JAG s01e17 Episode Script

We're decompressing, Lieutenant.
Time to hook up your oxygen.
Thirty seconds.
Here we go, Doug! Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.
Go! Go! Go! Doug, what's wrong? Doug, you've got to pull the ring now! Pull the ring, Doug.
Damn it, pull the ring! Doug, pull the ring! I have received condolences from the President of the United States, the Vice President, the Secretary of Defence the Secretary of the Navy, the Chief of Naval Operations and all their military minions.
What I have not received is an explanation as to the how and why of my son's death.
Do you believe the Navy's covering something, Senator? They better not be or I'll end more careers than Tailhook.
Are we covering, sir? If we are Have a seat.
Someone's not only stupid but about to lose their head.
And you, Mr Rabb, are going to be the executioner.
- Sir? - Lieutenant Douglas Marion drowned during night manoeuvres with SEAL Team 2 off Puerto Rico.
- A SEAL drowned? - He wasn't a SEAL.
He was a naval aviator attached to the team for training.
Right.
If those SEALs got Lieutenant Marion in over his head, no pun intended, it could be negligence.
If it is, I want to stomp on it before the Senator and the media.
Well, I'll catch the first available flight to Rosy Roads, sir.
How about a How about an F-14 out of - Pax River? - That would get me there ASAP, sir.
Admiral, does that report say what type of training? This paradigm of brevity only says the lieutenant drowned during training with SEAL Team 2.
So they're stonewalling you, too.
Please, please come in, Senator.
This is Lieutenant Commander Rabb.
- Commander.
- My condolences, ma'am.
I don't need any more Navy condolences, young man.
I need answers.
And I was told that you could give them to me.
I will, Madam Senator, after our investigation.
- You're a SEAL.
- I was.
Yes, ma'am.
That's like letting the SS Investigate Auschwitz.
I realise you have suffered a great loss, madam, but your comparison is outrageous.
If there is any negligence involved in your son's death, I will prosecute it to its full extent under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
Any further questions can be answered by Lieutenant Commander Rabb, who is heading the investigation into your son's death, and who, as you can see, is not a SEAL.
Feel free to use my office as long as you need, Senator.
That admiral's right.
My statement was inexcusable.
Yes, ma'am.
You don't have to agree with me so quickly, Commander.
You're obviously a person who speaks your mind, ma'am.
I assume you expect the same from others.
You remind me of my son.
He was a pilot, just like you.
What squadron was he with, ma'am? I don't know.
We didn't communicate much after he joined the Navy.
- You didn't approve? - No, I didn't approve.
And I was right.
- Because he's dead? - Obviously.
- Did he love the Navy, ma'am? - Oh, please.
Don't give me that "He died with his boots on" crap.
My son was destined for more than a six by three plot in Arlington.
They all were, ma'am.
I realise it's no consolation, but at least he'll be buried in good company.
There'll be no burial at Arlington, Commander.
No tri-folded flag, no missing man fly-by, no 21-gun salute.
I will not let the Navy off that easily.
"There is many a boy who looks on war as all glory, "but boys, it is all hell.
" General William Tecumseh Sherman.
"It is well that war is so terrible.
"We should all grow too fond of it.
" General Robert E.
Lee.
"In war there is no substitute for victory.
" Douglas MacArthur.
Okay, here's a tough one.
"Wherever our enemy goes, our troops go also.
" - Ulysses S - Ulysses S.
Grant.
Who also said, "Let there be peace.
" Sorry, sir, this hangar is off limits to unauthorised personnel.
I'm looking for a Lieutenant Alexander Kellogue.
- I'm Lieutenant Kellogue.
- Lieutenant Commander Rabb, JAG.
Welcome aboard, sir.
Been expecting someone from JAG to sign off on Lieutenant Marion.
Doug wasn't a SEAL, but he was under my command.
And I've never lost a man before.
- What's with the quotations? - The warrior-scholar thing? It's my Number Two's idea.
