- 4 months ago
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Short filmTranscript
00:00It's the 6th of April 2003 and two A-10 Thunderbolt strike aircraft soar in the skies of Iraq near Baghdad.
00:09Flight leader Lieutenant Colonel Raymond Donk T. Strasburger and his wingman Captain Greg and Billy Bob Thornton
00:16are on a reconnaissance mission in support of coalition forces on the ground.
00:20But the warthogs can't see any of the action.
00:23A sandstorm has rolled in underneath them and engulfed the entire region.
00:26The two aviators circle above in search of rates in the weather, but then there's an urgent transmission from the ground.
00:33It's not good news.
00:35Their friend First Lieutenant John Coke Blocher tells the pilots that Task Force 269 are pinned down under heavy fire at Muthana Bridge near his position.
00:45The First Hammurabi Republican Guard Armored Division have T-72s firing across the Tigris River and shelling the Americans relentlessly.
00:53Americans are low on supplies and exhausted after many hours of battle.
00:58They can't hit back.
01:00If the Iraqis cross the bridge, it's over for us.
01:02We need help.
01:03Are you ready?
01:04Yeah.
01:05The two warthogs flip over and dive straight into the heavy sandstorm.
01:11Visibility is way below any measure of safety.
01:14On the ground, Iraqi infantry comes out of hiding and opens fire on the American troops.
01:21Coke ducks as bullets fill the air.
01:23Donk, we need you now.
01:25I mean, right now.
01:29Donk and Billy Bob can hear the gunshots and explosions in the background of Coke's transmission.
01:33Suddenly, the buildings of Baghdad emerge up ahead as the two flyers level out low over the city.
01:41What a lovely day.
01:42The Tigris River comes into view and they follow it north, racing for the objective, buildings zipping by either side.
01:49On the ground, Coke pulls out his rifle and starts returning fire at the muzzle flashes ripping like lightning through the haze.
01:55He relays increasingly urgent radio transmissions without wasting a second.
02:01Action firm.
02:02No friendly to the east of the bridge.
02:04He's fighting two battles at once.
02:08Donk and Billy Bob approach at breakneck speed.
02:12As they listen to the transmissions from the ground, the outline of the bridge starts to emerge.
02:17Break left.
02:18Billy Bob pulls off Donk's side, giving his leader space as the target area appears up ahead.
02:23The bridge is now in clear view.
02:27Donk pulls on his stick and flies over, a wave of jet engine roar breaking over the battlefield.
02:34Donk peers over his shoulder, searching for the target, but the ground vanishes into the storm before he can see a thing.
02:40He needs to mark the target so Coke on the ground can confirm he's in the right position.
02:45I'm dropping a mark.
02:47He selects his rocket pods armed with smoke ammunition as he lines up once again with the river and the bridge.
02:52This time, the Iraqi anti-aircraft guns are waiting for him.
02:5723mm anti-aircraft cannons roar to life, sending columns of tracers in huge arcs through the air.
03:05A burst of fire narrowly misses its jet.
03:11But Donk pushes on.
03:12He aims for the bridge's eastern base and pulls the trigger.
03:15But nothing happens.
03:18The rockets malfunction.
03:19Damn it.
03:20The bridge is coming up fast.
03:22He sees some muzzle flashes of tanks and silhouettes of vehicles as he flies fast and low over the target.
03:28Without smoke rockets or time to think, he presses flare release button and dumps a line of pyrotechnics across the riverbank.
03:36He pulls hard to the right, skimming just over the buildings as he escapes the flurry of anti-aircraft fire.
03:43We're getting AAA and I do see the tank.
03:45I request clearance in when able.
03:48Even through the storm, Coke sees the flares far in the distance.
03:52He knows Donk is right on it.
03:54Donk, you're clear to engage.
03:57Copy, clear to engage.
03:59Donk turned back around, this time armed with real firepower.
