,"body":"all in concert working together, it can become"},{"startTime":2378.1,"endTime":2380.462,"body":"a very expedite and streamlined process."},{"startTime":2380.656,"endTime":2382.034,"body":"And it's good because you have those"},{"startTime":2382.072,"endTime":2386.51,"body":"cross checks in place, you know? Wow. Incredible."},{"startTime":2386.83,"endTime":2391.806,"body":"So you're probably like, how familiar"},{"startTime":2391.878,"endTime":2393.71,"body":"are you with the pilots?"},{"startTime":2394.39,"endTime":2397.67,"body":"Obviously, you're very familiar with the people"},{"startTime":2397.72,"endTime":2400.694,"body":"you're coordinating with on the ground, but"},{"startTime":2400.852,"endTime":2402.998,"body":"I would imagine pilots are coming and"},{"startTime":2403.024,"endTime":2405.378,"body":"going, they're coming in from different bases."},{"startTime":2405.534,"endTime":2407.44,"body":"It must be a lot more difficult."},{"startTime":2408.07,"endTime":2410.15,"body":"It was to an extent."},{"startTime":2410.59,"endTime":2412.49,"body":"It was definitely nice."},{"startTime":2412.54,"endTime":2414.722,"body":"Whenever we got assets that were familiar with our"},{"startTime":2414.736,"endTime":2418.274,"body":"mission, that knew what we were doing, we got"},{"startTime":2418.312,"endTime":2420.666,"body":"some UAVs that was pretty much the same crew,"},{"startTime":2420.738,"endTime":2423.302,"body":"armed UAVs that were the same crew every day."},{"startTime":2423.436,"endTime":2425.286,"body":"And, oh, man, it made it so much easier."},{"startTime":2425.358,"endTime":2427.094,"body":"As a matter of fact, one of the stories I'll tell"},{"startTime":2427.132,"endTime":2429.782,"body":"later talks about how much easier it made it, but they"},{"startTime":2429.796,"endTime":2432.64,"body":"knew our vehicles, they knew our guys, they knew the plan."},{"startTime":2433.57,"endTime":2436.986,"body":"And so they were just very far forward, leaning"},{"startTime":2437.118,"endTime":2440.33,"body":"on helping us out and communicating things to us."},{"startTime":2440.38,"endTime":2443.55,"body":"And at the time, most of the assets,"},{"startTime":2443.61,"endTime":2446.39,"body":"they knew generally how the fight was going,"},{"startTime":2446.44,"endTime":2448.074,"body":"how they were going to be employed."},{"startTime":2448.242,"endTime":2449.634,"body":"So it was never a big lift."},{"startTime":2449.682,"endTime":2451.802,"body":"But yes, it definitely when you had assets that"},{"startTime":2451.816,"endTime":2454.082,"body":"checked on that kind of knew the scope of"},{"startTime":2454.096,"endTime":2456.71,"body":"the battlefield, it made things a lot easier. Okay."},{"startTime":2456.76,"endTime":2459.222,"body":"And when we're talking about the battle,"},{"startTime":2459.306,"endTime":2462.542,"body":"this general battle in Mosul, what kind"},{"startTime":2462.556,"endTime":2466.026,"body":"of air assets were being deployed?"},{"startTime":2466.218,"endTime":2468.398,"body":"So if I was going to back up so"},{"startTime":2468.484,"endTime":2473.402,"body":"we started into crit, so Camp Spiker, and we"},{"startTime":2473.416,"endTime":2479.318,"body":"were basically maneuvering or moving with every time the"},{"startTime":2479.344,"endTime":2481.394,"body":"Isoft was moving, we had to move."},{"startTime":2481.552,"endTime":2484.314,"body":"And so there was Kiara airfield."},{"startTime":2484.482,"endTime":2487.178,"body":"Key west was one of the areas that"},{"startTime":2487.204,"endTime":2488.81,"body":"we had to go in and secure."},{"startTime":2489.61,"endTime":2491.57,"body":"Basically everything that we were doing was"},{"startTime":2491.62,"endTime":2495.462,"body":"pushing ISIS out in these individual areas."},{"startTime":2495.486,"endTime":2497.678,"body":"And there was these simultaneous efforts going on with"},{"startTime":2497.704,"endTime":2499.982,"body":"other teams to push ISIS out of the area"},{"startTime":2500.116,"endTime":2502.254,"body":"so that everybody could converge on Mosul."},{"startTime":2502.302,"endTime":2504.306,"body":"So Mosul was the main objective."},{"startTime":2504.378,"endTime":2508.238,"body":"But we had a lot of other smaller operations that were"},{"startTime":2508.264,"endTime":2512.058,"body":"going on that led us there as we were trailing ice"},{"startTime":2512.094,"endTime":2516.198,"body":"off and moving with our Iraqi counterparts to get to Mosul."},{"startTime":2516.234,"endTime":2520.242,"body":"Because it was very clear that the Kurdish."},{"startTime":2520.386,"endTime":2521.606,"body":"They had a phase line."},{"startTime":2521.668,"endTime":2524.126,"body":"They were going to fight ISIS off to a certain area."},{"startTime":2524.248,"endTime":2527.26,"body":"And then it became the Iraqis problem."},{"startTime":2527.77,"endTime":2533.538,"body":"And so I saw the partner force that we were"},{"startTime":2533.564,"endTime":2537.27,"body":"supporting, they were going to spearhead the offensive into Mosul."},{"startTime":2537.77,"endTime":2540.402,"body":"And so it was a lot of pressure and"},{"startTime":2540.416,"endTime":2543.33,"body":"a lot of buildup up to that moment."},{"startTime":2543.5,"endTime":2545.718,"body":"Going back to air assets, like, what"},{"startTime":2545.744,"endTime":2547.89,"body":"kind of air assets are you using?"},{"startTime":2548.06,"endTime":2550.23,"body":"Pretty much anything and everything you can think of."},{"startTime":2550.28,"endTime":2553.194,"body":"We had AC 130. There were a ten s."},{"startTime":2553.232,"endTime":2556.29,"body":"We had F."