Frank! Explain your distraction theory to Commander Rabb.
Sir, it's a left-brain, right-brain thing.
By focusing on something unrelated to the task you're performing, like quotations, you overcome anxiety.
Well, you wouldn't do this while disarming mines, would you? I don't disarm mines, sir.
That's Lieutenant Kellogue's specialty.
Well, then you and I'd better have a chat, Lieutenant.
Yes, sir.
As you were, people.
We have a mine in Washington waiting to go off, Lieutenant, by the name of Senator Grace Marion.
- Doug's mother.
- Yes.
- And you and I are going to disarm her.
- How's that, sir? With the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God.
Starting with an after action report that contains more than the deceased's name, rank, and social security number.
My partner will be here in three hours.
I'll expect your report in two.
We'll need an office.
Team ready room is at your disposal, sir.
And after I've read your report, we'll interview each member of your team.
Now, if the brevity of your first report was merely due to the stress of the moment, we should be out of here tomorrow.
If not, well, you'll wish we were.
Where's the BOQ? Outside the hangar.
Turn right.
Two blocks down.
Thank you, Lieutenant.
Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God? - I do.
- Please have a seat, sir.
For the record, would you please state your full name, rank and command? Alexander W.
Kellogue.
Lieutenant.
SEAL Team 2.
Special operations command, Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico.
According to your revised after action report, Lieutenant Douglas Marion was assigned to your SEAL team only two days before his death.
Yes, sir.
Why was a naval aviator training with SEALs? Sir, we frequently train people whose skills can be used on any number of missions.
- Missions that haven't been scheduled? - Yes, sir.
General training.
Wouldn't Lieutenant Marion have had to volunteer for this general training? Yes, sir.
Special ops is 100% volunteer.
The Lieutenant Marion volunteered to train with SEALs, in case he was ever needed for a special ops mission? Yes, sir.
And you have no idea what that mission might be, were it ever to be scheduled? Well, sir, I assume it would have something to do with his skills as a pilot.
According to the after action report, Lieutenant Marion died during a night helo cast and recovery.
Yes, ma'am.
Are night jumps standard on your training TOE? SEALs work almost exclusively at night, ma'am.
Our table of operations requires us to train under actual mission conditions.
What were the parameters of your training mission, Ensign? Just to do a night 30-30 helo cast and recovery, sir.
Our chopper flies at 30 knots, and we jump naked.
- Naked? - Without a parachute.
According to this report, you were the first one to reach Lieutenant Marion after your 30-30 insertion.
- I was, sir.
- What did you do, Chief? I checked his pulse, sir.
Couldn't get one.
I didn't really expect one.
It was obvious he was dead.
- Why is that? - I've seen my share of dead men, sir.
- Where, Chief? - I'm afraid that's classified, sir.
- Black ops.
- Yes, sir.
Was this a black op, Chief? No, sir.
We were just on a training mission.
What did Lieutenant Kellogue do? He called off the exercise, sir.
We R.
V.
'd with the sub and came home.
I'm sorry, Petty Officer, you did what? Rendezvoused with the Seawolf.
It's a submarine, ma'am.
Your recovery was made by submarine? Yes, sir.
How long between the drop and the pickup? A couple of hours.
Maybe a little less, sir.
Why didn't you radio for the chopper to return? They were out of range by the time I knew Doug was dead.
You treaded water for a couple of hours until the Seawolf showed up? We are SEALs.
Treading water is one of the things that we do.
If this was just a cast and recovery, why the two-hour wait, Lieutenant? - We were to swim to shore and back.
- It's not in your report.
That's because we didn't do it, sir.
I didn't wanna leave Doug's body.
The submarine's not in your report either, Lieutenant.
- It isn't, sir? - No, it isn't.
"After we determined that Lieutenant Marion was dead, "we extracted back to Roosevelt Roads without further incident.
" I assumed you had extracted the way you came in, by helicopter.
No, sir.
Submarine.
- Would you like to amend this? - Yes, I would, sir.