04:02Iraqi AAA gunners frantically search the hazy skies for the source of the jet engine roar as the menacing figure of Donk's thunderbolt appears in the distance.
04:12The poor visibility makes aiming the hand-cranked guns extraordinarily difficult.
04:17Streams of tracers rise towards Donk and chase him across the sky, zipping by by mere feet from his aircraft.
04:24But Donk is unfazed.
04:26He spots the enemy through the hail of lead, tanks and APCs firing across the river.
04:30He sees a BMP charging for the bridge.
04:33Donk fixes his reticle directly on the target and pulls the trigger.
04:38The terrifying signature groan of the GAU-8 menaces the battlefield, reducing the personnel carrier to scrap.
04:46Donk soars just over the enemy.
04:48He pulls the nose up and turns west towards allied lines, followed by columns of anti-aircraft fire.
04:55I have tanks on the circle, Bob.
04:57Donk's dash suddenly erupts with warning lights.
04:59He thinks he's been hit.
05:01Donk flies away from the action as he diagnoses his aircraft, testing the controls and checking his systems.
05:08The plane's flying normally, fuel isn't leaking and the engines look healthy.
05:12The only thing he finds wrong is that the drop compensated reticle has disappeared from his head-up display.
05:17He clears the master alarm and attempts to reboot the ballistics computer, but it's completely dead.
05:25Out of time, he clears his wingman to take his place.
05:28Billy Bob doesn't need to be told twice.
05:31D-Mob 72 in hard from the south.
05:33He turns his A-10 down through the storm and lines himself up with the river.
05:38Battlefield becomes clearer amid the haze and he lands the crosshairs on his first target he sees.
05:44A T-72 main battle tank.
05:47The enemy tank is slammed by a deluge of armor-piercing 30mm shells.
05:52Sparks fly and in moments, fire begins, bellowing out of the hatches.
05:57He soars above, escaping the enemy fire, unscathed.
06:01I got that sucker.
06:02He's running the west edge of the circle, boss.
06:05Donk can't get the computer turned on, but he still has an old-school crosshair.
06:10His aim might be off, but there are problems below and he can deliver 3,900 solutions per minute.
06:16He's got to try.
06:18Going in.
06:20Donk charges into the scene.
06:21Tracers rip past his canopy and several targets come into view.
06:25He lands his old-school crosshairs above them and pulls the trigger.
06:29The cannon shudders into action with its terrifying clatter.
06:3330mm rounds will rip through the earth and he rages past above, unsure if he's hit anything.
06:39Cleared up.
06:41Billy Bob races south down the river, now on his second pass.
06:45With no new targets, he sprays a short burst into the already destroyed tank
06:49before turning his aircraft upside down.
06:52Up close, the orange glare provides no concealment
06:55and he sees an anti-aircraft gun, supply trucks and another T-72 firing across the river.
07:03Billy Bob is itching to tear the anti-aircraft guns to shreds,
07:06but any one of those tank shells could claim the lives of the American troops.
07:11He can't think of himself.
07:12The tanks have to be destroyed first.
07:15Hey, I got a second T-72 eastern position of the roundabout.
07:18Confirm I'm clear back in.
07:20You're clear back in.
07:21Billy Bob prepares another pass, but in the meantime, Donk has his eye on fuel levels.
07:26They're approaching Bingo Fuel, the minimum amount they need to get back to the airfield.
07:31But they calculated it on the ground before the specifics of this mission were known.
07:35Donk knows they can stay in flight for longer.
07:37Donk checks the distance to the nearest airbase,
07:42doing the math in his head while guiding the aircraft through the storm.
07:46Meanwhile, Billy Bob is tracking the river for a third time.
07:50He now knows his targets.
07:52The area comes into view and he's greeted by the now irritatingly familiar columns of anti-aircraft fire.
07:58Billy Bob presses on, fixing his reticule on the intact T-72.
08:08The Warthog's armor-piercing ammunition punches clean through the tank's weak roof.