},{"startTime":2556.46,"endTime":2558.226,"body":"We had some NATO aircraft."},{"startTime":2558.298,"endTime":2561.37,"body":"The Typhoons Rafaels Apaches."},{"startTime":2561.43,"endTime":2565.11,"body":"To a limited degree, there was some concern for"},{"startTime":2565.28,"endTime":2568.7,"body":"surface to air capabilities that the enemy might have."},{"startTime":2569.57,"endTime":2572.13,"body":"So we did have Apaches."},{"startTime":2573.11,"endTime":2574.914,"body":"We weren't doing a lot of helicopter work."},{"startTime":2574.952,"endTime":2576.946,"body":"Almost everything was out of gun trucks"},{"startTime":2577.018,"endTime":2582.762,"body":"and moving through, not helicopters because of"},{"startTime":2582.776,"endTime":2585.966,"body":"the Stinger missiles and things like that."},{"startTime":2586.148,"endTime":2590.418,"body":"Yeah, it was never really talked about too much, but"},{"startTime":2590.444,"endTime":2593.05,"body":"we knew, just strictly based off some of the restrictions"},{"startTime":2593.11,"endTime":2597.198,"body":"that those guys had, that somebody up the chain had"},{"startTime":2597.224,"endTime":2599.06,"body":"deemed that it was not the best idea."},{"startTime":2599.75,"endTime":2602.046,"body":"And just on top of that, I mean, the large"},{"startTime":2602.108,"endTime":2606.258,"body":"scale maneuvering that was going on, it would have been"},{"startTime":2606.284,"endTime":2611.36,"body":"difficult to interject helicopters into the scenarios that we're going"},{"startTime":2611.69,"endTime":2615.33,"body":"okay, when you talk about large scale movement, how many"},{"startTime":2615.38,"endTime":2620.094,"body":"troops were deployed in this battle from the US."},{"startTime":2620.132,"endTime":2622.15,"body":"Side of the house, or whenever we're talking about the Iraqi"},{"startTime":2622.21,"endTime":2627.674,"body":"counterparts and how many us, just to give you the scale"},{"startTime":2627.722,"endTime":2630.794,"body":"of it, I was attached to one Seal platoon."},{"startTime":2630.902,"endTime":2633.814,"body":"That one Seal platoon had about"},{"startTime":2633.912,"endTime":2638.818,"body":"500 Iraqi counterterrorism service guys in."},{"startTime":2638.844,"endTime":2643.63,"body":"That basically who we were supporting for that."},{"startTime":2643.68,"endTime":2645.334,"body":"And so now if you start to think about"},{"startTime":2645.372,"endTime":2647.098,"body":"all the other teams that were in the area,"},{"startTime":2647.184,"endTime":2651.682,"body":"they all had about that same size battalion or"},{"startTime":2651.696,"endTime":2655.486,"body":"so that they were supporting on top of that."},{"startTime":2655.548,"endTime":2658.018,"body":"So, I mean, this was the Iraqi army, this"},{"startTime":2658.044,"endTime":2662.806,"body":"was the Kurdish, this was Iraqi counterterrorism service."},{"startTime":2662.868,"endTime":2668.04,"body":"We're talking 10,000, 20,000 or more."},{"startTime":2668.55,"endTime":2671.89,"body":"So there was 1000 just in Iraqi isoff."},{"startTime":2672.21,"endTime":2675.67,"body":"And we were supporting one battalion, second Isofth."},{"startTime":2676.47,"endTime":2679.978,"body":"So, yeah, I tell people whenever I get"},{"startTime":2680.004,"endTime":2683.58,"body":"up on a rooftop to start directing and"},{"startTime":2684.51,"endTime":2686.254,"body":"battle tracking and doing all those things."},{"startTime":2686.292,"endTime":2688.094,"body":"It was like watching a giant game of risk."},{"startTime":2688.142,"endTime":2690.55,"body":"I mean, just vehicles on vehicles."},{"startTime":2691.95,"endTime":2693.13,"body":"It was wild."},{"startTime":2695.01,"endTime":2699.998,"body":"So many crazy things happen almost on a daily basis"},{"startTime":2700.094,"endTime":2704.35,"body":"that it became hard to keep track of the stories."},{"startTime":2705.15,"endTime":2707.498,"body":"It really did, and it was very involved."},{"startTime":2707.534,"endTime":2708.554,"body":"I didn't get a lot of sleep,"},{"startTime":2708.602,"endTime":2711.578,"body":"especially during the early days, because ISIS"},{"startTime":2711.614,"endTime":2713.222,"body":"was always mounting counter offensive."},{"startTime":2713.366,"endTime":2716.498,"body":"And then Isofth was calling us saying, hey, we're being attacked,"},{"startTime":2716.534,"endTime":2720.274,"body":"and so have to get upset air assets, help try and"},{"startTime":2720.372,"endTime":2722.71,"body":"fix the problem for those guys on the ground."},{"startTime":2723.57,"endTime":2726.55,"body":"And what did ISIS have in terms of equipment?"},{"startTime":2727.83,"endTime":2732.43,"body":"Man, they were creative, very creative."},{"startTime":2734.01,"endTime":2736.042,"body":"Standard small arms that you would think they"},{"startTime":2736.056,"endTime":2739.45,"body":"had armored vehicles, they had technical vehicles."},{"startTime":2740.55,"endTime":2743.89,"body":"They had large caliber weapons, dishes."},{"startTime":2744.75,"endTime":2751.102,"body":"They had mortars Katusha rockets and not Katusha rockets in the"},{"startTime":2751.116,"endTime":2753.758,"body":"same way that they were employed in Afghanistan, where they prop"},{"startTime":2753.794,"endTime":2756.25,"body":"one up on a rock with an oven timer."},{"startTime":2758.25,"endTime":2761.902,"body":"We got rocketed one day, and based on we had"},{"startTime":2761.916,"endTime":2764.902,"body":"an EOD guy with us, and he said, based off"},{"startTime":2764.916,"endTime":2767.122,"body":"the range that these have and roughly the asthma they"},{"startTime":2767.136,"endTime":2769.174,"body":"came in at, here's some locations they could be."