- How far offshore were you, Lieutenant? - Less than one mile.
Was Lieutenant Marion capable of swimming to shore and back? Yes, sir.
He did a five-mile swim with us the first day he reported in.
I'd like to see a 30-30 helo cast and retrieve.
Think you can make that happen, lieutenant? Well, yes, sir.
If I had proper authorisation.
Will this do? Yes, sir.
It will.
How soon would you like to see that demo? Before the sun goes down.
- Yes, sir.
- That will be all for now, Lieutenant.
- They're covering something, Harm.
- I know.
How'd you prepare Lieutenant Marion for a 30-30? We spent an afternoon dropping him into the airbag to teach him proper landing techniques.
So in two days he proved he could swim five miles and learned to land safely in the water jumping from a chopper? Yes, sir.
He was very athletic.
Well, if he could land and he could swim, Lieutenant, - why did he drown? - I don't know, sir.
He might have hit something in the water that knocked him out.
- That wasn't in your report, either.
- I don't put speculation in my report, sir.
You don't put much of anything in your reports, Lieutenant.
Bravo One.
Bravo Two.
Ready to execute.
Bravo Two.
Bravo One.
You are a go.
Roger.
Understand we are a go.
Bravo Two out.
I guess you really do have to be crazy to be a SEAL.
It's no crazier than ejecting from a cockpit with a rocket up your butt, sir.
Maybe not.
But I only do that when I don't have a choice.
You really expect Senator Marion to believe her son's death wasn't due to negligence when she sees a demonstration like that? Sir, I swear, it's not as hard as it looks.
I could even teach the Senator how to do it.
You may have to.
So far, I've found massive head trauma, four fractured cervical vertebrae, a crushed chest and lacerated lungs.
Any of which would be fatal.
Are you saying he didn't drown, Doctor? Didn't have time to.
The impact killed him.
That's the first good news we've heard.
- Sir? - It mitigates negligence, Meg.
The best-trained SEAL in the Navy could be killed hitting something in the water.
Or just hitting the water.
At terminal velocity it would be as hard as concrete.
Terminal velocity is 125 miles an hour, Doctor.
Which one would attain rather rapidly when your parachute doesn't open.
Why would you assume he had a chute? Of course.
That explains the low oxygen levels in his blood.
- He fell out of an airplane, didn't he? - Jumped.
How low were his oxygen levels? Low enough to render him unconscious before he hit the water.
Can you estimate how far he fell without oxygen? Roughly.
He was without oxygen at least two minutes, I'd say 20,000 feet or more.
What would you say if someone told you this officer was killed jumping from a helicopter flying at 30 knots, I'd call him a liar.
Lieutenant Kellogue, you and your men will stand down and restrict yourselves to quarters for the remainder of our investigation.
- What? - Frank.
Restriction to quarters is reserved for flight risk, Commander.
SEALs are famous for slipping off into the night.
Lieutenant.
These warnings are to advise you of your rights under the UCMJ.
Initial each line, affix your signature, and return them to me.
I'm suspected of committing the following offences.
- What's an Article 134? - False swearing.
Specifically giving false statements under oath.
- Commander, you don't want to do this.
- No, I don't.
But I'm going to.
You lied to us, Lieutenant.
You all did.
Lieutenant Marion didn't die executing a 30-30 insertion.
He was killed in a HALO jump, high altitude, low open.
Only his parachute didn't open, did it, Lieutenant? No, sir.
No matter how athletic, one can't HALO qualify in two days, can they? No.
They can't, sir.
No, but you took him up anyway and it killed him.
Yes, sir.
In my book, Lieutenant, that's gross negligence.
Your book isn't the one we're ordered to work from, Commander.
We all work from the same book, mister.
It's called the UCMJ.
Uniform Code of Military Justice.
Sir, if you'd speak to my commanding officer - General Behnke.
- General? Special Ops South is commanded by an army one-star, sir.
He could be a five-star and he wouldn't get you out of this one.