08:13The T-72 explodes into a massive fireball as Billy Bob screams overhead.
08:21Up above, Donk finishes his calculations.
08:24They can lower Bingo by 500 pounds of fuel and still make it to the nearest airbase on minimum.
08:33Billy Bob adjusts his gauges and turns in for another run.
08:37Once again, he races up the river, ready to destroy the supply trucks next.
08:41He has no hope of seeing the single soldier on the roof.
08:44Carrying a MANPAD portable anti-air system,
08:47the missile launches off his tube and surges into the air.
08:51Billy Bob doesn't see it coming.
08:52The incoming missile tracks and then momentarily loses its target and flies right past his left wing.
09:00Billy Bob breaks right and abandons the run, escaping west into the Allied lines.
09:07His heart's racing.
09:08He was a foot away from death.
09:10Are you alright?
09:12Yeah.
09:13He pushes that to the back of his mind and turns around for another run.
09:17Once more, bullets zip past his cockpit.
09:20They're getting close, but not close enough.
09:23The supply trucks come into view.
09:25And he pulls the trigger.
09:2730mm fire tears them to shreds, their cargo bursting into flames as Billy Bob escapes the scene.
09:34Got the trucks.
09:35Copy.
09:36I'm going in.
09:37Donk sweeps in for another run.
09:38Still without a ballistics computer, he instead selects a Maverick air-to-ground missile
09:43and opens its camera on its multifunction display.
09:46He needs to select his target.
09:48But with the terrible conditions, he can see nothing through the camera.
09:51He has to be fast.
09:54The target area comes into view.
09:56And with it comes the anti-aircraft fire.
09:58He holds his course.
10:00The targets appear on screen and are approaching rapidly.
10:03He quickly moves the selector over to another BNP and launches the missile.
10:08It rockets off the rail and makes a sharp turn downwards.
10:13Slamming into the BNP from above with a burst of flames.
10:18The Iraqis are taking heavy losses.
10:20Pinned below the oppressive watch of the warthogs,
10:23they pull back from the riverbank to hide amidst the buildings.
10:26The American armored forces see the shelling come to an end.
10:30Lacking fire support, the Iraqi infantry attack in the rear also starts to retreat.
10:35The enemy's pulling back.
10:36You're doing a great job.
10:38Relief lifts the pilots,
10:40but it's interrupted by the flashes of AAA flying through the air.
10:44Bob, one more run and we have to RTB.
10:46Let's take these guns out.
10:48Hell, it's about time.
10:50Buddy Bob turned back towards the target area.
10:52His attention set on that one AAA battery he saw at the beginning of the fight.
10:57Billy Bob aligns his reticle and fires.
11:00The anti-aircraft gun is torn apart.
11:03He turns back west over allied lines and through his canopy,
11:06he sees a column of tracers barely missing his wingtips as he beats a retreat.
11:11Up above, Dunk spots that second AAA gun firing right at his wingman.
11:16D-Mob 7-1, coming in from the south.
11:19D-Mob, this is advanced.
11:20You're making battalion and company commander really happy right now.
11:24He's going to be able to do the progress.
11:26He's going to be able to do it.
11:29You could continue to do that as much as possible.
11:32I understand you're taking AAA, so be safe up there,
11:35but as much as you can roll in on those targets...
11:39You're good. Good air.
11:40Donk and Billy Bob leave the scene after 40 minutes of brawling battle.
12:06Thanks to their efforts, Task Force 269 suffer minimal casualties and no loss of armoured vehicles.
12:13Raymond Donk-Strasburger and Greg Billy Bob Thornton were both awarded the Silver Star
12:18for their heroic actions and incredible airmanship in the most challenging conditions.
12:23John Coke Blocker, an A-10 pilot himself,
12:26would be awarded the Bronze Star in the Air Force Commendation Medal of Valor.
12:30They all survived the war, and we hope they enjoy this film.
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