},{"startTime":2769.212,"endTime":2770.678,"body":"So we put some arrow sets overhead"},{"startTime":2770.714,"endTime":2772.246,"body":"to see if we could scope it."},{"startTime":2772.428,"endTime":2774.79,"body":"And it looked like an old livestock pin"},{"startTime":2775.17,"endTime":2778.442,"body":"with about 13 of these Katusha rocket systems"},{"startTime":2778.466,"endTime":2781.57,"body":"up on the rails pointed in our location."},{"startTime":2784.81,"endTime":2786.88,"body":"You talk about one of the crazier ones."},{"startTime":2787.93,"endTime":2790.538,"body":"We had been getting reports from the Isoft that there"},{"startTime":2790.564,"endTime":2794.658,"body":"was a vehicle, they called it a refrigerator truck."},{"startTime":2794.754,"endTime":2797.678,"body":"And they said, there's this big refrigerator truck, and"},{"startTime":2797.704,"endTime":2799.48,"body":"there's a big gun in the back of it."},{"startTime":2799.93,"endTime":2801.602,"body":"And so I was like, okay."},{"startTime":2801.736,"endTime":2804.458,"body":"So I started utilizing air assets and trying to"},{"startTime":2804.484,"endTime":2807.498,"body":"find what I figured was probably an 18 wheeler."},{"startTime":2807.534,"endTime":2810.662,"body":"Sure enough, they picked one up, and it"},{"startTime":2810.676,"endTime":2813.246,"body":"looked like a big 18 wheeler semi truck."},{"startTime":2813.318,"endTime":2814.958,"body":"And they opened up the back doors of"},{"startTime":2814.984,"endTime":2817.07,"body":"it, and you saw a massive outgoing."},{"startTime":2817.51,"endTime":2819.866,"body":"And so we kind of figured that maybe they had a"},{"startTime":2819.868,"endTime":2822.46,"body":"mortar system in there that was set up for direct lay."},{"startTime":2823.27,"endTime":2824.79,"body":"And it was a pretty big gun."},{"startTime":2824.85,"endTime":2826.802,"body":"So we ended up using up using the"},{"startTime":2826.816,"endTime":2831.186,"body":"F, hit it with a 500 pound bomb."},{"startTime":2831.378,"endTime":2833.378,"body":"And I was coordinating something else."},{"startTime":2833.404,"endTime":2834.83,"body":"So I was just kind of waiting for the report"},{"startTime":2834.88,"endTime":2837.206,"body":"to come back of what had happened to it."},{"startTime":2837.328,"endTime":2840.806,"body":"And they said, hey, man, there's something"},{"startTime":2840.868,"endTime":2841.862,"body":"in the back of this truck here."},{"startTime":2841.876,"endTime":2843.194,"body":"We're waiting for the smoke to clear."},{"startTime":2843.292,"endTime":2845.978,"body":"It turns out they had put a tank turret in the"},{"startTime":2846.004,"endTime":2849.062,"body":"back of this just basically took the tank turret off of"},{"startTime":2849.076,"endTime":2851.646,"body":"the tracks and put it into the back of this vehicle."},{"startTime":2851.718,"endTime":2855.878,"body":"So the creativity level and the level of preparation that"},{"startTime":2855.904,"endTime":2858.77,"body":"ISIS had to dig in to get their tunnel network."},{"startTime":2859.93,"endTime":2862.72,"body":"The vehicle born IEDs, that was a huge"},{"startTime":2864.43,"endTime":2867.602,"body":"concern every time we went out, because they"},{"startTime":2867.616,"endTime":2869.69,"body":"would weld these armor plates to these things."},{"startTime":2869.74,"endTime":2872.018,"body":"They would load it up with explosives, and"},{"startTime":2872.044,"endTime":2873.434,"body":"then they would just drive it right into"},{"startTime":2873.472,"endTime":2877.118,"body":"the midst of an encampment or against our"},{"startTime":2877.144,"endTime":2878.954,"body":"counterparts vehicles and things like that."},{"startTime":2878.992,"endTime":2882.618,"body":"So that became a huge concern of ours"},{"startTime":2882.654,"endTime":2884.32,"body":"that we were always looking out for."},{"startTime":2887.33,"endTime":2890.794,"body":"Arwa Damon was a senior international correspondent"},{"startTime":2890.842,"endTime":2893.43,"body":"for CNN who covered the Middle East."},{"startTime":2893.99,"endTime":2897.138,"body":"Previously, she had reported the ivory wars in the"},{"startTime":2897.164,"endTime":2900.978,"body":"Congo and the Benghazi attack in Libya, and the"},{"startTime":2901.004,"endTime":2904.53,"body":"trial and execution of Saddam Hussein in Iraq."},{"startTime":2905.03,"endTime":2908.674,"body":"In September 2016, she went with a cameraman"},{"startTime":2908.782,"endTime":2911.31,"body":"to report on the Battle of Mosul."},{"startTime":2911.81,"endTime":2914.946,"body":"Riding with a convoy consisting of members of the press"},{"startTime":2915.008,"endTime":2919.45,"body":"and Iraqi soldiers, she came under heavy fire by ISIS"},{"startTime":2919.51,"endTime":2923.01,"body":"troops and was trapped near the outskirts of Mosul."},{"startTime":2923.45,"endTime":2927.45,"body":"As a female American reporter, should she fall into"},{"startTime":2927.5,"endTime":2930.45,"body":"the hands of ISIS, she would yield a huge"},{"startTime":2930.5,"endTime":2934.414,"body":"public relations bonanza and would likely be beheaded."},{"startTime":2934.522,"endTime":2935.214,"body":"Like U. S."},{"startTime":2935.252,"endTime":2939.102,"body":"Reporters Stephen Sotloff and James Foley and others"},{"startTime":2939.176,"endTime":2944.146,"body":"before her vehicles were destroyed, soldiers were injured,"},{"startTime":2944.278,"endTime":2947.614,"body":"and Arwa and cameraman Bryce Lane took shelter"},{"startTime":2947.662,"endTime":2950.682,"body":"in people's homes while ISIS units tried to"},{"startTime":2950.696,"endTime":2953.07,"body":"find them and take them hostage."