With all due respect, Commander, I think he can.
General Behnke, sir? Enter.
- Lieutenant Commander Rabb, sir.
- At ease, Commander.
I understand you stood down one of my units.
Yes, sir.
They're facing very serious charges.
- Such as? - False swearing.
- Failure to obey regulations.
- Got any big guns? Involuntary manslaughter due to culpable negligence.
Well, that's a 155 Howitzer.
But what I don't understand is why you're firing it.
Lieutenant Kellogue's after action report clearly indicates that death was an accident.
His report is filled with misinformation, General.
I can prove that the exercise in question was a HALO jump, not a 30-30 insertion.
Lieutenant Marion wasn't qualified for HALOs.
Well, if that's true, Kellogue showed remarkably poor judgement.
Specially since Lieutenant Marion has such an important mother.
Everyone's mother is important, General.
Perhaps.
But not everyone's mother is a United States senator.
You have quite a problem, Commander.
Begging the general's pardon, sir, but how is it my problem? The Navy's already running low in the water, what with all the harassment charges and the F-14 crashes.
You hardly need a SEAL scandal.
Those SEALs were under your command, General.
There are 14 units attached to my command, Mr Rabb.
I use them as needed to fulfil my missions.
But they all train on their own initiative.
Well, then, how is it Lieutenant Kellogue feels you can save him, sir? I have no idea.
Probably grabbing at straws.
Hoping his SEALs are indispensable to my operations.
- Are they, General? - Absolutely not.
You're normally headquartered in Florida, aren't you, sir? - Out of MacDill? - I go where the action is.
That's in Puerto Rico? Cuba's right down the block, Commander, and that's all I have to say about that.
- Any other questions? - Not at this time, sir.
Bury this at sea, Commander.
Sir? There's nothing to be gained by ruining a young officer who's probably learned more from this one misjudgement, than any punishment you could give him.
Well, that one misjudgement cost a man his life, sir.
I can't ignore that.
I'm just thinking about what's best for the Navy, Commander.
So am I, sir.
General.
Captain Perry! - General? - Rewrite the mission.
- Without the SEALs.
- Yes, sir.
I'm glad I don't have to brief him.
I could order you to.
- You could, sir.
But you won't.
- And why not? Because then you'd have to deal with the Senator.
You'd rather face his anger than her eyes.
- Sir.
- How was the flight, Admiral? Bumpy.
Senator, this is Lieutenant JG Austin.
She'll be acting as your escort here.
My condolences, Senator.
Thank you, Lieutenant.
I'll add them to my list.
I didn't come to Puerto Rico to take a tour of the base, Admiral.
I came for my son's body.
Commander? I'm afraid we can't release the Lieutenant's body at this time, ma'am.
And why not? The pathologist hasn't finished his forensics report.
Wasn't a simple accident, was it? I can't say, ma'am.
Our investigation isn't complete.
- You mean your cover-up.
- My officers don't cover, Senator.
Ma'am, I've made arrangements for you at the VIP quarters.
I'm sure you'll find it more conducive to asking questions than the flight line.
Is it also more conducive to getting answers, Lieutenant? - Better than here, ma'am.
- We'll see.
How bad is it, Mr Rabb? Looks like the SEAL team was negligent and tried to cover it, sir.
Damn it.
I want a face-to-face with them.
I assumed you would, Admiral.
I have the team standing by.
My name is Admiral Chegwidden.
I am the Judge Advocate General, of the United States Navy.
Before I leave this hangar, I will know the why and the how of Lieutenant Douglas Marion's death, or Commander Rabb here is gonna have your ass.
And I'm gonna own your soul.
General Behnke gave me a direct order, sir.
To submit a false after action report? - Yes, sir.
- And you did it? - Sir, it was a direct order, sir.
- But was it lawful? Sir, I have to assume any order in a black operation is lawful, or I wouldn't obey half of them.
It wasn't a training jump.
Lieutenant Marion was killed in a mission, wasn't he? - Yes, sir! - As you were, Chief! Sorry, boss.