},{"startTime":2953.57,"endTime":2955.578,"body":"Josh called in airstrikes to"},{"startTime":2955.604,"endTime":2958.28,"body":"push the ISIS militants back."},{"startTime":2961.35,"endTime":2965.29,"body":"So I can't recall when the first time that"},{"startTime":2965.34,"endTime":2969.878,"body":"we came in contact with our first reporter."},{"startTime":2970.034,"endTime":2972.84,"body":"That was out there as far as the date goes."},{"startTime":2973.29,"endTime":2977.362,"body":"But I remember we were meeting up with the"},{"startTime":2977.376,"endTime":2981.038,"body":"Isoft guys, and we were setting up some equipment"},{"startTime":2981.074,"endTime":2983.798,"body":"and things like that in an old farmhouse."},{"startTime":2983.834,"endTime":2985.282,"body":"And I was getting up on the rooftop, and"},{"startTime":2985.296,"endTime":2986.882,"body":"I jumped out of one of the gun trucks."},{"startTime":2986.906,"endTime":2988.51,"body":"I had air assets overhead."},{"startTime":2989.13,"endTime":2990.49,"body":"There was getting ready to be a"},{"startTime":2990.6,"endTime":2992.41,"body":"pretty good sized offensive going on."},{"startTime":2992.46,"endTime":2997.142,"body":"And I turn around, and I see a blonde"},{"startTime":2997.166,"endTime":3001.594,"body":"haired female jump out of one of the trucks."},{"startTime":3001.762,"endTime":3004.64,"body":"And the Isofth guys, they were all black."},{"startTime":3004.97,"endTime":3008.322,"body":"We were all black to fit in with them."},{"startTime":3008.336,"endTime":3011.454,"body":"And I said, this isn't normal. This isn't good."},{"startTime":3011.492,"endTime":3016.67,"body":"So like a good combat controller, I delegated."},{"startTime":3016.79,"endTime":3021.402,"body":"Yeah, I went to our platoon."},{"startTime":3021.426,"endTime":3022.874,"body":"I got to find out who that is."},{"startTime":3022.972,"endTime":3025.962,"body":"No, I went to our platoon chief,"},{"startTime":3025.986,"endTime":3027.64,"body":"because I think I spotted her first."},{"startTime":3028.09,"endTime":3032.342,"body":"And I said, hey, chief, there's a female over there."},{"startTime":3032.356,"endTime":3033.602,"body":"I think she's a reporter, because I think"},{"startTime":3033.616,"endTime":3035.44,"body":"I see a cameraman with her, too."},{"startTime":3035.77,"endTime":3036.998,"body":"So he says, what?"},{"startTime":3037.144,"endTime":3040.178,"body":"This is no place for he kind of got a little"},{"startTime":3040.204,"endTime":3044.322,"body":"worried, so he runs over there, and they have a dialogue."},{"startTime":3044.346,"endTime":3048.362,"body":"And I think that he relayed the seriousness of"},{"startTime":3048.376,"endTime":3053.02,"body":"the situation and gave some advice to her."},{"startTime":3053.53,"endTime":3056.382,"body":"Came to an agreement that they wouldn't videotape"},{"startTime":3056.466,"endTime":3057.902,"body":"or try and talk to any of the"},{"startTime":3057.916,"endTime":3059.56,"body":"guys that were out there at the time."},{"startTime":3060.55,"endTime":3061.922,"body":"And that was kind of the end of it."},{"startTime":3061.936,"endTime":3064.958,"body":"So we knew, or for that day, I should"},{"startTime":3064.984,"endTime":3066.134,"body":"say, that was kind of the end of it."},{"startTime":3066.172,"endTime":3071.066,"body":"We knew that there was a presence, an American"},{"startTime":3071.188,"endTime":3075.434,"body":"reporter presence that was out there, that was also"},{"startTime":3075.472,"endTime":3079.54,"body":"with the isofth guys and you're with us."},{"startTime":3080.77,"endTime":3085.578,"body":"What kind of sealed detachment this was a platoon?"},{"startTime":3085.614,"endTime":3087.64,"body":"Yep, seal platoon I was with."},{"startTime":3091.55,"endTime":3094.146,"body":"So flash forward, this would have"},{"startTime":3094.148,"endTime":3096.198,"body":"been November 8, november 9."},{"startTime":3096.344,"endTime":3100.194,"body":"I was actually turning over to"},{"startTime":3100.232,"endTime":3102.38,"body":"another combat controller at this time."},{"startTime":3102.83,"endTime":3105.642,"body":"I was only a couple weeks from coming home from the"},{"startTime":3105.656,"endTime":3111.546,"body":"end of my deployment, and I had gotten a word that"},{"startTime":3111.668,"endTime":3116.29,"body":"my grandfather, who I was very close to, had an accident"},{"startTime":3116.35,"endTime":3118.698,"body":"where he fell off his riding lawn mower and it hit"},{"startTime":3118.724,"endTime":3120.69,"body":"his head and he was in a coma."},{"startTime":3121.31,"endTime":3123.726,"body":"And the family didn't tell me because"},{"startTime":3123.848,"endTime":3125.43,"body":"they didn't want me to get worried."},{"startTime":3126.23,"endTime":3127.674,"body":"But it got to the point where they"},{"startTime":3127.712,"endTime":3130.16,"body":"realized that he wasn't coming back from this."},{"startTime":3131.09,"endTime":3133.518,"body":"And so they called me to let me know that, hey, we"},{"startTime":3133.544,"endTime":3137.922,"body":"are going to have to take him off life support and it"},{"startTime":3137.936,"endTime":3140.086,"body":"would be great if you could get back for the funeral."},{"startTime":3140.158,"endTime":3142.242,"body":"So I spent a lot of my summers up"},{"startTime":3142.256,"endTime":3144.666,"body":"in rural Oklahoma with my grandfather, taught me how"},{"startTime":3144.668,"endTime":3146.42,"body":"to shoot, taught me how to drive."},{"startTime":3146.99,"endTime":3149.358,"body":"So this was a hard time for me because I"},{"startTime":3149.384,"endTime":3153.246,"body":"was always very invested into the success of the team."},{"startTime":3153.308,"endTime":3155.566,"body":"Once I was the way that the team brings"},{"startTime":3155.578,"endTime":3157.278,"body":"you in and you're one of the guys and"},{"startTime":3157.304,"endTime":3159.08,"body":"they trust you and you trust them."},{"startTime":3160.01,"endTime":3163.362,"body":"And so I didn't know if I wanted to"},{"startTime":3163.376,"endTime":3167.134,"body":"go home, but I put the feelers out anyways"},{"startTime":3167.242,"endTime":3169.52,"body":"to my chief and my commander at the time."},{"startTime":3170.03,"endTime":3174.966,"body":"And luckily there was another combat controller nearby who"},{"startTime":3175.028,"endTime":3178.086,"body":"had the same ratings and credentials as me, and"},{"startTime":3178.148,"endTime":3180.294,"body":"he said that he volunteered to come in and"},{"startTime":3180.332,"endTime":3183.57,"body":"take my spot to finish out the deployment."},{"startTime":3183.95,"endTime":3186.814,"body":"And so I talked to the seal leadership,"},{"startTime":3186.862,"endTime":3189.354,"body":"the platoon leadership, and they fully supported it."},{"startTime":3189.512,"endTime":3191.274,"body":"And so I was just a couple of days"},{"startTime":3191.312,"endTime":3193.282,"body":"away from coming home and was in the midst"},{"startTime":3193.306,"endTime":3196.71,"body":"of my turnover with this other controller."},{"startTime":3197.81,"endTime":3200.242,"body":"We were supposed to go out to the flot"},{"startTime":3200.266,"endTime":3204.178,"body":"that day to go out and support the Iraqi"},{"startTime":3204.214,"endTime":3207.358,"body":"push because we were still moving into the outskirts"},{"startTime":3207.394,"endTime":3209.67,"body":"on the eastern side of Mosul, pushing west."},{"startTime":3210.29,"endTime":3214.39,"body":"And I was told, I said, one of the guys grabbing,"},{"startTime":3214.45,"endTime":3218.61,"body":"they said, hey, that reporter and some of the isofth guys"},{"startTime":3218.66,"endTime":3223.218,"body":"got ambushed as they were moving through mosul, and they are"},{"startTime":3223.244,"endTime":3228.102,"body":"now cut off and they've taken up sanctuary in a house"},{"startTime":3228.296,"endTime":3232.494,"body":"and they've had to abandon most of their vehicles, and these"},{"startTime":3232.532,"endTime":3235.77,"body":"guys are up on the rooftops repelling."},{"startTime":3236.87,"endTime":3240.44,"body":"And so everything kind of shifted at that point because"},{"startTime":3241.55,"endTime":3247.234,"body":"from an information wars perspective and the propaganda that ISIS"},{"startTime":3247.282,"endTime":3252.882,"body":"could use to leverage taking out not only that many"},{"startTime":3253.016,"endTime":3256.506,"body":"isoft guys taking out those vehicles or even taking control"},{"startTime":3256.568,"endTime":3262.09,"body":"of those vehicles on top of having a news reporter"},{"startTime":3262.15,"endTime":3265.326,"body":"and her cameraman would be very bad. Yes."},{"startTime":3265.448,"endTime":3267.81,"body":"Was she an American? She was."},{"startTime":3267.92,"endTime":3272.01,"body":"Okay, that was a disaster."},{"startTime":3272.33,"endTime":3276.978,"body":"I say that Arwada Mon was her name and she did"},{"startTime":3277.004,"endTime":3280.638,"body":"a piece after this, I think it was called Mosel 28"},{"startTime":3280.664,"endTime":3285.07,"body":"Hours in Hell or something of that effect, which I didn't"},{"startTime":3285.13,"endTime":3289.854,"body":"know her name or who she was up until this time."},{"startTime":3289.892,"endTime":3292.422,"body":"I didn't recognize her or anything like that."},{"startTime":3292.556,"endTime":3295.158,"body":"And at this time I still didn't know her name."},{"startTime":3295.184,"endTime":3297.09,"body":"And yes, she was an American journalist."},{"startTime":3298.61,"endTime":3300.654,"body":"After all of this had gone down, I found"},{"startTime":3300.692,"endTime":3304.974,"body":"out that she had made a documentary about this"},{"startTime":3305.012,"endTime":3307.494,"body":"and kind of you can go on and watch"},{"startTime":3307.532,"endTime":3309.858,"body":"it and talks about her experience and everything like"},{"startTime":3309.884,"endTime":3315.98,"body":"that, which I imagine was very harrowing for her. Yeah."},{"startTime":3316.61,"endTime":3321.894,"body":"So there was another JTAC that"},{"startTime":3322.052,"endTime":3324.306,"body":"had basically reached out to me."},{"startTime":3324.368,"endTime":3329.658,"body":"They had taken operational control, his entity and his"},{"startTime":3329.684,"endTime":3332.766,"body":"commander had taken operational control of this thing."},{"startTime":3332.948,"endTime":3335.682,"body":"And we were basically trying to figure out, okay, how can"},{"startTime":3335.696,"endTime":3339.8,"body":"we leverage air power to keep ISIS away from her?"},{"startTime":3340.43,"endTime":3344.878,"body":"So that ISAF they were basically trying to use a bulldozer"},{"startTime":3344.914,"endTime":3347.43,"body":"that they had in their convoy to be able to break"},{"startTime":3347.48,"endTime":3350.61,"body":"through, to get to her and to be able to evacuate"},{"startTime":3351.05,"endTime":3356.178,"body":"the Isofth troops that were pretty beleaguered at this point, as"},{"startTime":3356.204,"endTime":3358.83,"body":"well as the reporter and her cameraman."},{"startTime":3361.35,"endTime":3364.966,"body":"We got air assets attached to us"},{"startTime":3365.088,"endTime":3367.862,"body":"and immediately it was a hornet's nest."