I can't let you twist in the wind alone.
Sir, I've been doing this longer than the Lieutenant.
- I should have known better, sir.
- Yes, you should have, Chief.
- Damn it, Chief, I said as you were! - Aye, sir! Your adherence to your code of silence is admirable, Lieutenant.
But now the cat's out of the bag.
May as well tell us the rest.
An oath is an oath, sir.
I don't take them lightly.
Many an honourable man has perished on that sword, son.
So be it, sir.
It was a drug interdiction mission, sir! - As you were, Frank! - In the Colombia, sir! Are you all deaf? I know the feeling, Lieutenant, have the same problem with my people.
What was Lieutenant Marion's role in the mission? He was to fly out a plane Intelligence said would be there.
I guess the idea was to show the drug lords their cocaine planes weren't safe.
Even in their own backyards, sir.
Why didn't you just get a pilot who was HALO qualified? General Behnke changed the method of insertion from 30-30 to HALO - two hours before launch.
- Why? I believe he wanted us to turn him down, sir.
His boys were assigned the mission until someone from Navy talked Washington into giving it to us.
Some Pentagon pencil pusher's ideal way to grabbing good headlines.
- Yes, sir.
- Sir.
It's no excuse, but Lieutenant Marion said if he could eject from 35,000, why couldn't he jump? I agreed.
I thought his only problem might be landing in water with all the gear we carry.
So we each took some of his load.
He only jumped with his suit, chute and O2 bottle.
I never thought he'd panic and rip off his oxygen mask.
- Did you recover his equipment? - Yes, sir.
The O2 bottle was half full.
His mask was functioning properly.
A naval aviator would never rip off his oxygen mask, sir, unless something were very wrong.
I agree.
Check it out, Mr Rabb.
And I'm gonna have a little conversation with this General Behnke.
Sir? I understand the Lieutenant's mother's here.
- Unfortunately.
- SEAL Team 2 has a tradition of writing a letter before every mission in case we don't return.
Lieutenant Marion wrote this.
If you would give it to his mother, I would appreciate it, sir.
- He was only with you two days.
- He jumped with SEAL Team 2, sir.
And tradition's tradition.
I like you, son.
Probably gonna hang you, but I like you.
Yes, sir! Thank you, sir! You know who started that tradition, Lieutenant? - No, sir.
- Ensign Chegwidden.
Oh, look at them.
So young and cocky.
- They think they're invincible.
- They are, ma'am.
What world do you live in, Lieutenant? Dying in the service is dying with honour.
Honour belongs to the soul which is invincible.
I see.
So, now my son lives on forever in some Valhalla reserved for training accidents.
The tragedy of his death doesn't diminish the honour, ma'am.
There is no honour in a useless death, Lieutenant.
No death is useless.
They all serve a purpose.
Even if in our grief it eludes us.
The purpose of my son's death doesn't elude me.
It's to dismantle the SEALs, so more young lives aren't wasted.
His gear was secured right after the accident.
Looks brand new.
Special ops issued it to him an hour before launch.
- You didn't have a spare? - We don't carry any, sir.
Budget cuts.
Is this equipment different than yours, Lieutenant? No, sir.
That's SEAL issue.
Then General Behnke knew he was sending you on a HALO jump long before he told you or he wouldn't have requisitioned it.
- I don't like what that implies, sir.
- Neither do I.
Let's see if we can dig up a master aviation mechanic.
Please.
Stay seated, Lieutenant.
Senator Marion, General Nathan Behnke.
You have my deepest sympathies, ma'am.
Have a seat, General.
Now I'm getting them from the Army.
Senator? Were your condolences pro forma or did you know my son? Not personally, ma'am.
However, his unit was technically under my command.
- Either it was or it wasn't, General.
- It was, Senator.
Perhaps you can enlighten me about my son's death.
- The Navy seems very reluctant.
- I imagine they are, Senator.