},{"startTime":3367.946,"endTime":3373.154,"body":"I mean, the level of aggression that they were throwing"},{"startTime":3373.262,"endTime":3378.502,"body":"at this building in order to get in there was"},{"startTime":3378.696,"endTime":3381.326,"body":"it became very clear that this wasn't just, hey, we're"},{"startTime":3381.338,"endTime":3383.038,"body":"going to take out some Isoft guys."},{"startTime":3383.184,"endTime":3389.378,"body":"I think they knew what they could get out of this. Yeah."},{"startTime":3389.404,"endTime":3394.178,"body":"What a public relations bonanza they"},{"startTime":3394.204,"endTime":3396.52,"body":"would get out of that. Yeah."},{"startTime":3397.57,"endTime":3400.802,"body":"So, man, we had to start working"},{"startTime":3400.996,"endTime":3404.642,"body":"some danger close strikes, quite a few."},{"startTime":3404.836,"endTime":3409.578,"body":"I basically took from the building south, this other JTAG"},{"startTime":3409.614,"endTime":3411.842,"body":"took from the building north and we just had to"},{"startTime":3411.856,"endTime":3414.782,"body":"start working air to ground solutions and that was the"},{"startTime":3414.796,"endTime":3416.32,"body":"name of the game at that point."},{"startTime":3417.31,"endTime":3423.338,"body":"And luckily somebody within the chain of command had"},{"startTime":3423.484,"endTime":3426.458,"body":"her contact number and was able to communicate with"},{"startTime":3426.484,"endTime":3429.11,"body":"her directly so that we had a good idea"},{"startTime":3429.22,"endTime":3431.45,"body":"where she was in the building."},{"startTime":3431.5,"endTime":3433.13,"body":"Because that's some of the things that we are starting"},{"startTime":3433.18,"endTime":3435.782,"body":"to try and think about is how close can we"},{"startTime":3435.796,"endTime":3438.842,"body":"get these munitions, because we need to make sure that"},{"startTime":3438.856,"endTime":3441.902,"body":"we know where her, the Iraqis, and there was a"},{"startTime":3441.916,"endTime":3444.686,"body":"family inside of this building as well."},{"startTime":3444.808,"endTime":3448.96,"body":"Oh, my God, she had a satellite phone."},{"startTime":3452.21,"endTime":3452.682,"body":"Correct?"},{"startTime":3452.756,"endTime":3455.202,"body":"I guess I don't know the details of it."},{"startTime":3455.216,"endTime":3457.594,"body":"All I know is that we were being fed"},{"startTime":3457.642,"endTime":3461.818,"body":"real time information about where she was, the status"},{"startTime":3461.854,"endTime":3463.7,"body":"of the guys and things like that."},{"startTime":3464.75,"endTime":3468.474,"body":"How many Iraqis were with her?"},{"startTime":3468.632,"endTime":3471.8,"body":"I want to say approximately 20 at this point."},{"startTime":3472.25,"endTime":3475.338,"body":"I want to say it was four or five vehicles. Yeah."},{"startTime":3475.364,"endTime":3477.382,"body":"And we could see them on the rooftops"},{"startTime":3477.406,"endTime":3480.92,"body":"of this building taking turns pulling security."},{"startTime":3482.99,"endTime":3485.382,"body":"And they were pretty beleaguered from what"},{"startTime":3485.396,"endTime":3487.938,"body":"I heard in the After Action report."},{"startTime":3488.024,"endTime":3492.294,"body":"So, yeah, it became very much really trying"},{"startTime":3492.332,"endTime":3494.502,"body":"to weaponeer and utilizing the assets that we"},{"startTime":3494.516,"endTime":3499.854,"body":"had overhead to keep everybody away from her"},{"startTime":3499.892,"endTime":3501.8,"body":"to allow this effort to get to her"},{"startTime":3502.61,"endTime":3507.366,"body":"while simultaneously not endangering anybody in that building."},{"startTime":3507.488,"endTime":3507.774,"body":"Right."},{"startTime":3507.812,"endTime":3509.286,"body":"Do you remember what you were calling"},{"startTime":3509.348,"endTime":3511.23,"body":"in, in terms of air assets?"},{"startTime":3512.09,"endTime":3515.118,"body":"There was quite a few at the time, and"},{"startTime":3515.144,"endTime":3518.598,"body":"I think due to the sensitivity of it, we"},{"startTime":3518.624,"endTime":3520.302,"body":"won't go into any great details, but we are"},{"startTime":3520.316,"endTime":3523.398,"body":"utilizing a lot of health fires, things like that,"},{"startTime":3523.424,"endTime":3528.03,"body":"that had very low collateral damage, weapons systems."},{"startTime":3528.89,"endTime":3531.14,"body":"I will throw a big bomb in there."},{"startTime":3531.53,"endTime":3537.838,"body":"Well, eventually there were some talks, and I wasn't too"},{"startTime":3537.864,"endTime":3540.862,"body":"involved with these talks, but eventually they did release a"},{"startTime":3540.936,"endTime":3544.934,"body":"500 pound bomb from a B 52 in close proximity."},{"startTime":3544.982,"endTime":3547.406,"body":"They were that confident in their ability"},{"startTime":3547.478,"endTime":3549.502,"body":"to do it, to help eliminate the"},{"startTime":3549.516,"endTime":3552.36,"body":"threat and not endanger anybody there."},{"startTime":3552.75,"endTime":3554.77,"body":"And they did do it to great success."},{"startTime":3554.88,"endTime":3558.022,"body":"There was actually two."},{"startTime":3558.156,"endTime":3559.57,"body":"This is open source."},{"startTime":3561.15,"endTime":3565.066,"body":"The Air Force puts out a publication and"},{"startTime":3565.128,"endTime":3569.29,"body":"they kind of highlight different stories and things"},{"startTime":3569.34,"endTime":3572.878,"body":"like that from pilots, St guys."},{"startTime":3572.964,"endTime":3576.178,"body":"And his account of what happened here"},{"startTime":3576.204,"endTime":3579.062,"body":"is actually captured in this publication."},{"startTime":3579.206,"endTime":3583.33,"body":"So they put a laser marker on it on the site,"},{"startTime":3583.38,"endTime":3588.91,"body":"or how are they able to get it as so precise? GPS."},{"startTime":3591.39,"endTime":3595.622,"body":"From my understanding, this was a GPS guided bomb"},{"startTime":3595.706,"endTime":3597.806,"body":"that they released, and they were just that confident"},{"startTime":3597.878,"endTime":3601.942,"body":"in there and all the information that they had"},{"startTime":3601.956,"endTime":3603.78,"body":"been given to be able to do it."},{"startTime":3604.95,"endTime":3608.39,"body":"I actually got to meet the guy. No kidding. The pilot."},{"startTime":3608.51,"endTime":3609.226,"body":"I did."},{"startTime":3609.348,"endTime":3610.618,"body":"Again, I was not the one"},{"startTime":3610.644,"endTime":3612.362,"body":"that coordinated that specific strike."},{"startTime":3612.386,"endTime":3615.538,"body":"I think I ran six other danger close strikes at the"},{"startTime":3615.564,"endTime":3620.77,"body":"time, but I got to meet him up in DC."},{"startTime":3621.63,"endTime":3623.242,"body":"He was up there giving a speech, and"},{"startTime":3623.256,"endTime":3625.402,"body":"I was up there for a different event."},{"startTime":3625.476,"endTime":3627.31,"body":"I believe it was an awards ceremony."},{"startTime":3627.75,"endTime":3629.578,"body":"And so I got to meet him and talk with him."},{"startTime":3629.604,"endTime":3632.05,"body":"So that was kind of a neat closing of loop."},{"startTime":3632.37,"endTime":3635.734,"body":"Where were B 52s flying in from?"},{"startTime":3635.892,"endTime":3640.81,"body":"Were they in Iraq or they were out, like, somewhere?"},{"startTime":3641.37,"endTime":3644.782,"body":"I want to say that the B"},{"startTime":3644.856,"endTime":3648.194,"body":"were flying in from Instrik, Turkey."},{"startTime":3648.302,"endTime":3652.08,"body":"Okay, that makes sense. Yeah. Okay."},{"startTime":3654.79,"endTime":3655.118,"body":"Yeah."},{"startTime":3655.144,"endTime":3656.762,"body":"I mean, there was a lot of"},{"startTime":3656.776,"endTime":3658.454,"body":"air assets flying in from all over."},{"startTime":3658.492,"endTime":3660.698,"body":"I mean, we had carrier based F"},{"startTime":3660.724,"endTime":3663.1,"body":"Eighteens that were flying at the time. Wow."},{"startTime":3664.87,"endTime":3667.97,"body":"So she got a lot of attention from both sides."},{"startTime":3669.07,"endTime":3671.09,"body":"It became the objective."},{"startTime":3671.53,"endTime":3674.92,"body":"We were going to do everything that we could"},{"startTime":3675.37,"endTime":3679.718,"body":"to facilitate getting her out and to making sure"},{"startTime":3679.864,"endTime":3682.998,"body":"that she was safe, and that was our objective."},{"startTime":3683.034,"endTime":3685.898,"body":"So that was kind of the last operational thing that"},{"startTime":3685.924,"endTime":3687.878,"body":"I got to do at the time, I don't think"},{"startTime":3687.904,"endTime":3690.16,"body":"I really thought about the scope of it."},{"startTime":3691.69,"endTime":3694.934,"body":"It was very much one of those"},{"startTime":3694.972,"endTime":3697.79,"body":"things that you became so focused on."},{"startTime":3697.9,"endTime":3702.678,"body":"You were so front sight focused on the mission"},{"startTime":3702.714,"endTime":3704.45,"body":"and everything else that you didn't really take time"},{"startTime":3704.5,"endTime":3707.2,"body":"to think about the implications later on."},{"startTime":3707.65,"endTime":3710.498,"body":"And I can't even remember when it was after I got"},{"startTime":3710.524,"endTime":3714.34,"body":"home that I remembered thinking about it and looking it up."},{"startTime":3714.91,"endTime":3716.294,"body":"I wonder if there's any"},{"startTime":3716.392,"endTime":3717.998,"body":"publicity that came across this."},{"startTime":3718.024,"endTime":3721.214,"body":"And then I came across the CNN documentary that"},{"startTime":3721.252,"endTime":3724.002,"body":"was of it, and I was like, I don't"},{"startTime":3724.026,"endTime":3725.75,"body":"think it got a lot of news play."},{"startTime":3725.8,"endTime":3728.32,"body":"I don't remember hearing about it"},{"startTime":3730.45,"endTime":3733.42,"body":"until the documentary came out. Yeah."},{"startTime":3734.11,"endTime":3740.198,"body":"And I think what was going on in Iraq was happening on"},{"startTime":3740.224,"endTime":3744.22,"body":"such a large scale, but I also don't know of how much"},{"startTime":3744.61,"endTime":3749.33,"body":"real time reporting was going on outside of that effort."},{"startTime":3750.01,"endTime":3752.882,"body":"So I think there was probably a lot"},{"startTime":3752.896,"endTime":3756.074,"body":"of unknowns for people what was going on."},{"startTime":3756.232,"endTime":3757.646,"body":"Absolutely, yeah."},{"startTime":3757.708,"endTime":3760.48,"body":"To the scale that it was."},{"startTime":3762.13,"endTime":3764.21,"body":"Did you ever meet her afterwards?"},{"startTime":3764.65,"endTime":3765.7,"body":"I did not."},{"startTime":3766.33,"endTime":3769.202,"body":"A lot of our guys from her platinum ended up going out,"},{"startTime":3769.336,"endTime":3772.96,"body":"doing a link up and recovering her to turn her back over"},{"startTime":3773.77,"endTime":3775.802,"body":"to make sure that she was out of there all the way."