Have you spoken with Admiral Chegwidden, sir? Let him speak, Lieutenant.
Why is the Navy stonewalling me, General? I don't know all the details, Senator, but your son died when a SEAL lieutenant took him on a high altitude parachute jump he wasn't qualified to make.
I knew it.
So did you.
Yes, ma'am.
But until we know the details, which the Admiral and Lieutenant Commander Rabb are gathering at the moment, all we can do is speculate.
What happened is that my son was killed because of SEAL negligence, and I'm gonna have their asses for it.
I have an operation running.
Again, my condolences, Senator.
Thank you, General, for being so forthright with me.
Least I could do, ma'am.
- Filters look clean.
- Yes, sir.
Not the kind of thing likely to cause a problem.
The whole unit looks brand new.
Which makes me wonder what the hell happened to this "O" ring.
- It's cracked.
- A crack, wouldn't be so clean, sir.
- This "O" ring's been cut.
- Intentionally, Chief? I'd be hard-pressed to figure out how it happened accidentally, sir.
I don't understand.
I personally tested that mask after the accident.
It didn't leak.
That's cause the slit's too small to leak, in the warm air at sea level.
But at 30,000 feet, where the air is colder than hell, that "O" ring would contract, widening the slit.
Yes, sir.
And then getting air would have been Would have been harder than sucking up wet concrete through a soda straw.
This is evidence, Lieutenant.
And I want this under lock and key.
Yes, sir.
Chief, the Lieutenant owes you big time.
Name it, Chief.
Well, a Knucklehead 1200 Harley would be nice, sir.
- But I'll settle for a case of beer.
- You got it, Chief.
Another night training mission, Lieutenant? I suppose so, ma'am.
As you were.
Senator, I have some disturbing news in regards to your son's death.
I already have it, Admiral.
My son was killed because of SEAL negligence.
General Behnke informed the Senator, sir.
Where is this general, Lieutenant? More importantly, Admiral, where is the officer who is responsible for my son's death? I believe you'll find him at Special Ops Headquarters, ma'am.
- Explain yourself, Mr Rabb.
- Sir, I have evidence that Lieutenant Marion's oxygen mask was sabotaged by someone in General Behnke's command.
No.
You're not gonna deflect my wrath by turning my son's death into an Army-Navy game.
Ma'am, the General himself may be involved.
You better have some hard evidence to back up those kind of accusations, Mr Rabb.
Sir, the General changed the mission to a HALO jump two hours before the launch.
And he supplied Lieutenant Marion's oxygen mask.
I had a master aviation mechanic disassemble it, and we found an intentionally slit "O" ring.
When the Lieutenant jumped, he was unable to get oxygen, and lost consciousness and couldn't open his chute.
I'm sorry, ma'am.
Why would General Behnke want to kill my son? Without a pilot, the SEALs couldn't complete the mission.
The man's a general in the United States Army.
His sense of competition, while I'm sure is quite keen, he's certainly gonna stop short of murder.
Only the General can answer that, sir.
I'm going.
Ten-hut.
- Sir, this area is off limits - At ease, Staff Sergeant.
Tell your general Admiral Chegwidden's here to see him.
General Behnke isn't here, sir.
- Where is he, Captain? - I'm not at liberty to say, sir.
You're not going to be at liberty at all if I don't find him.
With all due respect, Admiral, if I answer your question, I will be disobeying a direct order.
I see.
- When will the General return? - Sorry, sir.
I don't know, sir.
When the General returns, will you tell him that I want to see him ASAP? Yes, sir.
Senator.
Sergeant! Send someone to keep an eye on SEAL Team 2.
And get me the General, on a scrambled line.
Yes, sir.
- There's a mission in progress.
- How do you know? You can smell the adrenaline.
The senatorial equivalent would be election day.
I caught a glimpse of the operations map before the Captain covered it.
There's a refuel point mid-way between here and Colombia.
For the Black Hawks that just took off.
General Behnke is going back to Colombia, sir.