},{"startTime":3775.876,"endTime":3777.698,"body":"I did not get to go because I had to"},{"startTime":3777.724,"endTime":3780.638,"body":"answer a lot of questions and there was a lot"},{"startTime":3780.664,"endTime":3786.074,"body":"of coordination to be done after that in terms of"},{"startTime":3786.112,"endTime":3791.798,"body":"everything that had just happened and making sure that we"},{"startTime":3791.824,"endTime":3796.466,"body":"had properly documented and cataloged everything that had went on."},{"startTime":3796.648,"endTime":3801.098,"body":"Approximately how long did it take between when"},{"startTime":3801.124,"endTime":3804.578,"body":"you found out that they were stuck in"},{"startTime":3804.604,"endTime":3807.23,"body":"this area until you got them out?"},{"startTime":3807.4,"endTime":3809.366,"body":"So I didn't find out until the morning of"},{"startTime":3809.428,"endTime":3812.15,"body":"as I went back and watched the documentary afterwards."},{"startTime":3812.59,"endTime":3815.14,"body":"This actually started the day before for them."},{"startTime":3815.77,"endTime":3818.802,"body":"And so I believe total time for her ended"},{"startTime":3818.826,"endTime":3821.658,"body":"up being 27 or 28 hours from the beginning"},{"startTime":3821.694,"endTime":3823.334,"body":"of this thing to the end of it. Now."},{"startTime":3823.432,"endTime":3825.65,"body":"I was probably only involved for about"},{"startTime":3825.76,"endTime":3828.074,"body":"twelve to 14 of those hours once"},{"startTime":3828.112,"endTime":3831.58,"body":"she had been gotten into this building."},{"startTime":3832.27,"endTime":3835.238,"body":"And we started working through the air problem, so"},{"startTime":3835.264,"endTime":3837.114,"body":"to speak, to make sure that we could deliver"},{"startTime":3837.222,"endTime":3839.92,"body":"close air support to keep her defended. Yeah."},{"startTime":3841.69,"endTime":3843.17,"body":"Wow. Intense."},{"startTime":3843.79,"endTime":3844.72,"body":"It was."},{"startTime":3846.25,"endTime":3847.014,"body":"It was wild."},{"startTime":3847.062,"endTime":3850.334,"body":"And again, at the time I didn't really think"},{"startTime":3850.372,"endTime":3854.92,"body":"anything of it or the wider spread implications, but"},{"startTime":3855.49,"endTime":3857.318,"body":"as I reflected on it later, I thought, man,"},{"startTime":3857.344,"endTime":3859.0,"body":"that could have been really, really bad."},{"startTime":3862.13,"endTime":3864.574,"body":"Thanks to the brave efforts of Josh Apple"},{"startTime":3864.622,"endTime":3869.074,"body":"and others after 28 hours of fighting, CNN"},{"startTime":3869.122,"endTime":3871.962,"body":"reporter Arwa Damon and her cameraman and the"},{"startTime":3871.976,"endTime":3874.95,"body":"Iraqi soldiers with them were rescued."},{"startTime":3875.45,"endTime":3877.722,"body":"Had they fallen into ISIS hands,"},{"startTime":3877.856,"endTime":3880.17,"body":"the result could have been horrific."},{"startTime":3880.67,"endTime":3883.218,"body":"It turned out to be another example of"},{"startTime":3883.244,"endTime":3886.46,"body":"an Air Force combat controller saving the day."},{"startTime":3886.91,"endTime":3888.45,"body":"Former Commander of US."},{"startTime":3888.5,"endTime":3889.986,"body":"Special Operations General."},{"startTime":3890.048,"endTime":3892.518,"body":"Brian Brown had this to say, and I"},{"startTime":3892.544,"endTime":3896.142,"body":"quote during this kind of warfare, the US."},{"startTime":3896.216,"endTime":3898.434,"body":"Air Force combat controller guys"},{"startTime":3898.592,"endTime":3900.99,"body":"really carried an incredible load."},{"startTime":3901.49,"endTime":3903.198,"body":"Quite frankly, no one wants to"},{"startTime":3903.224,"endTime":3905.046,"body":"go into war without them."},{"startTime":3905.228,"endTime":3908.646,"body":"They are admired, capable, and their true"},{"startTime":3908.708,"endTime":3911.346,"body":"impact on the battlefields around the world"},{"startTime":3911.468,"endTime":3913.966,"body":"will never be known or appreciated."},{"startTime":3914.158,"endTime":3916.41,"body":"They are absolutely phenomenal."},{"startTime":3917.51,"endTime":3920.346,"body":"We totally agree with General Brown and thank"},{"startTime":3920.408,"endTime":3923.59,"body":"Josh Apple and other air Force combat controllers"},{"startTime":3923.71,"endTime":3926.24,"body":"for their expertise and brave service."},{"startTime":3926.75,"endTime":3930.438,"body":"And we especially thank Josh, who is the recipient of"},{"startTime":3930.464,"endTime":3934.194,"body":"a bronze Star in combat action medal, for telling us"},{"startTime":3934.232,"endTime":3936.754,"body":"what it was like to train and become a combat"},{"startTime":3936.802,"endTime":3940.64,"body":"controller and for explaining the critical role they play."},{"startTime":3941.15,"endTime":3944.314,"body":"We're proud to call Air Force combat controller"},{"startTime":3944.362,"endTime":3948.69,"body":"Josh Apple today's hero behind the headlines."},{"startTime":3949.85,"endTime":3951.274,"body":"Thanks for listening."},{"startTime":3951.442,"endTime":3953.422,"body":"I'm your host, Ralph Pazulo."},{"startTime":3953.506,"endTime":3957.198,"body":"If you haven't already, please download, rate review and"},{"startTime":3957.224,"endTime":3960.49,"body":"subscribe and check out some of our past episodes,"},{"startTime":3960.55,"endTime":3963.474,"body":"such as the epic battle of Merebot and World"},{"startTime":3963.512,"endTime":3966.32,"body":"War II's most infamous survival story."},{"startTime":3966.77,"endTime":3968.986,"body":"And don't forget to tune in to the next episode."},{"startTime":3968.998,"endTime":3970.98,"body":"Episode of Heroes Behind."}]}