- Only this time without SEAL Team 2.
- The hell he is.
Mr Rabb, I want you to find out why General Behnke didn't want the Senator's son flying that plane out of Colombia.
Yes, sir.
How, sir? HALO jump with the SEALs, fetch it on back.
HALO jump, sir? Aye, aye, sir! Admiral, under what authority does the Commander do this? Authority? That of a JAG officer conducting an investigation, ma'am.
There you go.
Washington will have your stars for this, Admiral.
Well, if anything goes wrong, Lieutenant Austin's my point of authority.
I'll give them her bars.
"Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won with men.
" George S.
Patton.
"The battle is not to the strong, but to the brave.
" Patrick Henry.
"It is a truth universally acknowledged "that a single man in possession of good fortune "must be in want of a wife.
" Jane Austen! - Jane Austen? - Get out of here.
I watch PBS.
When I call the two-minute warning, we'll start to de-pressurise.
- You'll have to put on your mask.
- I'll look after the Senator, Chief.
Yes, sir.
It's so cold! - It doesn't seem to bother them.
- Hell, they're young.
They've got the fire of warriors in their belly.
HQ on the horn, sir.
SEAL Team 2 departed Rosy Roads in a Herc at 2350 hours.
Damn it.
- Shove it to the firewall! - Yes, sir.
Two minutes.
Prepare for decompression.
- It's time, Senator! - Yes.
Put this over your mouth and just breathe normally.
How's your mask, sir? By the way, Commander Rabb.
Can you swim? Now's a hell of a time to ask! Thirty seconds.
Let's go! Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.
Go! Go! Go! They just stepped off into the night.
Yes, ma'am.
It was It was so, so Heroic? Yeah.
Before each mission, the men write a letter in case they don't come back.
Your son addressed his to you.
I think you're ready to read it now.
Sir, we're picking up an aircraft exfiltrating in the target area.
IFF squawks it friendly, General.
We gotta get that cocaine plane before the SEALs and destroy it.
Sir? We've got to.
The cocaine plane, it must be gone.
All that's left on the air field is that old R4-D.
- Maybe that's it.
- It doesn't make sense.
The cartels fly those new Russian Antonovs, not a World War II hunk of junk.
- That hunk of junk's our way outta here.
- You think that'll fly? There's only one way to find out.
See the smoker? - Got him.
- Those are fuel drums behind him.
Let's hope his compadres are just as careless.
Shipp will cover you to the plane.
If those old recips start, they'll wake the dead.
I'll wait until you set off your fireworks, maybe the noise will cover the start up.
Well, you got a better idea? Who said, "I will fight no more forever"? I don't know.
I don't know, either.
But he wasn't a SEAL.
Feet dry, sir.
Target in 10.
- What the hell is this, sir? - Looks like an AWACS setup.
The cartels must use this to slip their drug planes past our Navy and coast guard intercepts.
That's pretty damn slick.
Why would you use an old bird like this? Because it's an old bird, Chief.
Everyone knows the cartels got money for the newest and the best, so, who'd suspect an old bird like this flying around the Gulf? This is special ops gear out of MacDill.
That's why Behnke didn't want this flown out of here.
He sold this rig to the cartels.
I want nothing left but smoke and ashes.
Yes, General! - Where's the battery switch? - What's it look like? Now you gotta find the starter.
That's it.
I hope.
- Well, everything's in Spanish.
- Damn.
Come on! Come on! Turn over.
Come on.
Yes! Get them on board, Chief! - Go! Go! Go! - It's to the firewall.
All hell's breaking loose, General.
- We're running out of runway! - Then we'd better fly! Whoa! They made it.
Yes.
What do we do now, General? Go home, Major.
You go home.
Let's take her back to base.
General! General! Navy Lieutenant Douglas Marion was laid to rest today with full military honours.
Not far from the grave of his father a naval aviator who died 25 years ago in Vietnam.
Atten-hut! Ready.
Aim! Aim! Aim! Hand salute! Order! Thank you.